Lebanon's Sects... Metaphorically

For the sake of delivering my point, metaphorically, let’s start with some artistic visualization of something we’re looking at; a green drape lying peacefully all over the extent of the plain (how’s that for an artistic start, God help the one who continues reading). Colored flowers, 18 colors to be exact (I hope you know what I mean by the number 18), breach the uniformity of the green landscape. Some colors are more abundant than others, but each in their appropriate place forming a brilliant mosaic (yeah yeah the cliché that should apply on those 18). Moreover, some mountains are surgically positioned to show the magnificence of the image itself. Now that’s too peaceful and artistic, so to add thrill to this post there’s a volcano (now that’s one multi-purpose metaphor) just on the edge of this landscape. 

You're free to choose the volcano's severity; a level 8 perhaps? A level 14 might suit it better? A level X?

Such a landscape needs to be taken care of. We’re too busy with our everyday lives, we delegate, let’s get someone to take "care" of it!

The person(s) we made responsible of it (the image) doesn’t lack taste neither. Since they call the SHOTS now and we’re too busy with our own lives (especially the multi-colored flowers thing, it can be so distracting), they decide to add stuff there, just to get a SHARE of the overall work. They started to shuffle the colors (damn, now we’re even more distracted with this thing), add some trees (nice touch), a bridge maybe... But something jumps out… They’re adding a lot why not start their changes by REMOVING that volcano lying there?

Now IF they were doing the adding, it would be somehow easy to forget about that volcano but knowing the sarcasm of life, instead of adding, they're removing (everything except that volcano)… They suck the life out of it! But we’re too busy with the flowers thingy so let’s just hire them again. It takes time finding replacements, it’s scary to have to change...There’s this flower colors thing we’re too busy with for now!!

Let’s just blame them and make them give us promises that they’re going to change … Yeah this would be much more suitable if we don’t want to blame ourselves!!

Now… Do you get the BIG picture?

The Rise of Social Media

First, here’s what you get when you type the query “define:geek” into Google :

Eccentric; a person with an unusual or odd personality

Ever since I was introduced to the social media world (thank you @TamaraHamdan), I have found that a Geek's actual definition is: intellectual and highly educated person, with very interesting ideas to share.

The world of Social Media (really interesting/entertaining presentation about SM) was created because of such people (hope i am not exaggerating), especially that if a person posts about something it’s more likely for people to believe them instead of any advertising campaign just because there’s a certain trust bond that have been created amongst social-networking tools that a thousand street-side banner doesn’t provide.

Blogs, are one of the things that are considered a powerful social media tool, much more powerful than industrial media. First having an online journal that just talks about whatever you like:

·        You have those that are fanatics about a specific subject

·        Those blogging just to share ideas and/or broaden their knowledge

·        Those that blog because they wanna show the world a potential in them

·        And any other blogging reason (which proves the versatility to blogging itself)

This characteristic of being able to share any idea whatsoever without having anyone looking at your blog with a prejudice (unless you intend to have a specific audience rather than another) gives u advantage over the commonly spread media (since media sources always belong to someone/thing) due to the bond that it creates with the readers. Moreover, it creates an indirect advertising tool based on a trust factor rather than the large scale corporate propagandas that sells u high expectations only. 

Another thing that makes blogs, and all other social media/networking tools, great tools is the fact that you can interact with them; in terms of social interaction. This is something you can’t do with a banner or a TV commercial!

The Social interaction in question isn't like the one that exists on some networks (I am in a relationship with X, I have been tagged in Z, etc…). An interaction regarding published opinion about a certain product/place without all the lying and deceit u get from the normal advertising campaigns (depending on the blogger of course).

Now that’s one aspect of the geek world, but there’s that whole "physical" part of this world, when cyber-interaction becomes a friendship that expands your circle of acquaintances when some gatherings are organized where those passionate about this world get to meet and discuss things face to face. Hence building further that trust factor, giving credibility to the blogger by giving him support by other bloggers on that blogger network.

