Giant squid snapped in the deep

Japanese researches took the first picture ever of a giant squid; it was eight-meters long!

Opiates of the Iranian People

Iran has the highest opium addiction rate in the world, according to the UN; 2.8% of the population above 15 years old. Only two other countries have rates higher than 2%, Mauritius and Kyrgyzstan. Most observers (and addicts) blame unemployment, while some blame a government conspiracy to keep the youth busy since it cannot create enough jobs. Although governments don’t really create jobs, their policies affect job creation in many ways that can either speed it up or slow it down. I personally believe the Saudi government’s policies are not promoting job creation and that most of its efforts is counterproductive. I hope we don’t end up in the same place as Iran is today.

Secrets Of Success: Why volatility isn't the same as risk

An interesting article about risk--and it’s not too technical.

The MAN CODE

As received

 

The MAN CODE

This is it. So it has been written, so it shall be....The CODE:

1.       Thou shall not rent the movie  "Chocolate"

2.       Under no circumstances may two men share an umbrella.

3.       Any man who brings a camera to a bachelor party may be legally killed and eaten by his fellow partygoers.

4.       When you are queried by a  buddy's wife, girlfriend, mother, father, priest, shrink, dentist,  accountant, or dog walker, you need not and should not provide any useful  information whatsoever as to his whereabouts. You are permitted to deny his very existence.

5.       Unless he murdered someone in your immediate family, you must bail a friend out of jail within 12 hours.

6.       You may exaggerate any anecdote told in a bar by 50 percent without recrimination; beyond that, anyone within earshot is allowed to call BULLSHIT. (Exception: When trying  to pick up a girl, the allowable exaggeration rate rises to 400 percent)

7.       If you've known a guy for more than 24 hours, his sister is off-limits forever.

8.       The minimum amount of time you have to wait for another guy who's running late is 5 minutes. For a woman, you are required to wait 10 minutes for every point of hotness she scores on the classic 1-10 scale.

9.       Bitching about the brand of free beer in a buddy’s refrigerator is forbidden. You may gripe if the temperature is unsuitable.

10.   No man is ever required to buy a birthday present for another man. In fact, even remembering a friend’s birthday is strictly optional and slightly gay.

11.    Agreeing to distract the ugly friend of a hot babe your buddy is trying to hook up with is your legal duty. Should you get carried away with your good deed and end up having sex with the beast, your pal is forbidden to speak of it, even at your bachelor party.

12.    Before dating a buddy's ex, you are required to ask his permission and he, in return is required to grant it.

13.    Women who claim they "love to watch sports" must be treated as spies until they demonstrate knowledge of the game and the ability to pick a buffalo wing clean.

14.    If a man's zipper is down, that’s his problem --- you didn't see nothin'.

15.    The universal compensation for buddies who help you move is beer.

16.    A man must never own a cat or like his girlfriend's cat.

17.    Your girlfriend must bond with your buddy's girlfriends within 30 minutes of meeting them. You are not required to make nice with her gal pal's significant dick-heads --- low-level sports bonding is all the law requires.

18.    When stumbling upon other guys watching a sports event, you may always ask the score of the game in progress, but you may never ask who's playing.

19.    When your girlfriend/wife expresses a desire to fix her whiney friend up with your pal, you may give her the go-ahead only if you'll be able to warn your buddy and give him time prepare excuses about joining the priesthood.

20.    It is permissible to consume a fruity chick drink only when you're sunning on a tropical beach... and it's delivered by a topless super model...and it's free.

21.   Unless you're in prison, never fight naked.

22.    A man in the company of a hot, suggestively dressed woman must remain sober enough to fight.

23.    If a buddy is outnumbered, out manned, or too drunk to fight, you must jump into the fight. Exception:  If within the last 24 hours his actions have caused you to think, "What this guy needs is a good ass-whoopin", then you may sit back and enjoy.

24.    Phrases that may NOT be uttered to another man while weight lifting: "Yeah, baby, push it!" "C'mon, give me one more! Harder!" "Another set and we can hit the showers." "Nice ass, are you a Sagittarius?"

