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Archive for August 2006

Veil versus English: Just as silly as you are

In Personal on August 30, 2006 at 10:22 am

One of the most entertaining gigs about cyberspace and the blogosphere is the way you can study people without ever meeting them. You learn a lot that way, maybe not everything, but a lot.

For instance, I log on to chat with strangers and somehow there’s this one person who’s got wits and who throws in some intelligent remarks. It proves to be fun to word play with this fellow then at one curve of the conversation: “Are you veiled for real? How come your English is so good then?”.

How is what I put on my hair related in any way whatsoever to my linguistic abilities? Maybe they expect me to tie my English-speaking tongue to the veil (A self-professed Arab liberal’s fantasy).

Then the conversation shifts in a way as the stranger tries to fathom how in good heaven’s name I can be a girl, veiled, open-minded, and speak English all in the same package. I used to want to understand how so many people make the false connection (or disconnection) between said elements, then I realized it is just the way they think. Crooked.

This Veil versus English and Veil versus Thinking stereotype is absurd and is ironically promoted by the self same people who announce all the time, whenever they get a chance, that they are against stereotypes and are liberal. It seems to me they don’t understand what being liberal is all about, and I find it glaringly obvious to everyone else how shamefully blind they are.

I was once looking for a place to sit down and read by the U of J’s Languages Centre. I went to the spot where I always “hang out” and I found this girl and guy talking just beside it. I wasn’t really bothered by that as I had an exam I needed to study for. The couple seemed your pick of hip, stylish, and modern youth, and they were talking in English. As I approached I heard the girl say “It’s OK, she’s veiled so she won’t understand us“.

And I speak five languages, Ms.Shallow. (My French is kept in check)

Now the Languages Centre at the U of J has this reputation of being the ultimate hangout for the liberal lot (how stereotypical!) but what’s so hilariously pathetic about the affair is that most of those who sport the image are absolutely clueless as to what it means to be liberal and they do some serious damage to it.

Then of course you have the good old blogs where polarization is the fashion in all seasons. You find the awkwardly and excessively religious maniacs (Who oppose girls being online for example and call for a mass massacre of the infidels in the Land of Electronica), and the foolishly and seemingly-liberal (Who unleash their hounds on you should you object to their views and would brand you a backward religious cave man/woman in a second while still maintaining they’re liberal).

The way I see it, it is this black – white distinction that is harming us all. It’s this “I am right, you are wrong” attitude that prevents so-called liberals from accepting veiled and yet open-minded and educated girls, and their opposites from accepting the same specimen. It’s almost like Russia and the US back in the day. I am right, you are wrong – end of discussion and let the world burn.

When I meet people who say they hate the veil, I ask them why they hate it. They often answer on behalf of someone else using stories of girls forced to wear it and stories of girls who are shallow and oppressed for wearing it.

When I meet people who say a woman must wear a black tent from head to toe, I ask them why she should. They often answer on behalf of someone else using stories of girls who were raped and lured into sin and stories of catastrophe to come if women don’t wear tents.

Do you see anything missing in the equation?

I am a veiled girl and they do not speak for me. It is me they are telling stories about and it is me they are fighting over.

Now stop it, take your tags off my back and fight over someone you “own”. I can speak English and I can speak for myself.

Italian films in Amman: Giovani autori del cinema Italiano

In Italiano on August 28, 2006 at 11:10 am

The Italian Language and Cultural Centre, Società Dante Alighieri (Comiato di Amman), presents “Giovani autori del cinema Italiano”. The event started on June 19th, and featured several films over the past two months.

The two remaining films I will go to are: I giorni dell’abbandono on September 10th, and Tutto l’amore che c’è on October 3rd, 2006. The event is hosted at Al Hussein Theatre – Ras Al Ain, and the films run at h. 20:00.

Here’s the flyer (Grazie prof. M.L.I):

For more information, you can call Società Dante Alighieri at 4640350 or cell: 079 6345129. The Società organizes events and Italian language and cooking lessons. It’s located in Jabal Al Lweibdeh close to the French Cultural Centre.

A presto!

Hello! Hello!

In Metablog on August 26, 2006 at 12:34 am

It’s been a year since Tololy’s Box was born and I can’t believe it’s been that long.

