TI3GIB's Junkbox

Get A Room, You Two

2009-03-30T15:10:00.003+04:00

Some of you might mistake this for a rivalry, but those of us who've seen sexual tension can sniff it a mile away, and oh yes, there will be spooning.

Apparently, Emir of Qatar has withdrawn from presiding the session temporarily to take the two to a backroom where they can "settle their differences".

Is that what you kids are calling it these days ? ;)

Eternal Sunshine Of The Dangerous Mind

2009-02-16T23:50:00.004+04:00

There was me. Holding a guitar, strumming along and mouthing the words horribly while "others" looked and bobbed their heads to the music.

Then there was me. Looking at me. Listening to me and enjoying it, until the last few chords were strung out and the guitar was placed on the floor.

"That's pretty good ... What is that ?"

"Ohh, this little band from Leeds called .. erm, Pick Them Up ... song's called Propper Daddy"

------

I woke up the same way people wake up in the movies when they think they have great ideas. The eyes first, without moving anything else, and then a sudden jolt up. I stood up, still half asleep, looking around the room for a second before I located the nearest writing pad and pen in sight. Zombishly walked towards it and wrote down carelessly a line words, set (threw) the pad next to the bed and went back to sleep.

------

There are some of you who know me well enough to know that I very rarely remember anything I dream. I haven't really pursued why that is, but I'm sure it's no more than my dreams being extremely uneventful to the extent that it would silly to bother remembering them, or maybe just a subconcious extention to my notoriously poor (I call it selective) memory. But I certainly remember this.

Now, I have made my best effort in my previous blog posts to perhaps dress up just how deeply twisted, and emotionally unexpected I am for the prupose of passing off as "interesting" rather than the formers, but I'm here today in shock of myself.

I took the words off the notepad "Pick Them Up - Propper Daddy" and googled it hoping to download the song I was "reminded" of in my dream, but came up with no results of such. Tried MySpace, hoping for better luck, to no avail. The song Propper Daddy doesn't exist, because the band Pick Them Up doesn't. I made them up.

The movies have taught us that the majority of psycological illnesses are reactions to deeply intense experiences from the past, present or future. The child whose seen his dad murder his mother later becomes a serial killer. The survivor of a drowning accident develops aquaphobia. But if I fabricated (composed) a piece of music, put a name to it and a band that played it (or was it me ?), what is that a reaction too ? Bad music ? ... Surely, the entirety of mainstream radio is sonic garbage, but does that suffice to qualify as a deeply intense experience ?

I honestly don't know what to say, but I will state the two following things.

I have a newly found fear of myself, not to the extent of having trouble dissasocating reality with subconciousness and vice versa. Surely not the extent that of expressing my "quirk" in any manner that would hurt myself or others, but to that which comes with the realization of the power of the human mind.

and the second being .. Man, does my subconcious write amazing music.

Yours thoughts, please

Badvertising

2009-01-08T02:20:00.005+04:00

A few people on the Omani commentatership webspaces posted sometime ago regarding the phenomenon of online advertising and brand management. Here's my little take on it.

While it seems that the commentaters have had interesting ideas to note out, they all dodged this very little tiny detail that somewhat reshapes the argument.

NOBODY LIKES ADVERTISING.

Advertising is the vilest, most digusting disease that humanity has ever had to endure. I would rather have to face a few moments of the sad, empty, soulless, piss-smelling vomit-filled dark alleyways that is my existance than have to watching your fucking insurance shit between my programming, reading or browsing.

I have never, nor will I ever buy a product because of how well it's been marketed or advertised, and nor should anyone else. A good product sells itself, builds excitment and gets people talking about it and recommending it to each other, and before any of you soul-leeching, cum-sucking little pests that work in marketing parade yourself with the nifty "word-of-mouth" concept you've claimed it with, it's never been yours. It's called craftsmanship, and you've killed it with your life destroing quest of pennies.

I hope you die and I hope the rest of you enjoy the remainder of your day.

How Did You Spend Your Extra Second ?

