Last Weeks Dinner

The following pics are from last week's support Lebanon dinner




Me with Alaa and other people.















I got the number 1 ticket, but I did not win anything

blink

I finished reading blink. Just like "The Tipping Point" by the same author, this a great book that is a really fast read. This book is well researched and has tons of new useful information. It will help you understand and maybe even neutralize your unconscious biases. It will help you understand how usually people make decisions about their surroundings in the first split seconds. It tells how these decisions can be very accurate and how they can be our downfall. I give this book 8.5/10.

Half Light

The other day I went to the cinema to watch Half Light.

This is a very good Horror/suspense movie with a small amount of romance thrown in there. It does start slow though and the pace does not pick up until the first 20min of the movie are over. Demi Moore(the lead actress,) is probably not the most suitable for this roll and it did show in her acting which was not top notche(not even close). Additionally, though still attractive and hot, she is starting to look old. I guess she felt like doing a horror/suspense movie to add to her movie resume or maybe as a change from the movies she normally acts in.

It is worth it to watch this movie both in the theatre and also on DVD. A far as how scary this movie is, I give it 7.5/10 on the Scarometer scale.

Research participation

I found this link for a Harvard research thing. I am not sure how helpful it is, but the tests are sure fun to take. Check the link:

https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/index.jsp

The New Abdoun Bridge

I wanted to write this blog a few months ago(maybe I did.) Anyway, I will not comment about the fact the new fourth circle-Abdoun bridge took a long time to build or the fact that the project was started at the wrong time of the year causing tons of traffic problems.

I want to comment about the fact that the shops and restaurants on Abdoun Circle did not get any form of compensation for the Damages they incurred during this time period. The Government should compensate them even if partially; just to cover for the fixed costs. Alas that is not the case. I am not sure if the law would allow for this or if they would win in the end, but I hope that they can sue to get some money from the Government.

Public Transporation System

The Minister of health visited my Uncle's funeral service. He came late at night at around 10:00pm. Everyone was sucking up to him(myself excluded). The most notable butt licker was the head of the pharmacist's association, he was pretty disgusting.

Anyway, every one was asking the Minister some questions(as part of sucking up,) and I do not know who asked what, but the minister said something about the fact that they(the government) should have improved(or put a plane to improve) the public transportation system before the last fuel price hike.

The question is why didn't they? It is totally inexcusable. The other question is why is this comment coming from the Minister of Health? Why doesn't the Minister of Transportation say something about it? What do ministers of transportation do besides building bridges and tunnels at the wrong time of the year and cause more traffic problems than before?

The More Things Change

The more they stay the same. I found this article by the late Edward Said, this article was written 19years ago. If you did not know this you would assume it was written yesterday. It is still as valid today as it was 20 years ago.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/19860614/said

Funeral service

The system for funerals service in Jordan is somewhat weird in terms of the fact that it does not give the family of the deceased person the time to mourn.

Let me explain how this is the case. After the funeral prayers and burial, people go back with the deceased's family to their house where they usually have lunch and start welcoming people to the funeral service. This usually goes on from lunch time till close to 10:00 pm. Muslim funeral service being a three days affair; this is repeated for the next 2 days. During this time, there is a huge influx of people which does not allow the family of the deceased to go to the bathroom, not to mention to have time to mourn. Once the funeral service is over, everyone has to go back to work as businesses only allow for 3 days to be taken off.

So, I am not sure how this problem can be tackled. People need to have private time to mourn, but they do not get it. If I was in charge of things I would encourage the person to take an extra day off in order to mourn. Or I would extend the funeral service time to 4 days, after all things have changed a lot since the prophet's time.

Mosques in Jordan

My uncle passed away the other day. I went to the funeral prayers at Saladin's mosque near 4th circle. Now for the last 15yrs, I only go to mosques whenever there is a funeral. The first thing I noticed about this mosque is that it was very simple(which is fine,) but it did not have the right "ambience" for prayers, it did not give the right "vibe" that helps one concentrate during prayers. So after the prayers were over, I wanted to find out if it was just me(because I seldom pray,) or if other
people felt the same. So I asked a couple of people who have been to more mosques than I have, and they agreed with me. They said that the internal setup of the mosque can affect one's desire to pray and that it did affect one's ability to "concentrate" on what he is doing. So I guess this is just another case in Jordan where buildings are not built with their function in mind.

