Not-So-Hidden Inconsistincies in the Danish Cartoons Story

I’ll be honest, initially I didn’t really care. I thought the Danish newspaper was being disrespectful, and at the same time I thought the Arab reaction was exaggerated. Then I read Eman’s post, and by seeing the issue through her eyes, I started feeling more sympathetic with the Arab point of view.

So now after observing and reading I thought I would share my two cents. Hopefully this post sheds some light onto the hot debate. I’m going to dive right into the contents without an introduction…

The Danes refuse to apologize saying that the cartoonist was just practicing his freedom of expression. To that I say, there are limits to freedom of expression, and there’s proof of these limitations coming from the people who invented freedom of expression. Let me explain.

In 2004 a photograph of American coffins on their way back from Iraq, published in the Seattle Times, caused the photographer to lose her job. Here are some more details..

“Last Sunday a newspaper in Seattle, Washington, published a rare photograph of soldiers' coffins, each of them containing the body of an American who had died in Iraq.
The coffins, each draped with the Stars and Stripes, had been loaded into the back of a cargo aircraft for a final journey to the US, where they would be buried. There were at least 18 of them in the picture, which was taken by a 50-year-old civilian contractor, Tami Silicio.
On Wednesday Ms Silicio was sacked from her job, for taking the photograph and sharing it with news organisations.” [Source]

The photograph was deemed “offending” by the Pentagon, a claim that was backed by Bush.

I’m no religious person, but I can easily tell that publishing offensive, stereotype filled, disrespectful cartoons of a prophet, is much more “offending” than publishing A Photo of dead American soldiers.

Where’s the consistency here?

The other thing about free speech is that it shouldn’t be offensive to any culture, religion, or peoples. Call it political correctness, call it respect, call it whatever you want. We all hold our tongues at points, and we do it out of respect. It’s a quality that humans have, we call it thoughtfulness. Here I again I ask for consistency. Let me explain again.

Late 2005, Iranian president boldly and stupidly denied the occurrence of the holocaust. Then, just after his denial, a worldwide uproar was heard telling him to apologize and take back his words. If you ask me, I think him denying the holocaust is equally dumb and appalling to publishing anti-religious cartoons. Both the cartoonist and the president are inconsiderate shallow pricks. But somehow, one statement is considered “anti-Semitic,” the other “freedom of expression.”

Where’s the consistency here?

Technorati Tags: danish, danish cartoons, muslims, arabs, current events, offensive, freedom

The Universally Known... Nod

I bet these guys use "the nod"

It’s universal, guys use it on a daily basis as a means to communicate, say hi, say hello, and even say what’s up… It’s the nod. Yes, a guy can communicate without even opening his mouth. We like to keep things simple and quick, not because we value time, but because we’re lazy.

Here’s how it works. Two guys walking past each other in hallway, on a field, in a parking lot, you name it. One guy sees the other and acknowledgment is made, with a slight nod with the head. The other person nods back, and voila! Everyone’s is happy.

The nod comes in two brands:

The first brand is the one where the guy’s head starts at the horizontal, and it’s then raised about 10 degrees. The second type, which is less popular, is where the head starts at the horizontal, and then it’s lowered. On a lazy day, you can expect the nod to transform into the “eyebrow lift,” which is equal in power, but with much less muscle movements. Although, caution must be used when using the “eyebrow lift,” since it can be easily missed, due to the slight range movement.

I personally like to enhance “the nod” by moving my lips while nodding. I use this especially when I’m walking through the plant at work, since the noise makes the other person think that I said something, and he just couldn’t hear it. That I way I kill two birds with one stone, I nod and I pretend I said hi, how are you.

The beauty of the nod lies in its “universalness.” You can use it all over the world, and everyone will understand it. Even better, it can be used with people you’ve never even talked to as a sign of friendliness. It gets better when you forgot someone’s name… I’m telling you it’s a life saver!

If for some odd reason you haven’t witnessed the nod, or even used it, then you’re missing out. So go out there, and get nodding. You have no idea how much it helps in acknowledging people.

Technorati Tags: guys, nod, nodding, communication, lazy

The Connection Between Jesus' Return and Israel

As I was talking to my friend (a devout Christian) a few years, he casually mentioned that the existence of Israel is a major sign of the return of Jesus. Me being ignorant about the subject, found my self shocked for two reason. The first is that Jesus actually comes back, something I didn’t know before, and the second was that Israel is somehow involved in his return.