Last summer I decided to start a public blog, this was some sort of “phase two” of my blogging life. I had read that to perfect your writing you need to write on a daily basis, so I grabbed myself an account at Blogspot.com and announced the birth of Tololy’s Box like this:

Hello anonymous readership!
I think I should share some basic info about myself with you…just to let you form a mental image about the person behind the words.

Back in 1984, I celebrated my coming to life with a cry and a slap on the butt.
I think I’m as human as they come. A humble balance of good and bad, saint and sinner…
I am a Jordanian/Circassian young woman…and I study Modern Languages (namely Italian/English/Hebrew/Japanese) … I chose this major simply because it was,at the time that I got to pick,the most reasonable option. I had had a notion some four years earlier that I would like to study Italian… well when I got squeezed I chose it. I am ever so glad I did, this major is culturally enriching in ways I never imagined possible.

I am currently in the states but I’m heading home soon… and it’s odd how much I miss home. It’s true what they say, you don’t realise what you got till it’s gone.
Enough of all the puffed up talk. I love animals. I just terribly adore them, mainly felines & reptiles… chances are I’ll have a cat or a reptile pet any time of the year.

I have a taste for the finer things in life,I love art history and mythology and I always try to read up about them..but you can never read enough now can you? Literature interests me and some of it affects me deeply, I read Arabic and English literature…Oscar Wilde and Khalil Gibran being my all-time favorites.
I must also confess that I enjoy intelligent people immensely…A good brainy conversation is such a rare thing , I’m both blessed and lucky because I came across some extremely intelligent people in my life… and they just keep me going.

Now my blog will probably contain entries that deal with issues on the personal level,be they inner thoughts and/or feelings or some events that I find personal and would like to share with you, my readership. It will contain entries that deal with life in general and others that quote articles or link to websites… I might even post some of my writings here! Just about anything and everything….

I started blogging in January,2004 on a different site. This was the right time to move my blog, I thought, a week ago, and here I am. On a last note,this is an introductory entry so don’t quote me just yet!

The first two comments I got on that entry were from Roba and Lina, and that was such a nice gesture from them.

What’s very fascinating to me is how I have come to grow and document that growth, so to speak, through my Box. I could physically feel the changes my personality and my writing, as well as my choice of topics, have undergone in the space of this year. This is my social experiment.

Do you remember how the old Tololy’s Box used to look like? In case you’re not old school, or you have a poor memory, this will help refresh it for you:

Tololy's Box 1.0

Ah, the scent and feel of the old days, it’s pure beauty. Today I celebrate with you year one of Tololy’s Box’s life, which will extend until I run out of ideas; a highly hypothetical situation like I told Kinzi my friend.

I have been committed to posting one entry a day throughout most of the past year but now with the new pace my own life has taken, the Box will follow a new routine. I will try to blog twice or three times a week, but that is not a rule. I will no longer limit myself in posting rules, that challenge is over and won.

What’s left for me to say is to thank each and every person who has taken the time, at any point, to read into the Box. Your time is a great gift, one I would never have dared ask for. That is not to forget your support and the amazing exchange of knowledge that you afforded me. I am much obliged to all who read my mind, all who commented on it, and all who dropped me their minds.

Welcome to Tololy’s Box, dear anonymous readership.

Amnesty International: Deliberate destruction or “collateral damage”? Israeli attacks on civilian infrastructure

In Opinion on August 25, 2006 at 11:49 am

As covered by media, Amnesty International’s August 23rd report on the Israeli aggression war over Lebanon goes out to point Israeli lies to the naked eye of the public. It is imperative that you read this report and understand it well, if need be, print it out and run the numbers time and again in your head. I shall quote some bits of the report, they are not as long as they seem.

“The Israeli Air Force launched more than 7,000 air attacks on about 7,000 targets in Lebanon between 12 July and 14 August, while the Navy conducted an additional 2,500 bombardments.(1) The attacks, though widespread, particularly concentrated on certain areas. In addition to the human toll – an estimated 1,183 fatalities, about one third of whom have been children(2), 4,054 people injured and 970,000Lebanese people displaced(3) – the civilian infrastructure was severely damaged. The Lebanese government estimates that 31 “vital points” (such as airports, ports, water and sewage treatment plants, electrical facilities) have been completely or partially destroyed, as have around 80 bridges and 94 roads.(4) More than 25 fuel stations(5) and around 900 commercial enterprises were hit. The number of residential properties, offices and shops completely destroyed exceeds 30,000.(6) Two government hospitals – in Bint Jbeil and in Meis al-Jebel – were completely destroyed in Israeli attacks and three others were seriously damaged.(7) “