25.    Never hesitate to reach for the last beer or the last slice of pizza, but not both. That's just plain mean.

26.    If you compliment a guy on his six-pack, you better be referring to his beer.

27.    Never join your girlfriend/wife in dissing a buddy, except when she's withholding sex pending your response.

28.    Never talk to a man in the bathroom unless you're on equal footing: either both urinating or both waiting in line. In all other situations, a nod is all the conversation you need.

29.    If a buddy is already singing along to a song in the car, you may not join him...too gay.

30.    Before allowing a drunken friend to cheat on his girl, you must attempt one intervention. If he is able to get on his feet, look you in the eye, and deliver a "F**K OFF!" You are absolved of your of responsibility.

U.S. official criticizes female driving ban in Saudi Arabia

I’m sure many of you are as sick of this subject as I am, but I thought I’d just post a link.

The NY Times picked up the storey too but presented it differently:

"I don't want to drive a car," she said. "I worked hard for my medical degree. Why do I need a driver's license?" This is what a women in audience, Dr. Siddiqa Kamal, told Karen Hughes in Jeddah. She also said, “There is more male chauvinism in my profession in Europe and America than in my country."
Ok, I don’t know what the problem is with women like these; they are either in denial or they are just having the typical Saudi (Arab generally) attitude of acting defensively if some outsider points out their flaws, just because that came from an outsider, even though they know well that it is a flaw. Check this NY Times article.

Ante up for America

Kuwait, Qater, the UAE each gave $100 million (Kuwait also pledged $400 million in oil!). Saudi Arabia gave $5.25 million ($5 million from Aramco and $250K from something called Agfund?). No other countries come even close to those donations, even though those economies are relatively very small (Japan donated $200K plus $1.5 million in private donation). Talk about misallocation of resources! Take a look at the full list.

The Prospect/FP Top 100 Public Intellectuals

The American Foreign Policy and Britain’s Prospect magazine made a list of the top 100 “public intellectuals” in the world. They haven’t ranked them, but you can vote on the top five by going on FP’s website. Take a look at the list. An explanation of the selection criteria is at the bottom of the page.

Sultan Intervenes in Asiri Girl's Case

I agree with Hamad’s comment (to my last entry), this article is really sad. And, yes, Hamad you’re right, I wouldn’t convert to Islam if I wasn’t born one!

Report rates Boston most expensive city

My brother just started school in Boston. This Report rates Boston most expensive city in the US. Good luck, Abdulrahman!

Saudi & the WTO

This article summarizes some of the major changes that Saudi Arabia will have to implement when it joins the World Trade Organization (WTO), which should happen towards the end of this year.

Just What the Professor Ordered

·         Although I’m no longer a student, I can remember the pain of the first day of classes. Yes, paying for those expensive textbooks! The other day I was passing by The Coop, MIT’s bookstore, and I saw students going in smiling and leaving with heavy bags and, well, no smiles. This Op-Ed proposes an interesting solution to the problem!

·         This piece in the NY Times talks about the roots of Islamic Fundamentalism, and although much ink (maybe too much) has been spilled talking about this subject, this piece offers some new ideas and uses some historical perspective.

·         Friedman talks about his “flattening world” again. And although I’m sick of him trying to sell his new book by using this expression over and over and over again, he talks about an interesting program called HeyMath that was started in India and is being implemented in Singapore (where he’s writing from). It makes best teaching practices from around the world available online, so teachers anywhere could access them.

·         And in the US, shame apparently is not a word in today’s Republican dictionary. Apparently, the Heritage Foundation doesn’t believe the White House is doing enough to use the Katrina disaster to promote political and business agendas (with the exception of Halliburton contracts of course). Just check this out!

KING BANS KISSING OF ROYAL HANDS

It’s very interesting (fascinating?) that this new “law” has caught the attention of foreign media. I’d really like to see how it is going to be enforced, though.

 

http://www.adnki.com/index_2Level.php?cat=Politics&loid=8.0.206798932&par=0

Great news, if it materializes!

“…Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faissal – during a meeting with the committee tasked with improving the Saudi image abroad – stressed that Saudi female occupying top posts in the foreign ministry was around the corner.
Speaking in London on the sidelines of a meeting of a Saudi-British forum, the Saudi prince said this year would witness recruitment of women at the prestigious post of ambassador.”

http://www.islamonline.org/English/News/2005-09/12/article06.shtml

Saudization and Racism

The writer has very interesting perspective on the issue of Saudization and the treatment of foreign workers in Saudi Arabia: Saudization and Racism.