If someone was going to build a mosque to get extra points in the after life, he should build it in a way that invites people to pray more not less. The Christians do get it in most of their churches, but so far we do not.

AP Sucks

In an earlier blog, I talked about AP's biased news coverage. Apparently this has been going on for some time and I am not the first person to notice this.

I found a report about this on the following link:

http://www.ifamericansknew.com/download/ap-report.pdf

One startling fact is that AP reports more Israeli deaths than were in reality.

After the Sunset

The other day, I finished watching After the Sunset on DVD, it is a good grand robbery /romance movie with a few funny moments thrown in for good measure. Salmah Hayek was very sexy. And Pierce Brosnan's acting was his James Bond usual.

This movie is not new. But you can easily find it on DVD.

Wasta

I know that it is not funny. But despite my blog being excellent it would seem that I will need a Wasta to get myself on Jordan Planet.

I did send a request for blog approval 50days ago. But I think they were "closed for prayers" or something.

So I sent another request a few days ago, but it would seem that they are still "closed for prayers"

Of course, there could be other possibilities, like for example being gone for vacation or being closed to show solidarity with the Lebanese people.

Other excuses that come to mind is that the people in Jordan planet have an ongoing plumbing problem in their offices. Or they lost the fight against roaches and now the roaches have eaten the CPUs in their computers.

If I were pro an Alien conspiracy explanation I would have speculated that they were abducted by aliens. Alas, that is not the case.

Anyway, I am just hoping for a wasta to get me on Jordan Planet.

I watched Syriana

I finished watching Syriana on DVD. It is a good movie. While some people might say that it is mainly about the global oil industry, I beg to differ. In my own opinion, this movie is about how America runs the Gulf states in the middle east. After you watch it, you will be able to tell why Hugo Chavez is so much hated by the US government.


I am not a conspiracy theorists of any sort. But I have no doubt in my mind that the US Government uses very ethically questionable methods to get what it wants, be it oil or anything else.

George Galloway is Kool

George Galloway was somewhat aggressive during the interview. But he made very good points regarding the conflict and it's roots.

Hope the link works.

Watch the Interview

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article14391.htm

Salad house

Last night, I went with my friend Alaa to the Salad house near Crumz and Wox. The salad bar was great and it had shrimps, calamari and crab.

The only problem is that with tax and service, you will end up paying 10JDs.

AP's News Coverage Is Not Only Crap But Is Biased

Associated Press's news coverage of the events in Lebanon is totally biased.

AP wrote: "Hezbollah guerrillas unleashed their deadliest barrage of rockets yet into northern Israel, killing at least 12 people"

It failed to mention that the people killed were not civilians but reservists wearing military cloths and ready to leave to southern Lebanon to do military operations.

Also and I will quote again here from the AP regarding the new proposed UN resolution:

"Hezbollah and its allies rejected the draft resolution, saying its terms for a halt in fighting do not address Lebanon's demands"

While in reality it was the Lebanese Government first that refused the new UN resolution based on the fact that it did not call for a cease fire and for Israel's withdrawal from the Lebanese towns it currently occupies after the offensive. Also it did not call for the immediate release of the Lebanese prisoners held in Israeli prisons since many years.

Based on the above, I must say that, Joseph Panossian the writer of the cited article is really biased and does not engage in any form of fair or proffesional reporting.

For once, Kofi Annan was Ok

Today, during an interview with Al-Jazeera, the UN secretary General, refused to call Hezbollah terrorists and said that they were different from Al-Qaeda.

I Went To A "Vigil"

Last night I went to a "Vigil" in front of the Lebanese embassy in Amman. There were around 300+ people mostly Arabs, but also there were a few Australian, New Zealand, American and EU people.

The event lasted for close to 90min. The candle I was holding kept dripping hot wax on my hand. But that was Ok.