“Israeli government spokespeople have insisted that they were targeting Hizbullah positions and support facilities, and that damage to civilian infrastructure was incidental or resulted from Hizbullah using the civilian population as a “human shield”. However, the pattern and scope of the attacks, as well as the number of civilian casualties and the amount of damage sustained, makes the justification ring hollow. The evidence strongly suggests that the extensive destruction of public works, power systems, civilian homes and industry was deliberate and an integral part of the military strategy, rather than “collateral damage” – incidental damage to civilians or civilian property resulting from targeting military objectives. “

On the topic of war crimes, and Israel in this field has not been cheap in granting us material, AL states that:

“It is also forbidden to use starvation as a method of warfare, or to attack, destroy, remove or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population. Some of the targets chosen – water pumping stations and supermarkets, for example – raise the possibility that Israel may have violated the prohibition against targeting objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population.

Israel has asserted that Hizbullah fighters have enmeshed themselves in the civilian population for the purpose of creating “human shields”. While the use of civilians to shield a combatant from attack is a war crime, under international humanitarian law such use does not release the opposing party from its obligations towards the protection of the civilian population.

Many of the violations examined in this report are war crimes that give rise to individual criminal responsibility. They include directly attacking civilian objects and carrying out indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks. People against whom there is prima facie evidence of responsibility for the commission of these crimes are subject to criminal accountability anywhere in the world through the exercise of universal jurisdiction.”

The report looks on the grave damage caused by Israel in all aspects of life in Lebanon; water facilities,ports, hospitals,roads and bridges,airports, communications,civilian homes, electricity and fuel supply, and the environment.

On blockades:

“Any vehicle of any kind travelling south of the Litani River will be bombarded, on suspicion of transporting rockets, military equipment and terrorists.”

Leaflet addressed to “the Lebanese people”, signed the “State of Israel”, 7 August 2006(35)

Here’s the link to the full Amnesty International report:
Israel/Lebanon
Deliberate destruction or “collateral damage”? Israeli attacks on civilian infrastructure

Need I remind you that Israeli planes violated Lebanese skies, despite the issuance of the UN Security Council resolution 1701 on August 11th, 2006, which in points 3 and 5:

- “Emphasizes the importance of the extension of the control of the
Government of Lebanon over all Lebanese territory in accordance with the
provisions of resolution 1559 (2004) and resolution 1680 (2006), and of the relevant
provisions of the Taif Accords, for it to exercise its full sovereignty”

…and

“Also reiterates its strong support, as recalled in all its previous relevant
resolutions, for the territorial integrity, sovereignty and political independence of
Lebanon within its internationally recognized borders, as contemplated by the
Israeli-Lebanese General Armistice Agreement of 23 March 1949″

On that, read this (published in the UN News Centre on August 19th,2006):

“The Secretary-General is deeply concerned about a violation by the Israeli side of the cessation of hostilities as laid out in Security Council resolution 1701statement. Adopted on 11 August, that text mandated a halt to the fighting which took effect three days later.

There have also been several air violations by Israeli military aircraft, according to the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which is helping to support and coordinate the Israeli withdrawal.

Mr. Annan said violations of Security Council resolution 1701 such as the Israeli raid today “endanger the fragile calm that was reached after much negotiation and undermine the authority of the Government of Lebanon.”

Now, give a round of applause to your incompetent media, ineffectual leaders, and dwindling humanity.

Behold: Casualties of war

In Personal on August 24, 2006 at 11:04 am

Tips for caring of freshly pierced ears

In Body Art on August 23, 2006 at 9:57 am

I’m sharing what little tips I have with anyone who has just recently gotten an ear pierced, or is planning to. This all comes from personal experience, to put more advice out there on this subject since I realize how hard it is to find practical suggestions online. I should note that this advice is mainly for cartilage piercings, lobe piercings tend to heal very fast and do not hurt half as much.

Prephase:

1- If you’re planning on getting pierced, try to do it before the weekend. This would help you avoid additional stress or pain. Going to school or work could cause additional stress you could do without. If you are a veiled girl, you should make this your top priority. Try to avoid putting anything on your head for the first days, getting pierced right before the weekend is a great idea. Stay home and let your ears adjust.