Companies are increasingly using bloggers to promote their products or ideas, because of that new social level of trust they have amongst their readers (u might wanna check those stats.). But what’s really amazing is that blogging becomes personal, and it’s rare to find people that betray the trust their “followers” have invested in them to promote something in which they are not fully convinced of (at least I hope). So i guess the future (or present depending on how you look at it) is reserved for what we can call the advanced form of "word-of-mouth" advertising.

Thanks goes to @NoisyThinking for giving me the idea for this post!

Sect Lie ON!

Years pass and the formula never changes, it is the same basic recipe with the combination of salt and pepper varying every couple of years or so...it s AUB elections I’m talkin about!
Well it s true that elections there are old news, but why are they significant these days??
It s because they clearly show how low Lebanese politicians can go! Yeah low by allowing the dominance of the fraudulent sectarian political system we have over STUDENTS' elections, which are supposed to be democratic, transparent and student representing! Where is the democracy, if students vote as they r "ordered" to vote, and candidates quit bcz "higher authorities" obliged them to? Where is the transparency if u r deceived by students claiming INDEPENDENCE while they are actually supported by a political party or another?
How ashamed i feel when i c flags for political parties waving on campus and cars outside the university with pictures of political leaders mounted on them and some aggressive sectarian songs being played. And how ironical it sounds when these students whom we r depending on for a new democratic and free political regime in Lebanon and who are supposed to be open for change, and more enlightened than their ancestors turn out to be just blind followers when it comes to politics.
I mean politicians do know that whether they get 10% or 100% of the USFC seats in the university, we will remain under the under developed countries, we will still have electricity and water issues and we will never get rid of the political conflicts we have among each other!!So can anyone explain what s the point behind all that ??!
Really, I dnt know if we can still hope for a change in the new generation and wish for less bias, less sectarianism and more impartiality since students elections show the opposite of that, students elections that reflect the nature and flow of any future governmental elections. The same thing happens in university, parliamentary, municipal, syndical elections (and the list goes on). No one talked about finding a solution to the inflation of the tuition fees, the nature of life at AUB nor any humanitarian aspect of the famous AUB experience...it's just about colors, who can scream louder, and wonderful slogans that are good for nothing other than being trashed (what usually happens after any electoral process).
And in case ur still wonderin about the title, it is an anagram of elections, or what I sadly consider a synonym for all kinds of elections in Lebanon!

Lebanon and Telecom...The Saga Continues

I was a bit reluctant regarding the subject of this new post. The fact is that while doing some surfing/reading I came across an interesting finding to which I couldn’t give a valid explanation. Even though what I am going to talk about ain’t exactly confidential since you can get it from many public resources; its subject on the other hand is a bit sensitive.

While I was reading about the telecom sector in Lebanon; its birth, development, progress, future plans, etc…  I came across a weird document that dates back to 1997 (before 8 and 14 of March in a looooong time). It was a decision taken by the council of ministers back then to accept a tender from one of three telecom equipment providers (I will not state the providers names, but I assure you that you can find it out with some minor research).

Page 1 of the Decision

Page 2 of the Decision

What’s the big deal about it; Lebanon needs telecom equipment and we have to get them from abroad! I totally agree… But what’s worth mentioning is the following:

1. One of these 3 companies was enlisted on a report prepared by “maktab moukata3it 2isra2eel” or Israel Boycott Office (and still is).
• The bureau is affiliated with the League of Arab countries.
• The Bureau has been established in order to produce quarterly reports regarding the names of the companies that have direct involvement from/with Israel.
• It is stated by law, that any company with its name on that particular report cannot be introduced to the Lebanese market without a formal decision from the council of ministers.
• To know more about this bureau, check out the last two paragraphs on the below link: http://www.lebarmy.gov.lb/PrintArticle.asp?id=12458
• The Full Bureau policies and rules are under this link (PDF).
2. The decision taken on that day is to allow that one company (whose name is in the banned companies report) to be introduced to the Lebanese market, and not the other two whose name isn’t on that before mentioned report. 