Sometime later, I was flipping through channels, and happened to land on Vision TV (religion TV station) where one of the most famous evangelist speakers was talking about the return of Jesus. I don’t know the speaker’s name, although I’ve seen him on TV a billion times, selling prayer handkerchiefs and all kinds of religious “paraphernalia”. Anyway, in his speech to over 5000 audience members, he was preaching the importance of the state of Israel, and how “we as Christians should support and protect it.”

Looking up the matter on the web a few days ago, I came across a ton of resources on the subject. Here’s what “Hawaiian Christians Online” had to say:

Let us repeat the prophecy in Matthew 24:34: Jesus is speaking "Now learn this
lesson from the fig tree." The fig tree is used to represent
Israel. As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you
know that summer is here. Even so, when you see things, you know that it
is near, right at the door." Jesus is speaking of the signs of His
return. He is indicating the period. When Israel blossoms forth the
time is here.

In 1948 the State of Israel was inaugurated and Israel was once again re-occupied by her peoples. Jesus continues, "I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened." The term generation connotes a period of 40 years and Jesus was saying that the generation in terms of 1948 will be there to see His return.

I highlighted particular words of interest in the passage above. I will not explain why these words stand out; I think you should know just by reading them.

What I find particularly interesting is how a fig tree is interpreted as being Israel. The whole reasoning and prophecies that follow, are based solely on the assumption that a fig tree = Israel. Furthermore, it’s important to highlight how the protection of Israel is becoming more of a religious activity, rather than a political one. Thousands of Christians in the US are being brainwashed every Sunday morning with the importance of Israel, and how they should protect it.

Many Arab bloggers have been focusing on the extremism that exists within Islam, and how it’s leading to terrorism. I think we should start paying more attention, and in a sense, start covering extremism of Christians, Jews, and other religions as well. Extremism is bad no matter what the religion is. We should at least take a fair shot at all religions, and not repeat the popular stories heard all over the media and blogosphere.

Technorati Tags: Jesus, Christianity, Christian, Israel, Religion, Extremism

Interesting Science Studies

Sex before stressful events keeps you calm:
A study was done to see whether sex helps in calming us down before acts such as public speaking. It turns out sex keeps ones blood pressure down during stressful events, and helps the body get back to it's normal state quicker. The study involved 24 women and 22 men... click on the link above for more

Banknote tracking helps model spread of disease:
This particularly study appeals to me a lot. The study uses an online one-dollar bill tracking project, and "superimposes" the results onto the spread of disease. Ultimately the researchers want to be able to predict the speed that disease spreads through the population. It's quite interesting how these scientist think... using bills to study disease, who would have thought of that?!

Technorati Tags: science, study, sex, stress, disease, modeling

Declaring a Day of Mourning

So yesterday was voting day, which means time to put my right to vote to good use, and hope for positive change in the new government. As expected the Conservatives won, and that’s why I’m declaring a “Day of Mourning.”

Out of all the parties in the Canadian government, the Conservatives happen to be the most “republican like.” They supported the war on Iraq, and they were against the right for gays to marry. In fact much like what happened with the Republican party in the US, a lot of the Conservative votes came from the rural areas, whereas urbanites voted for Liberals.

The good news is that the Conservatives won a minority government, which means they have less than half of the seats, taking away the potential of passing any bill they liked. Also on the good side is the NDP gaining more seats. The NDP is on the left of the centrist Liberals, and they are in support of social spending, giving money back to the poor, and of course lowering tuition :)

I’m going to be paying close attention to the dynamic of the new government, focusing particularly on new alliances, and keeping tabs on the election promises.

Moving away from the results I want to comment on two issues:

The first is that Canadians are very boring when it comes to voting. They either vote Liberal or Conservative. If the Liberals do badly, then the heads turn to the Conservatives, as if they were the only party. Although the NDP got more seats this time around, I would have liked to see them grab at least 10 more.

The second point goes out to those who refuse to vote using the cunning argument “my vote won’t count anyway, plus if I vote I can’t complain.” That’s such an absurd statement. People are all over the world are dying to get a democratic process in their countries. I think these people think if there isn’t a 100% agreement between them and a certain party, then they shouldn’t vote. What these people have to understand, is that they should vote for the party that represents them the most.

Technorati Tags: vote, canadian elections, canada, elections, conservatives, liberals, ndp, voting, canadian government, current events

Inventions that might interest you..

This week was “invention week” on Daily Planet, a daily science show on Discovery Canada. Some of the inventions were pretty interesting so I thought I would share them with you..

The first one is a printer with a special program which automatically prints off a section of a tree, whenever you have printed a tree’s worth of paper. So let’s say 5000 pages = 1 tree, then on the 5000th page a tree trunk section will be printed off to remind you of the amount of paper you are using.