2- This will hurt. No matter how many people tell you they didn’t feel a thing, and I realize people’s pain tolerance levels are different, but you can expect at least some “uncomfortable” feelings. Be prepared and be determined; initial throbbing/redness in your ears will occur once your body feels the shock and this may last for some time. It’s all worth it though.

3- Think very well before you go get pierced. You would not want to go through the pain only to remove your jewellery a month later, now would you?

4- Have the person who’s piercing you mark the place they will pierce, or you mark it for them to show them what you want. Don’t assume that they “know”, they don’t. Make sure the dots are aligned properly as you want them, if you’re getting multiple piercings, also make sure none of the dots is too close to the outer edge of your cartilage (that hurts and causes problems).

Postphase:

1- Don’t touch your ears and avoid bumping into anything ear-first (Big mistake). Keep your hair away from your ears because if you don’t your hair will get stuck in the jewellery and removing it will hurt.

2- If you’re in too much pain after you get pierced, put ice cubes on your ears as that will ease the throbbing. Pain killers work as well.

3- Don’t even consider cleaning your ears with anything but very gentle soap and water. No alcohol, it will cause inflammation and unnecessary pain.

4- Don’t sleep on your sides, obviously. This will take some time for you to get used to but you will have to cope with your new situation. It will be a couple of weeks, up to a month or two, before you can sleep on your sides and on your ears again.

5- If you’re a veiled girl, you will go through double the trouble because of the pressure the veil puts on your newly pierced ears. Try to wear very loose veils and try to minimize the pressure.

6- Once your ears hurt less, which will be in a month’s time or so, you could put in smaller jewellery. That actually helps since the holes will shrink and heal faster (unless you’re stretching). Personally, I change from the thickish medical earrings to much smaller gauge rings as soon as I can even if the process hurts a lot. What works for me might not work for you, but that works brilliant for me.

7- Once your ears heal totally, you can experiment with jewellery. But initially you must stick to sterling silver, gold, or platinum because they usually don’t cause irritation.

I hope this helps you make a better decision and care better for your ears. Lovely sparkles, shine!

Applaud Arab Americans

In Culture Arabia on August 22, 2006 at 9:42 am

From ancient times Arabs have been an integral part of the world culture and knowledge base. Arabs invented the cipher and decimal system, scientific and mathematical breakthroughs in theory and inventions. There are about 3 million Arab Americans. As a community, they have demonstrated loyalty, inventiveness, and courage on behalf of the United States for over 100 years. Kahlil Gibran was an artist, sculptor, poet and philosopher, who was also the original author of the words made famous by President John F. Kennedy: “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country”.

- Source

Some websites you should be checking:

- NITLE Arab World Project - This web site aims to bring a wide variety of resources on Arab culture and civilization to your computer

- The Arab American National Musuem

- Arab & Arab American Culture

What’s missing in our schools?

In Education on August 21, 2006 at 11:52 am

I’m writing about the five most important elements missing from Arab educational curricula, and I would like to see if what I have thought of so far is accurate enough (Think Jordan for now):

1- Skills of debate
2- Scientific research
3- Sex education
4- Practical, hands-on, active learning
5- Therein lies the puzzle — Help needed on this one.

Any thoughts?

You fit into me by Margaret Atwood

In Literature on August 20, 2006 at 9:33 pm

You Fit Into Me

You fit into me
like a hook into an eye

a fish hook
an open eye

هل كان الفلاح بدوياً؟

In عربي on August 18, 2006 at 10:31 am

إذا كانت الحضارة أصلها بيت الفلاح, فما هو أصل الفلاح و ماذا كان قبل أن يكون له بيت؟

This morning’s meditation

In Life on August 17, 2006 at 11:50 am

I ordered a sandwich and a Pepsi this morning from a food car, for breakfast. There weren’t many buyers around but the cash register was down so Mr.Food selling man was writing down the orders on small cards instead and doing the calculations using his brain power.

This morning was hot and I had been running around for two hours or so, therefore I was somewhat tired. I stood in line waiting for my turn to place my order to come but there he was: the bulky guy in the second-skin top.

This is some aspect of the human nature that I do not understand; why do some people feel an undeniable urge to cut lines? I sincerely cannot fathom this.