Now, with all the hassle about spying in Lebanon, and the security breaches; shouldn’t the required authorities (if they haven’t yet) investigate if any hidden spying ability was/is installed into the equipment delivered to us? Or simply the reasons why this chosen company has its name enlisted in the Bureau’s report. And that’s some of many questions one should ask oneself.

Excuse the quality of the pictures...

When Nature Turns On its Lights

Nature's own theater unfold above you as the most spectacular light installation takes the stage: it is Aurora Borealis or what is known as Northern lights! Scientifically, the aurora is natural light viewed in the sky (and mainly in Polar Regions) due to the collision of charged particles directed by the Earth's magnetic field. This phenomenon is commonly visible between 65 to 72 degrees north and south latitudes, which place them in a ring just within the Arctic and Antarctic polar circles. Poetically, "No pencil can draw it, no colors can paint it, and no words can describe it in all its magnificence."-Julios von Payer; and “casually”, it is the most marvelous thing you can ever see in your life (well in my opinion!).

Now, where and when to see the northern lights (whether to propose, or for mediation or… whatever) ??

The best place to watch northern lights is above the Arctic Circle in Northern Norway, and they are most frequent in late autumn and winter/early spring. However, no exact time can be given; it depends on ur luck and patience!

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GThxWmmvvk&feature=related

Aurora Page: http://www.geo.mtu.edu/weather/aurora/

Privacy on the Net? Yeah...Right!

Nowadays, when there’s the slightest wink of a security threat on the internet, everyone starts worrying about their privacy, in terms of what they discuss online, or what type of browsing they do. Most importantly it’s about their entourage, especially with the blooming of social networking, not only details about who we are is conveyed, but also about the places we visit, about our friends etc…

We are all worried about these things (especially if the country we’re in puts some thought-expression bans). This got me thinking about privacy overall, which reminded me of when the blackberry service was on the verge of being halted in some of the countries of the mid-east. Everyone went on to be all angry and upset because of that. Did we think about the reason? Why did they want to stop the service?

They didn't want something they cannot monitor.

Now what makes it surprising is that we, the people, were all happy and glad when they declared that blackberry ain’t gonna be banned. But did we pay attention to the reason? 

Interim servers were installed (in accordance with RIM) that allows eavesdropping and monitoring.

Even though I personally consider that no matter what the security protocols were, anything passing through the internet cloud is vulnerable, is compromising anyone’s security. But what’s worth noting is that huge expansion of some companies to scary proportions:

Back in the days	Nowadays
	I wish it would fit here! Check it hereunder.
Yeah it’s not that accurate but it’s just about the amount of info disclosed.

(Click to enlarge)

My point is that with the massive amount of applications developed by internet giants, privacy is becoming marginal. Not in terms of violations, or information selling, it’s just that everything about us is conveyed to one company, on one server! This makes our information much easier to access; whether it was by people that perform identity thefts, random hackers, or simply people that are interested in knowing about you “unconventionally”.

I guess that since we cannot live without connectivity to the world, to our friend and family… we should follow what Google has once implied (thanks @Dar_El_Akhdar for the info):

Watch what you talk about on the internet. You don’t want it to get out; don’t say it!

An interesting link to show you how much privacy is at risk is Google transparency, this is the definition of Google transparency as stated by Google on the site itself:

"Like other technology and communications companies, we regularly receive requests from government agencies around the world to remove content from our services, or provide information about users of our services and products."

Antimatter Breakthrough: A Step Closer to Starships?Or a la Dan Brown?

What is Antimatter?
Anti matter is, as its name suggests, the opposite of matter as we know it. It's composed, in plain words, of negative charges trapped on the inside, surrounded by positive charges, which is the exact opposite of matter and how we know it. Due to its composition, it cannot be produced and maintained because once it comes in contact with matter, that is any existing thing on earth (air, water, glass, human beings, dust.......anything u can think of!) is gets annihilated and it produces energy.
Hence it's hard to acquire anti-matter because the instant it comes in contact with matter, it disappears.
The energy it produces is pure and 100% efficient so using this technique of creating anti-matter and make them collide with matter would produce an amount of energy that we can use to power up anything! (we just have to ensure stability).