The second one is an invention by the same lady who invented the printer described above. This time it’s a “headcount balloon,” which floats over demonstrations, and using special software, determines a headcount of the number of protestors. This is especially important since news agencies always give a slimmed down figure of the number of demonstrators.

This invention is especially exciting for me, since I worked in the energy efficiency field. Fifth Light Technology is a Canadian based company, headed by Joseph Dableh. The company invented a way to reduce energy consumption of fluorescent lights by as much as 60% without any noticible difference in the amount of light emitted. This invention is not only important from a financial point of view, but also from an environmental one as well. According to an article on this website

“Lighting represents at least 30 percent – and more often greater than half --
of a building’s electrical energy costs. With each Fifth Light dimmer saving an
average 350 KWh of electricity per year, if the technology were installed in 200
office towers, it would replace the output of one large coal-fired generator or
80 percent of an average nuclear reactor.”

Now that’s innovative!

Technorati Tags: inventions, technology, environment, printers, invention, Daily Planet

America Who Cried Wolf

Iran’s defiance of the international threats, comes from their deep confidence that there will be no military action taken against them. The US is suffering casualties everyday in Iraq, and American support for the war has declined immensely, all that in a fight against random resistance cells in Iraq. Similarly, Europe will not go into war alone. The war would simply cost too much, in lives and in money.

What I find particularly interesting from this situation is the American inability to use their gargantuan military to interfere with Iran’s real threat. The American position nowadays reminds of the popular story “The Boy Who Cried Wolf.”

A few years ago, Mr. Bush and his gang created a military monster lurking in the Middle East, waiting to threaten his country’s security. T he monster’s name was Iraq. Lies were made up, international laws were defied, and an illegal war was launched. A few years later, the lies came to the surface, and a shameful defeat has been all but admitted. How can such a government, beaten morally and financially, able to launch another war? Would it be smart to launch a war against a Shiite state, while their Army is still in a Shiite dominated Iraq? Are the American people going to believe Bush this time?

This time the threat is more serious, and who knows, it could even be true. I wonder if the US would have been preparing their military for action against Iran, had they not gone into Iraq.

Technorati Tags: Bush, George Bush, America, Iran, Nuclear Weapons, Middl East, Current Events, News

Electronic Intifada Coming to Waterloo

This might interest Canadian visitors most...

Israel-Palestine: Peace or Apartheid?

Special Guest Speaker:

ALI ABUNIMAH

Co-founder of Electronic Intifada

Ali Abunima, a graduate from Princeton, is a renowned commentator

and writer on the Middle East. His articles have appeared in the New York Times,

The Los Angles Times, Chicago Tribune, Financial Times and many others.

He is a frequent guest on local, national and international radio and television,

including public radio and television, CNN, MSNBC, Fox, the BBC and many others.

When: Monday, January 23rd @ 7pm

Where: University of Waterloo, Arts Lecture Hall, Rm: 113

Don't miss this chance to hear Ali Abunimah speak.

Entrance is FREE!

This event is brought to you by Students for Palestinian Rights at the University of Waterloo

Freezing Rain in January?

At about noon today freezing rain started coming down from the sky, and that means two things. You can’t walk without sliding around, and you have to drive really carefully..

Within minutes the streets turned into glass, and cars and trees were dressed with a nice layer of ice. What no one expected was that the power would go out in the plant.

I was working on the floor, when all the sudden the power went out and the emergency lights came on. People just sat around waiting for the lights to come back on, but after 15 minutes, people started giving up hope.

Some workers were sent home, others stuck around. I waited for a bit, and ended up going home 20 minutes early. The bad news, is that we have to make up for lost production time, and that could mean some weekend hours. Yikes!

I took the pictures in this post, just before leaving home to give you an idea of the situation.

Lottery for Dummies

I have been hearing all kinds of theories on increasing someone’s odds of winning a lottery ticket. I couldn’t bear hearing all the nonsense and stay quite. So I decided to share with you this “contrary to popular belief” type of post.

This first one is a classic, I heard it from all kinds of people..

“I always pick the same lottery numbers, I figured since I haven’t been winning lately, I’m sure that my numbers are going to win soon”

Actually, the winning numbers are always recycled. Every combination of numbers has an equal chance of winning, in every single draw. It’s like having 3 coloured balls in a bag (blue, red, yellow) and a ball is randomly pulled out of the bag. Every ball has an equal chance of being pulled out. Since after a ball is drawn out, it is put back into the bag, the probability of picking any of the balls a second time is unchanged. Lottery numbers are the same, numbers are always put back to be used in the next draw.