So Mr. bulky guy in the second-skin top (a most disturbing sight, to tell you the truth) clearly saw me waiting for my turn, which was at this point only one guy away, but nevertheless stood on his tiptoes, stretched his arm up with one JD, arched it in such a fashion that it flew over my head, and displayed an anxious/starving look on his face.

I was disgusted and consequently gave him a “You’re rubbish” look and then ignored him. My order was placed before his, obviously.

It’s these little things in people that pertain to significant mentality backwardness symptoms that disturb me most of all, but until mentalities are fixed, there will always be a bulky guy in some second-skin top that will want to cut the line and will get the “You’re rubbish” look, or a fist in the cheek.

Bloody twisted

In T Play Box on August 16, 2006 at 10:26 am

This material you’re about to be enlightened about should not be viewed in the best intention or by minors. Do not share this link with your little sister or any one of your parents no matter how much you dislike them.

I cannot express how fantastically out of this world JoeCartoon is. This is the one and only site where you meet the all-too-famous stoneflies, Joemomma, and lickin’ toads. The language is not user-friendly, so if you’re too sensitive for some fun you had better keep out of the Joe kingdom and suffer utter ignorance that will still torture you on your death bed.

Drama? The patient get to see more.

I propose you start with the stoneflies, and if that passes smoothly you may want to check Joemomma’s featured content then you, umm, take it from there if you’re still not totally grossed-out.

This is a website I grew up loving. Stoned flies? A frog in a blender? Gerbil mania? It’s a bloody mess – one day I will have my plush SuperFly doll and my own nutty toy factory. Mark my words.

Knock yourselves out, everyone!

Alt School Arabia

In Education on August 15, 2006 at 8:13 am

A new project promising change and progress; Alt School Arabia.

The way we educate our youth is the way we shape our future.

In a region such as the Arab World, where education suffers from major gaps in promoting key values such as democracy, tolerance, and the skills of debate and scientific research, it is imperative that the situation be remedied.

Because inanimate information transfer is the dominant technique used across Arabia, poor education results and mediocre levels of progress distinguish the outcome of schools and universities. It is not the brains nor the desire to learn that are missing; it is quality education that allows active learning and student participation in the educational process.

Luckily, advances in technology and telecommunications provide outlets and ways around obvious educational glitches. Online courses and discussion boards are one form of this ongoing revolution, search tools and interactive applications are another.

The AltSchoolArabia Project is an attempt at providing a trusted source of interactive learning tools for Arab learners via the World Wide Web. It is a project that aims to bridge the gap between current educational policies in the Arab World and what learners need to learn to be active citizens of the 21st century.

Alt School Arabia (1.0) is launched. Suggestions and ideas are welcome!

It’s here: Adiga music sample

In Love on August 14, 2006 at 4:36 pm

Do you remember when I spilled my heart out about Adiga music and how much I completely adore it? I think I managed to upload a sample of Adiga music that I always listen to and I want to spread the love. Indulge your senses…

Adiga music sample

Birthday yummies

In Personal on August 13, 2006 at 9:18 pm

My sister is so talented with foods and sweets, she’s just gifted! Everything she makes is ultra yummy and super cute. Check out those pictures of what she made for my birthday, I love! (She takes orders by the way)

Cupcakes1.JPG

Cupcakes2.JPG

Lion-Cake.jpg

Lion-Cake-2.jpg

The birthday girl

In Personal on August 13, 2006 at 12:35 am

It’s my birthday today, I love the attention (of course, I’m a Leo!) and the warm wishes of friends and family, and the presents too! (I still don’t understand the passing of time but that’s a topic for another day).

As part of the ongoing fiesta in Tololy’s Box today, some really awesome features were added and some of the errors are magically gone! We at The Box love our readers- Feel at home and join the party!

Today, I celebrate my birthday with my cat buddies who are throwing me an out-of-this-world bash right here in The Box, please join us as we rock the house…

Techno Cat

Rock Stoner Cat

Metal Cats - Bob your head

Stevie Wonder Cat

HouseCat.gif

Hip Hop Cat

iCat

Never submit, ye ladies

In Opinion, Wonder Woman on August 11, 2006 at 10:06 pm

By way of a friendly suggestion of a reading, I came across an article one could call controversial but a bit on the disgusting side as well. I’ve thought a lot about linking back to the article, only to reach the conclusion that if I do link back to it, or quote it, I would be granting a sexist supreme more exposure than he probably ever deserved. Therefore I will not link to or quote this individual.