Aldous Leonard Huxley

“The vast majority of human beings dislike and even dread all notions with which they are not familiar. Hence it comes about that at their first appearance innovators have always been viewed as fools and madmen.”
- Aldous Leonard Huxley (1894-1963)

Day 13 (final day)

Today was our last day in Seattle, tomorrow morning we fly back to Boston. We were planning to go on the Boeing Tour, which would’ve taken us on a tour of their plants and allow us to see 767s, 777s, and 747s being assembled. Unfortunately, due to Boeing mechanics’ strike, the tour was cancelled. So we spend the day on the street of downtown Seattle, mostly in the shopping district. Lunch was at P.F. Chang’s then dessert at Coldstone Creamery and coffee from Starbucks (which is literally on every corner).

On the streets of Seattle there are city guides wearing yellow shirts and driving bicycles. They are called “ambassadors” and they do everything from helping tourists find attractions to escorting anyone who doesn’t feel secure walking alone on a street! They carry radios and are thus able to ask about anything they might not know. They also help the homeless on the side; a really amazing service by the City of Seattle. We also visited the new public library today, which opened just over a year ago and is fabulous. The design is really amazing, especially the interior (see slide show). We later walked on the waterfront and had fish & chips from a “walk-by” place called Ivar’s. The night ended with a visit to B&O Espresso for desserts and shisha (and believe it or not I didn’t feel like having dessert or shisha!). Our flight tomorrow is at 10 AM and we have to leave the hotel at 7:15 to avoid the morning traffic. So it’s time for me to hit the sack.

 

I will always remember those past couple of weeks, the roadtrip was really fun. I’m glad (and surprised) that we did it! And to Seattle I’d like to say: goodbye, I love you!

Days 9+10+11+12

We’ve been having so much fun in Seattle I forgot to update my blog, so here goes.

Day 9

We spend the whole day, pretty much, on the road. Seattle is 840 miles from San Francisco, we left at 1:30 PM and arrived in Seattle at 4:30 AM, we made a few short stops plus lunch and dinner at Eugene, Oregon (which is worse than State College). We checked in at the Crown Plaza Hotel on 6^th Ave and Seneca.

Day 10

We woke up at 2 PM, it was a long night and a really long drive, which I had to do fully because my name is the only one on the rental policy. We left the hotel at 4 and walked to the nearby shopping district then headed to Pike Place Market, a historic fish and vegetable market where the first Starbucks store is located. Then it rained and we got soaked, we were planning to go to Seattle’s annual music and art festival, Bumbershoot (http://www.bumbershoot.com/) but had to change plans because of the rain. We went back to our hotel, changed, and went for a drive in our car and ended up walking on the beautiful waterfront and ate dinner at a walk-by place called Ivan’s, good fish & chips.

Day 11

Today was tour day. We took a very interesting 3-hour tour of Seattle, led by our tour guide James Belushi. Ok, it wasn’t him, but our guy looked and talked like him, he was really funny. His tour isn’t “fixed” he kind of improvises as we go along, very interesting stuff. The highlight of the tour was a place called the “Locks” where you can see salmon returning from salt waters back to the river and streams, very beautiful. According to our guide, they are leave their birthplace in the streams up the mountain and swim into the Pacific Ocean, sometimes going as far as Japan, then a few years later they return to the exact spot where they were born, mate, and then die. Fascinating, sub7an Allah. He also took us up a place called Queen Anne Hill, a neighborhood with the most expensive homes in Seattle and the most amazing view of Seattle and Rainer Mountain. After the tour we went to Bumbershoot where I really enjoyed the place (and the good food) although not all the music was good, but we had a laugh looking at some people dancing (they were white J). After dinner at the Cheesecake Factory I met some friends for coffee then joined the guys at a shisha place called Zaina, veeeeeeery noisy and kind of trashy, we left soon after I arrived.