In fact, this week’s winning numbers have the same chance of coming up the next week, and the week after that, and so on.

So don’t be afraid to change your usual number, since you’re always going to have the same probability.

I also heard this one a lot..
“I was so close to winning this week. I had an 11 instead of the 10 and 29 instead of the 30”

A person who’s had an 11 instead of a 10 is as close to winning as a person who had a 39 instead of an 11. For the same reason explained above, every number has an equal chance of getting picked.

Normally when I buy a lottery ticket I just get a quick pick number (the computer picks the numbers randomly) But on certain occasions I like to see the salesman’s reaction when I pick 1, 2,3, 4, 5, 6 as my six numbers.

Sometimes they smirk at the oddness of my pick, other times they comment saying “you must be feeling really lucky!” But the truth of the matter is, my six numbers are just as good is anybody’s favourite set, or as the randomly generated ones.

The bottom line is, there’s no way to predict a winning number, or to increase your chances of winning (using only one ticket). Sadly, the chance of winning 6/49 (picking 6 numbers from a pool of 49) is one in fourteen million.

Even after knowing the slim chances, I can’t help it sometimes but buy a ticket and start daydreaming about all the things I would buy :)

Technorati Tags: lotto, lottery, odds, lottery numbers, statistics, winning

You can always count on a rapper to relay your message..

You can always rely on a rapper to relay your message.. ehm ehm..

During the last US presidential election, the infamous rapper/designer/restaurateur/pimp/actor/entrepreneur, Puff Daddy/P Diddy, Puffy/Sean Combs decided to launch a campaign to encourage teenagers to vote. While the idea behind the campaign is great, the campaign ended up sucking major ass for two main reasons:

a) P Diddy’s listners are not teenagers anymore
b) His campaigne catchphrase was “Vote or Die” LOL!!

Vote or Die? That’s some pretty convincing shit, I'm sold! Sigh… oh those, rappers, always a good source of amusement. But let’s not be mean to P Shitty here, his team is also to blame for not bringing the issue of the gay catchphrase up in the “Vote or Die” boardroom. The team consisted of intellectuals like Jay Z and Fitty cent (50 Cent)...

But if you look deep into the "Vote or Die" campaign, you see some true marketing intelligence. P Diddy sold a ton of "Vote or Die" T-Shirts to many adoring fans, who simply thought he was asking for their vote at the next MTV video awards. Furthermore, having x-gangsters on your voting campaign (Jay Z and Fitty), really shows people that you’re serious about killing them if they don’t vote.

The irony of course is that he’s threatening people to vote, which to me sound a tiny weenie, itsie bitsy… how do I put it?? Undemocratic. Which goes against his real message, which is “Vote or we shoot da shit outa you?”

All being said, I give mad props to P Diddy for giving yet another chance for Mariah Carey to wear a tight shirt… on another note, the booty shorts are hers

Technorati Tags: vote, voting, democracy, P Diddy, Puff Daddy, Sean Combs, intellegence, rappers, rap, 50 cent, Jay Z, commentary

On Iran's Weapons and Double Standards

There’s no better time to see the double standard that exist in the world today. It is somehow been destined that the third world would remain technologically impotent, while the west keeps on building their power and wealth. The best example of the double standard can be seen in Iran’s nuclear development program. The US, UK along with other countries that belong to the “free world” are trying with all their power to stop Iran’s advancement in nuclear technology.

While Iran claims to be developing nuclear technology for electricity generation only, the rest of the world believes that a nuclear arsenal is what’s really sought after. This is exactly where the double standard comes in. Why can countries like the US, Russia, Pakistan, India, and even Israel have nuclear weapons while countries like Iran can’t? Who sets the standard here? Should there be a standard? What does it take for a country to be able to publicly say they possess nuclear weapons, and get away with it? The questions that I’m posing are not hard to answer at all, in a sense they’re even rhetorical.

In a perfect world every country gets “equal opportunities.” No country can decree unfair rules over another, and more importantly no country can be hypocritical towards another. Sadly, after over 5,000 years of civilization, we have not come across the recipe of the prefect world yet.

For now we have to live in the current world. A world where a country of 6.3 Million can have one of the largest nuclear arsenals in the world and casually get away with it. A world where there’s a country constantly trying to strip all but its allies of nuclear weapons, meanwhile holding the record for the only country to have used such weapons.

It’ll be very interesting watching events unfold regarding Iran. I can't help but wonder whether the upcoming events will take us one step closer to the prefect world, or ten steps back to the primitive world.