On November 19, 2010 Scientists have succeeded in capturing those elusive atoms of the famous antimatter at last. Although the discovery may be considered as a breakthrough of sorts, as far as science is concerned, the prospect of using the antimatter particles to steer a space ship or to fuel a bomb a la Dan Brown’s ‘Angels and Demons’ still seems to be far away (but not from sci-fi movies).


http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2372994,00.asp
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/sci-tech/scientists-succeed-in-trapping-antimatter-in-a-breakthrough-experiment_100462295.html
http://www.freep.com/article/20101121/NEWS07/11210497/Antimatter-reality-far-from-sci-fi

How to Avoid #KE7 Moments!

I've had an interesting jump start for my week...I took part of a coaching session. Coaching is different from training because the session isn’t about giving you any extra knowledge, it’s about bringing out what you already know and build on it.
It’s all about how to act to at least minimize that negative energy you’re surrounded with everyday.
Identify whether you have a healthy personality by answering the below questions:

1. How much you can see the good in others personalities'? 
2. The degree to which you can forgive? 
3. How much can you get along with all types of people 

After doing that...and here comes the theoretical part to which we all nod our heads and agree, but to go from theory to practice is what's really tricky. Change is so resented by people even if it was from the worse to the better, but thank God we have that 21-day rule to which it's wildly observed that if you do something for 21 consecutive days it'll become you habit (just Google "21 days habit theory").

Start by minimizing the effect of those top 8 reasons of negativity:

1. Inaction feeds fear 
• This negative source needs a lifetime to conquer, as stated by the coach (emphasis on coach and not trainer) 
• Just one word of advice: whenever you are down, GET BUSY! 
2. Blame 
• A human being is built with an automatic blaming mechanism 
• Try to assume responsibility of a mistake or a failure because it makes you gain the respects of others 
• taking the blame for something (if you were truly the person to blame) is an injection of positivity because it removes that teasing sub-conscious feeling of not doing the right thing 
3. Lack of consideration 
• It's something you cannot control, you simply can’t control the emotional pressure of being left out or neglected. (imagine calling 2 friends simultaneously and find out they're together at the same place without u) 
4. Accumulation of disagreements 
• I think it speaks for itself, and it is something you can definitely change 
5. Insecurity 

• You always rely on something/someone to make u feel more secure 
• Financial independence is way to feel secure, always manage to at least save 10% of your salary (no matter how much is your salary), just consider you are in debt to yourself, allegedly you'll feel better since you gain a feel of accomplishment 
6. Backbiting 
• imagine the following: 
• X: "this dude stinks, he's pigheaded, arrogant, so uptight and I simply can't stand him" 
• Y: "Man!! I totally agree with u, not only that but he's also sooo mean and stupid!" 
• Z: "Just ask that dude for any favor, he'll happily do it for u!" 
• well imagine the astonishment on X and Y's faces 
• What Z have done is adding a positive side to the discussion disregarding the fact if he agrees or disagrees with X and Y's point of view... He saw the good in that dude in question, hence lessened the tension and the indirect/direct effect on that dude! 
7. Worry 

• To deal with worry you should deal with ONE worry at a time 
• Write the worry on a piece of paper in the below advised method: 
• Identify the worry in max 2 words 
• identify the worst case scenario 
• write down: " I ACCEPT IT" 
• apply the mini-max principle in which you minimize the worst case scenario 
• By doing the above, you sub-conscious will automatically start giving you better ways to deal with that worry, not solutions...simply better ways. 
8. Guilt 
• Mom: "just remember that you have a mother, walaaaaw!!" 
• The reply to this is in two forms: 
• Form 1: 
• Son: "Mom I never forgot you and you know that I love you so much it's just I had so much work to do" 
• Mom: "you couldn't find a moment to talk to me?" 
• Son: ..... Well u know how things will go from now on! 
• Form 2: 
• Son: "Mom I am coming to see you right now" 
• In form 1, you opened the room for more blame and guilt just because you did what's natural to do and is defending yourself. this would lead to more negativity and stress 
•  In form 2, you simply assumed the guilt, and you're going to deal with it directly 