What seems to be the point of the article, other than the author stressing that he is being a “man” by ignoring women’s emotions and cheating on his wife then allowing her some rough sex, is to affirm that women secretly crave tough cave men who could walk out on them any minute while publicly sustaining that they want the Hugh Grant sensitive type.

The only point I could agree with is that some movies sell the ultra-sensitive always-there-for-you man image that rarely if ever exists in straight men who are not declared hardcore submissive. I’ll give the author of the article that, and the rest of his alleged affirmations about “what women want” are baseless since, I hope, he’s a man. At least that’s what he likes us to believe.

This brings me to the use of words and the representation of his views. The style in which he expresses himself is as if he is stating undisputed facts, he seldom uses the words “I think” or any that demonstrate that he is expressing his own opinions and views. He rather says “women want this and that”, and “women don’t want this and that”. How do you know what women want? Is it because your wife lets you cheat on her and then make rough love to her and ask her “Who’s the boss” while you’re at it and force her to say YOU? (He said this in his article). Really, who are you to know what women want when what you have at home is a doormat, not a wife?

Calling a man of that type a “man’s man” is a horrible distortion of men’s images. Sincerely speaking, no man should approve of this lest all men be branded utterly sexist and inconsiderate. What is wrong with this person, I reckon, is that he thinks he’s God’s gift to women and that he knows what’s best for them, (walking out in the middle of a conversation, telling them to “shut up” when they’re talking, dominating them in bed, making them feel inferior, making them feel they cannot do without his presence in their lives- to name but a few examples from the article) while what he’s missing is the big picture. God would not send men as gifts to women; we would appreciate a gift certificate much, much better.

What’s most amusing, and I am using the term quite loosely here, about this person is that he affirms in two separate occasions that his wife is a strong and intelligent woman and that he loves her. It’s as if he’s dismissing any ideas we the readers may have of her as being “submissive, stupid and unloved”. Well I am sorry but that is a hard case to win. If a woman is smart enough to run her own life she should know her worth and not stay in a relationship that runs in “his” favour all the time, if she is capable of carrying herself as a modern woman she should not submit to the desires of a sadistic male who could not care less about being faithful or considerate, and if he loves her he would treat her like a human being and not like an object he owns.

At one point of his article this person admits that his wife is more successful than he is, and older than he is. I’m leaning towards the possibility that his dominance in the bedroom may relate to those two facts. Momma’s boy? Jealous of her success and sex is the way you assert your own self and your own success? You need professional help. Just don’t go around telling women what they want. You are clueless as to what women are. ( We do have souls, by the way).

I must admit I am infuriated by this person’s article (note the absence of the word “man”). It saddens me to think that in many relationships the man rules and the woman only obeys, and the man thinks it his birth right to run the show from A to Z and the woman just takes it as if this was true. What ever happened to a relationship being a mutual effort, a mutual passion, a mutual experience? What this person is trying to sell is the old fashioned outdated “I’m tha man” scenario that we have come to discover totally useless.

A word to the wise, Hugh Grant may play too sensitive roles but he’s in demand more than this bigot. Trust me on this one, and get me dinner, boy.

و لو؟

In عربي on August 11, 2006 at 7:33 pm

نفسي أنزل على السوق أو أروح محل و أسمع ناس بتحكي أردني. وين الناس يعني و لو؟ حلو التنويع بس اشتقنا و الله زمان! إنو شو يعني هيك صرنا أميركا؟

…and the image was shattered

In Bits & pieces on August 10, 2006 at 6:48 pm

“Pathetic” is the only word I can think of right now. Pathetic applies to many people I met (some of whom I am forced still to meet which disturbs my mind and my stomach, let alone my eyes and ears) and to many events, but at this point I can only think of this word because that’s how the world seems to me – utterly, completely, perfectly pathetic and unworthy of any other description unless you slice up my brain and study the flood of electrical pulses inside and find a word more on the wretched side than pathetic.

I say we have a little competition. Give me that word if you so can!

Galloway on Lebanon

In Opinion on August 9, 2006 at 2:47 pm

Wish our decision makers are this solid in their points and eloquent in their words. Go Galloway!

I’m on CNN? They must know better than I do, shush!