I’d like to leave you with a link to a discussion on the BBC’s websites, regarding Iran’s weapons program. I hand picked a response that I liked, to give you a flavour of what’s on the website…

I don't think Iran should have nuclear power. But then at least I'm
consistent about it - because I don't think we should either. We still don't
know how to deal with the risks, and the massive taxpayer subsidies the nuclear
industry has eaten up have prevented investment in renewables. What puzzles me
is how our Prime Minister can both think we should have nuclear power, but that
Iran shouldn't. I think it's entirely understandable that Iran's government will
think "if its good enough for them, its good enough for me."Martyn, London,
UK

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/4257436.stmvv

Technorati Tags: Iran, Nuclear Weapons, US, UK, Current Events, Double Standards, Middle East

Should Digital Pics Include a Date?

As I was browsing through flickr looking at pictures from here and there, I couldn't help but notice a "flaw" in some photos. The "flaw" was an orange, ugly, date stamped in the corner. The date took away from the beauty of the photos, mainly by creating a distraction for the eye.

Back in the age 35 mm film cameras, automatic dating was a great feature. It enabled the owner to organize their pictures, and more importantly remember when the pictures were taken. On the contrary, a date feature in a digital camera is pretty much useless. In fact, I think they should eliminate the feature from all digital cameras.

Every digital picture comes with a plethora of information, including the date and even the time it was taken. So why put a blemish on a photo if you don't have to? Am I the only one who thinks date stamps on digital photos a bad idea?

Technorati Tags: digital cameras, digital pictures, date stamp, digital photos, distractions

Gym Observations and New Year's Resolution

I see this trend every year at the gym. Right after Januray 1st, the gym experiences a large influx of new members with new hope and new goals. This effect is commonly known as New Year’s Resolution. People want to lose weight, so they wait for the new year to come so they can get their gym membership and start exercising.

I am personally irritated by this sudden swelling in gym membership. The gym turns into a zoo with people sometimes waiting to use certain machines, mainly because the new comers don’t know what they’re doing. For example, today there were two women, each sitting on a bench, talking to each other about work and the kids. Meanwhile there are a few of us waiting for them to finish they’re sweat-braking conversation.

That being said, there’s light at the end of tunnel. By February, or March at the latest, most of these new comers would have given up on their resolution, and just settled to watching TV at home. After all next year is a new beginning!

Another common trend at the gym is the buffing up that takes place, before a basketball game. Sadly, there’s no light at the end of the tunnel for that one. This trend can be observed all year long. Let me explain…

A bunch of “kool” kids wearing XXXL basketball jerseys, and shorts that go well below their knees, come in to the weight room to pump up their muscles before the game. These kids (ranging in age from 15-20) try to show off by lifting the highest weights possible without letting out some gas. After a whopping two repetitions they take about 10 minutes to observe the instantaneous growth of their muscles in the mirror. These observations are usually accompanied with phrases such as “Oh shit guy! That’s large” *snap snap*

Then there are those who think the gym is a night club. These guys usually come in a pack of 6, wearing tight spandex shirts and jeans and featuring slicked back hair. On some occasions they wear “army clothes,” cause we all know chicks dig fake soldiers. Unlike the kool basketball kids, these clubbers actually lift enough weights to cause flatulence, or maybe it’s just body odours.

Last but not least, are the wannabe professional weight lifters. These guys come dressed in big sweaters, they go nuts lifting huge weights, and once their muscles are big enough to be flaunted they take off the sweaters to reveal an XS “wife beater” (shal7a). To justify their existence and to attract chicks, these guys tend to throws the weights on the floor when their done. I think the loud noise created by the weights is some sort of mating call. The loud CLANK translates to “me lift weight, me want sexual.” They then conclude their mating call with a long sip of their favourite protein shake.

And some people ask me why I go to the gym! It’s a prefect source of entertainment and it’s healthy. Where else can you such a wide range of personalities?

Technorati Tags: Gym, Work out, excersize, Observations

Tooting it up!

Earth to Omar is now featured on toot. What is toot? you ask. Well, what better way to answer that than by turning to one of the people responsible for it.

Roba describes toot as

A new medium in which intelligent voices from and for Arabia are brought
together and presented to a wider community; where passionate readers and
writers can share and communicate without filtering.

toot [is] quality content, served on a platter. We
read. We pick. We present. You can count on us to share with you interesting
reads from a community of people you can relate to.

That is, the toot team will select the best posts, and display them through a new portal. The only category that all toot blogs can be safely put into, is that they are all Arab related blogs.

I have a feeling that toot will expand very quickly, and will perhaps become one of the leading Arab blogging sites. Keep your eyes open, and mark my words.

Give toot a visit, and take a look at what it offers