2009-01-02T21:15:00.002+04:00

A year is 365 days and 6 hours.

2008 was 365 days, 6 hours, and an extra second.

Does it bother anyone that there's an international organization called the Timekeepers that control time ?

If you're wondering ... I breathed in, and hoped for the best.

Say Your Goodbyes, Palestine Dies On January 9th

2008-12-28T10:40:00.005+04:00

Please do not skip reading this

As some of you may have heard, last night, Israel initiated a millitary launch on Gaza, killing in the process more than 270 people so far. Two days ago, I started prepping an article about the potential explosivness of the situation in Gaza, but sadly, I wasn't fast enough as to post it in time, because the foldout has already started.

The attacks have come after the 6 month ceasefire truce, Tahdiyah, between Hamas & Israeli millitary forces expired last week on December 19th. While a ceasefire always seems like a good idea, Hamas expolited this period to recruit and train new personnel, and Israel expolited this period to impose "war" on Gaza without a full blown confrontation.

While a full blown confrontation did not occur, ceasefire has been void by both Israel & Hamas on numerous ocassions. Most notably of which was the November 5th raid by the Israeli air force in which 6 Gazans were killed.

Since November 5th, The dynamics of the Gaza-Israel relationship, for the first time ever, has changed from being based on political rivalry to that based on oppression. On November 5th, Israel began enforcing a seige on Gaza, controlling the flow of water, food, electricity, diesel, medicine and everything else into Gaza. This control resulted in a rapid decrease in the quantites of the above below livable levels.

Food supply is now strained even more than it already was. Oxfam, was allowed an average of 4.6 trucks a day, 20% of what it was in December 2005, which it then considered to be an alarming defeciency of food supply. The UN Relief and Works Agency, responsible for feeding 750,000 of Gaza's 1.6 million citizens, more than half of which are children, was allowed a mere 35 trucks of food supply between November 5th and December 5th. A mere 7% of the required minimum. Food supply from the UNRWA, since December 18th, has completely ceased, leaving the majority of the 750,000 who are solely dependant on it without food since.

The World Food Programme is having simliar restrictions on the amount of food they can send in, also noting that the excess food it's not allowed to send in is being stored in Israeli storage facilities. This alone will cost half a million dollars which by the end of the year, which will now go to the benefit of Israeli businesses rather than being injected into the food crisis in Gaza.

Control over cooking gas is equally unsettling. Because of shortages in Butane cooking gas, 65% of all commercial bakeries in Gaza have had to close down, not only causing major shortages in bread, but also contribuiting to the unemployment problem, now at more than 49%. Similar is expected to happen to the remaining 17-25 bakeries which each of which is expected to provide bread, the main and basic element in food for Gazans, to an average of in excess of 90,000 citizens.

Cooking gas used in poltury farming, has had similar results to the breeding and feeding of chicken, the main source of protein for 70% of Gazans. The FAO predicts that if the cooking gas situation remains as it is, poltury farming will die completely by April of 2009.

Restrictions on cash notes have forced all banks in Gaza to close down on December 4th, which could result in the collapse of the remainder of the financial system. The UNRWA have also suspended all cash flow into Gaza bringing a halt to cash for work, cash for food, and cash allowances (to impovershed or no income households) programmes.

On November 13th, Gaza's only power plant, responsible for a third of Gaza's population has had to shut down due to the shortage of diesel fuel , because of which the turbines have failed, which required ordering in some 100 parts that have to be replaced. The parts are now, and have been for a while, in possesion of Israeli ports being delieberately delayed for custom clearance. It's expected that this will not occur before the 45-day holding period after which the parts will be auctioned, and the proceeds of which will be retained in the Israeli treasurey. The remaining two thirds of Gaza's population recieve electricity which comes from and is charged by Israel. While this source of electricity hasn't stopped (yet), the one million Gazans it serves only have it for 6 hours a day.