I wish I can tell you I have tried to change those things...I haven't, just took those guidelines today.
This is believe it or not a shortened version, if u want the full 22 negativity reasons you can find them under the below link:
http://www.4shared.com/file/XFc9aC35/How_To_Avoid_KE7_Moements.html
or just tell me on the blog

Cigarettes to carry grim warnings

You know these little warnings on cigarettes: "Warning: Smoking Kills" "Warning: Smoking causes health issues" etc...
Well they're bringing it up a notch, the FDA says that ads and packages must feature large images depicting various dangers linked to smoking, something that will oblige the smoker to really get "disturbed" each time they wanna smoke.
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/nov/11/science/la-sci-1111-cigarette-packages-20101111

Lebanon and the Speedtrap Fever

Speed traps are active in Lebanon... A step further in the development process that this country is having. It's great having finally a way to enforce law to ensure our safety, but on what expense? Are these new laws made just to keep the flow of cash running to the gov or is it truly to maintain the safety of the Lebanese people?
Let's put aside the roads condition and how unsafe they are, let's put aside the fact that some cars are a hazard by themselves just because they still run on the streets, putting aside the "weird" way each and every one of us gets his/hers driving license, let's put aside the driving signs that need a major makeover especially those regarding speed limits (one of them installed near the Sanayeh Garden in Beirut says that the top speed is 20 Km/h, if i leave the car running without accelerating, 3al avance ya3ne, it has a speed that exceeds 20 Km/h!!)... Putting aside all of these, and assuming that this step of activating speed traps is somehow enough (adding to it discipline from drivers around Lebanon), why is the only news we heard, so far, were about statistics:
On the first day 3630 tickets
On the second 1500 tickets
In Zahle 250 tickets per day
What about the accident rates? The mortality rates? The hazards? Did they drop?
I don't wanna sound pessimistic... I just hope that this step taken to really organize driving in Lebanon will not be another file in a cabinet!

A Few Questions

What Works Differently on Full Stomachs, Young Women, Some Asians, and Aspirin Takers?
what Extends Your Life—Kind Of?
What Doesn't "Kill" Brain Cells, but Does Inhibit Them?
What Makes Other People Seem More "Intentional"?
Finally what is a Terrible Sleep Aid?
Well all these question are about Alcohol just check out this link and find out "What Alcohol Actually Does to Your Brain and Body"?
http://lifehacker.com/5684996/what-alcohol-actually-does-to-your-brain-and-body

Facebook Email Rumors

Now Facebook goes for a full email platform, now the curious thing about this is that they are talking about tight integration with their social network, which will be totally different from gmail and hotmail. Some sources from within facebook's ship stated:

"The updates at the scheduled Monday event would bring more than just e-mail, the sources said. These too weren't explained, but they would "greatly expand" communication on Facebook beyond the simple instant messaging, direct messages and wall-to-wall posts that define Facebook today."

Check out that leak on:

http://www.electronista.com/articles/10/11/13/more.facebook.e.mail.details.leak/

My First

It wasn't until I became started tweeting regularly that I valued the importance of a blog. i decided to start a new blog, Simply golB (simply blog was taken :p ). i hope I'll make it useful for some, it'll contain in addition to some personal thoughts news from around the web... Am just gonna try to bring some of the scattered news around and post it.
You will also find a weekly free app you can download (mainly utilities) that u might find useful.
I would appreciate any help you can give me to get me started.
Enough chit-chats and let's get the blogging started!