Day 12

I had lunch with a friend in Seattle today and then met the guys and we took the ferry to an Island called Bainbridge, about 30 mins by boat. We drove our car on the boat and enjoyed the beautiful and amazing scenery, but there wasn’t much to do on the Island, so we took the next ferry back (45 mins later). We then went to an area of town called Fremont, really cool café and restaurants and on top of the hill under the freeway there’s a huge troll holding an old (real) Volkswagen Beetle (which had to be filled with cement after the police caught people inside a number of times)! We had dinner at a seafood restaurant called Waterfront Seafood & Grill, really good food (I had the grilled Salmon) but it broke the bank (just over $70 each). Dessert and shisha followed at a place on Capitol Hill called B&O Espresso, the server was shocked when we ordered 3 shishas! I’m sure they’ll be talking all day tomorrow about the “crazy guys that came and ordered 3 shishas!

Day 8

We spent the day at Fisherman’s Wharf. All the tours to Alcatraz were sold out until Monday so we convinced ourselves that it wasn’t worth visiting anyway. We discovered a Johnny Rockets adjacent to a Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, add a Starbucks down the block and you’ve got a perfect lunch! We walked all around the Wharf watching street performers, who do amazing things to make a buck. We had to return to our hotel to do laundry (because it closes at 8:30 PM and we couldn’t do our laundry last night). Anyway, we returned back to the Wharf in the night and had dinner at the bistro in Boudin, the famous bakery/factory (http://www.boudinbakery.com/). I tried shrimp stuffed with crab-cake-something, really good, and the dessert and espresso were also good.  After dinner we walked around the pier (more performers) and then went to Haight Ashbury to a “café/lounge” called Kan Zaman, but unfortunately it was full. That neighborhood is really still stuck in the 70s. Tomorrow we leave to Seattle, a long 13-hour drive, so we should arrive inshallah very late in the night. We’ll spend 5 nights (and 3 full days) before returning back to Boston. The road trip is great so far!

Off camera, Darfur deteriorates

"THE DEATH of Sudan's rebel leader-turned-vice-president John Garang has pushed the crisis in Darfur even further off the international radar screen. While the peace agreement that Garang crafted between his southern-based rebels and the Khartoum government has paved the way for a new government of national unity, Darfur is now suffering stage two of the ruling party's brutal ..." Full Article

The Dali Lama, the Pope, and our Motawwas

Check this out, very interesting Op-Ed comparing the Dali Lama and the Pope to our Motawwas.

Irreplaceable Exuberance

This is a very interesting article for those who wonder why financial markets go through booms and busts. The author argues that booms and busts are the markets’ natural way to evolve and grow. Op-Ed Contributor:  Irreplaceable Exuberance

Day 7

We took a city tour of San Francisco today, and learned that the city is 7 by 7 miles, hence the name 49ers. The tour lasted 3½ hours and took us all around the city. We started at Fisherman’s Wharf, passed by Pier 39 (which has a bunch of restaurants and stores on the bay). We then went to Pacific Heights, a luxurious neighborhood with multi-million-dollar houses. After that, we went to the Golden Gate Bridge and stopped there for pictures; fabulous view, really breathtaking, even though it was a bit foggy. The tour also included Presidio (a former military base) and Haight Ashbury (hippy side of town with colorful Victorian homes—and we saw the house in the show Full House). We couldn’t go to the twin peaks for the great view because it was foggy, but we drove through Castro, San Francisco’s gay neighborhood. On our way back to Fisherman’s Wharf, we passed by Civic Center (government and museums), Union Square (shopping and theatres), China Town, the Financial District, and Little Italy (North Beach).

After the tour we went to Ghirardelli’s, a chocolate factory (http://www.ghirardelli.com/), where we had great ice cream (with amazing chocolate brownies). After returning briefly to our hotel room (the very luxurious Holiday Inn Civic Center), we walked to Union Square, up and down the hill all the way to Little Italy (and when I say up the hill I mean really up hill). We had dinner at a local Italian chain called Pasta Pomodoro, really good food; I loved the Rigatoni with grilled chicken. After dinner we had some gelato from little store a block away and walked to Pier 39. We walked around Pier 39 and saw the sea lions at the K-dock, very noisy and veery lazy. We continued to walk on Jefferson Ave. and took a cab back to our hotel (there was no way we were going up the hill again after the dinner and gelato).