Leaving

In Life on August 8, 2006 at 5:21 pm

There comes a certain time in our lives when we feel that most of our friends and family members are leaving, either physically or emotionally. Leaving can mean relocating, which could also entail those people starting their own families for instance and not having as much time for us, or dying, or simply emotionally changing in a way that puts them at a distance from us.

A number of my own close friends are leaving, each with a newborn plan and a promising future ahead. Janet, who is a great girl I am blessed for knowing, is leaving to London. Yanal, a unique character and the kindest person, is leaving to Australia. My best friend will leave in due time to Kuwait and my other best friend left and returned from the UK.

It’s an ongoing cycle, people leave and others come in to fill a certain void the earlier departure has created. I do not promise they can replace those we’ve lost but they sure do provide something we cannot do without and usually bring in a little something extra.

I reckon the reason I am sharing this is a specific need to understand the way life seems to be unfolding before my eyes at the present time. Here’s to a feeble attempt at narrating an episode of a “Why am I not blogging as much as before?” series…

Leo

In Bits & pieces on August 6, 2006 at 6:25 am

Digging in my closet, I found a small treasure- My Linda Goodman’s Sun Signs (The Pan Books Ltd 1972 edition). I flipped the pages and remembered just how much time I used to spend reading about certain signs of people I was interested in and imagining things. This was nice, it made me smile. I am sharing a couple of excerpts on the Leo woman.

There’s a story about a noble Frenchwoman, who turned to her lover in the gardens of Versailles and asked, ‘ Darling, do the common people know this exquisite emotion of love?’. When she was assured that they did, she cried out in injured surprise, ‘ It’s entirely too good for them!’. She was probably a Leo.

In the area of faithfulness, the Leo woman may remind you of the old toast, ” Here’s to me and here’s to you, and here’s to love and laughter – I’ll be true as long as you – not a single minute after”. Enough said.

Beirut in black and white

In Life on August 4, 2006 at 4:49 am

Sabah Al Khair Ya Beirut (Good Morning, Beirut)

Sabah Al Khair Ya Beirut – Good morning, Beirut

-Naji Al Ali

Qana; as real as it gets

In Opinion on August 3, 2006 at 4:05 pm

Just when you think the world has reached the final,most atrocious prejudice against most causes related to Arabs and Muslims, it stuns you with a tad more of manipulation.

I was browsing the net casually and I came upon some blogs that claim that the Qana massacre was staged by major news agencies. It’s actually funny when I reflect on it since I also read that the picture capturing Israeli kids dedicating rockets for Lebanese children were also “staged“.

Now the word “staged” sounds to me like a focal point in those extremists’ vocabulary. It’s almost as if their message to the world is: If we do something wrong, and you find out about it, we’ll just claim it was “staged“. Some people do not get to see these things LIVE on their TVs, so they’ll be convinced of our super lame fabrications. Oh, and if anyone else does something to us, and you dare say it was “staged“, then you will be branded as being anti-semitic (Yes, we monopolized semitism a long long time ago. Arabs are really semitic too since they’re our cousins but we don’t like them much so we took the title for ourselves).

Via KABOBfest, I could not have said it better myself: (”His” and “he” refer to the author of a blog called EU Referendum).

“The basic premise of his argument is that the timestamps accompanying the posted photographs represent when they were taken. Thus, the aforementioned photos were taken from 12:45 pm to 4:30 pm, therefore there must have been some chicanery.

First of all, to the able-minded, when presented with such a range of timestamps, the normal conclusion drawn is that the times do not represent when the photographs were taken, but rather when they were posted. It’s difficult for me to imagine how somebody could, instead, come up with the argument of EU Referendum – without doing any basic research to verify the ill-conceived notion – that, clearly, Hizballah, the Arabs, and the wire services have colluded to shock the world.

Second, the timestamps do represent when the photographs were posted, not taken; this can be established by comparing the times accompanying photographs between different wire news providers. (for example, compare Yahoo with the Corpus Christi Caller Times). They post at different times, and that is why the same photographs will have a different time stamp on different news sites.

Finally, here is the easiest and most dispositive proof. Let’s take a look at a photograph that EU Referendum cites. He claims this one was photographed at 4:09 PM ET based on the Yahoo News timestamp. It’s quite possible that Richard thinks that the Atlantic is a river, so there must be a trivial, if any, timezone difference. There’s a seven hour difference between Qana, Lebanon and the Eastern Time Zone. Thus, that 4:09 PM time that he references would mean the picture was taken at an actual time of 11:09 PM. Simply impossible – there would be no daylight.

Similarly, he shows us that this one was taken at 4:30 PM ET, which would be 11:30 PM in Lebanon. Finally, he points to this photo, which he claims had an original timestamp of 7:16 pm corrected to 6:46 am. The link he provides does not direct us to the right page, however a simple search of Yahoo News (his source for the photographs) leads us to this same exact photo, and the only one of its kind with the caption he copies-and-pastes from Yahoo News. The timestamp is 6:58 PM ET, July 31st. That would place the actual time of the photograph at 1:58 AM, August 1st, a full two days after the massacre.

Of course, this could be Hizballah’s version of “Pallywood,” right Rush Limbaugh? Clearly, this “rubble” and these “dead children” were actually photographed in a Hizballah studio emulating a daytime setting in Qana. AP, Reuters, and AFP are all in on this scam that took place over three days, from July 30th through August 1st. It’s all part of that godless liberal media’s war on Israel, the U.S., and democracy.”

- Source (KABOBfest)

One last thing, now who’s being the paranoid conspiracy theorist? Pathetic.

Alla Leopardiana

In Italiano on August 2, 2006 at 6:44 am

Ritratto di Giacomo Leopardi

Strana è la nostra vita, strana è la Guerra, e la condizione umana che non si comprende mai.

Il mio pessimismo è cosmico in questi giorni, non è che avevo tanta fiducia nell’umanità prima però quello che sta succedendo nel Libano non è una cosa normale, non è una guerra qualsiasi che passa e basta ; è una vera crimine contro l’umanità, l’umanità di oggi, del passato, e delle generazioni del futuro.

1. Il “Pessimismo Storico” si basa sulla “Teoria delle Illusioni”.

Indagando sulla causa dell’infelicità umana, il Leopardi segue la spiegazione di Rousseau, e afferma, con la sua “Teoria delle Illusioni”, che gli uomini furono felici soltanto nell’età primitiva, quando vivevano a stretto contatto con la natura, ma poi essi vollero uscire da questa beata ignoranza e innocenza istintiva e, servendosi della ragione, si misero alla ricerca del vero. Le scoperte della ragione furono catastrofiche: essa infatti scoprى la vanità delle illusioni, che la natura, come una madre benigna e pia, aveva ispirato agli uomini; scoprى le leggi meccaniche che regolano la vita dell’universo; scoprى il male, il dolore, l’infelicità, l’angoscia esistenziale.

2. Il “Pessimismo Psicologico”. si basa sulla “Teoria del Piacere”

Partendo dalla riflessione sull’infelicità, elabora la “Teoria del Piacere” che diventa il cardine del suo pensiero: secondo questa teoria, “l’amor proprio” porta l’individuo ad una richiesta di piacere infinito per intensità e per estensione; poiché questa richiesta non potrà mai essere soddisfatta interamente, l’individuo, anche nel momento di maggior piacere, continuerà a sentire l’assillo del desiderio non colmato. Questo assillo è di per sè patimento, sicché l’individuo, anche quando non soffre di mali materiali, è in stato di sofferenza per la sua stessa richiesta inappagata. Questo tipo di pessimismo è ben più radicale del primo, perché l’infelicità non è un dato occasionale, ma ormai è una costante della condizione umana.

3. Il “Pessimismo Cosmico” si basa sulla “Teoria del Patimento”.

Un ulteriore aggiustamento della concezione di natura si ebbe quando il poeta spostٍ la sua attenzione dal tema del Piacere, che non si puٍ avere, a quello della Sofferenza che non si puٍ evitare. Anche se l’individuo potesse raggiungere il piacere, il bilancio della sua esistenza sarebbe comunque negativo, per la quantità dei mali reali (infortuni, malattie, invecchiamento, morte) con cui la natura, dopo averlo prodotto, tende a eliminarlo per dar luogo ad altri individui in una lunga vicenda di produzione e distruzione, destinata a perpetuare l’esistenza e non a rendere felice il singolo.

- Riferimento

<blockquote“0 natura, natura, perché non rendi poi quel che prometti allor ? Perché di tanto inganni i figli tuoi ?”

- Giacomo Leopardi, A Silvia

Because I am at loss for words

In Life on August 1, 2006 at 6:18 pm

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مدونون لأجل لبنان