Gaza’s Coastal Municipalities Water Utility, a politically impartial entity, responsible for providing water and sewage services for Gaza has also has had to halt services because it stopped recieving funding from the Palestenian Water Authority. The Palestenian Water Authority recieves fuding from the World Bank via the Palestenian Authority in the West Bank, the political rivals to Hamas. The 'Abbas' West Bank Palestenian Authority government exploited it's control over the PWA to use it in it's political rivarly with the Hamas government in Gaza because it felt that a functioning sewage system in Gaza, might come to Hamas' "benefit". Meanwhile, Gaza City, and northern Gaza have only 6 hours of access to clean water every three days.

The West Bank government exploited their control over Pharmacueticals against Gaza in a similar way. Throught November, the West Banks government returned shipments of medicine because the West Bank's storage facilities were filled to capacity, and had no where to store them, while Gaza was reciving little or no medicine at all at the time. Since September, only one truck of medicine and medical supplies was delieverd to Gaza on the last week of November. Gaza's extremely scarce medical supply is smuggled from Egypt, as does the very little amounts of fuel which keep the hospitals running, noting that two of Gaza's major hospitals are now closed because of lack of supplies and fuel.

Come January 9th, Mahmood Abbas' 4 year presidency term will expire. The presidency which was was actually won, in elections, by Hamas, but was not allowed to excercise. The Hamas government will, on January 9th, announce that even if Mahmood Abbas is "re-elected" it will not recognize him as president.

This will in effect be the dissolution of the remainder of any unified relationship between the Gaza Strip and the current West Bank government, or it's mimics. It will be the day that Palestine as we know it will cease to exist.

All while Israel continues it's most vicious attack yet on Palestine since 20 years, while the world bystands not only to killing, but to the disintegration of an entire society.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Due to Israel's ban on journalists in Gaza in the beggining of December, there's little photographic evidence of what's happening in Gaza, but some have surfaced here. These are not for the fainthearted, but I encourage, nay plea, everyone to see them.

Tagged : My Favorite Shoes

2008-12-22T15:42:00.003+04:00

Wow, I bet shoe blogging has never been as popular as it is now.

I have more shoes than heterosexuality usually permits, but I couldn't care less. I got tagged by Amjad to pick my favorite one and put it here, but I've decided to put all the ones I have with me here, here, because A. I don't have a favorite, and B. some of them have mentionable stories.

These are all cloth. The white's a Topman, the green's an M&S, and the black one is just something I wear around the house when it's cold. Story : The stain you see in the black one is from when I spilled extremely hot tea on my foot and had to wear two or three socks for two weeks for it not to hurt.

Black Converse, Blue Converse & A Brown one. There's a bright green one waiting for me in Schuch today. No converse stories.

Left one's an AND1, which I've had for more than two years now, my oldest shoe. I've changed the laces to red myself. The next one's a Vans. By far my most comfortable shoe. The brown one's a Zara shoe that I got a while back, but never got to wear yet. It's comfortable though, and it's velvet. Story : Some dude in an Opeth concert asked me where I got the AND1s from, because they're so old and because of the red laces.

The sports sneakers. Left's a Puma, then a Lionsdale, then a Nike. Story : It was the first weekly football game when I got the Nike for football, turned out three other guys from our group bought the same shoe, same day, from the same place, and we're still fighting over who's copied the other.

I really like this one. I'm not sure who makes it, but the tribal art, and the rustic relic rundown look is really nice. Story, I got this one from Oman, the right pair is one size smaller than the other pair. They knocked 2.5 rials off the price for that. It's a nice shoe, had to get it.

I have quite a few back home, but I can't remember any of them.

Amjad tagged pretty much everyone, so I'm tagging Nella, Firmamental & Threadlike.

Back To Basics

2008-12-22T04:48:00.005+04:00

The Omani commentatorship webspaces have retaliated with admirable force to Majlis Al-Shura's recent recommendations regarding changing the weekend days from the current Thursday-Firday to a Friday-Saturday.

The idea was first introduced a couple of years back by royal decree, and little has been done to it's benefit since. A while back, the banking sector inaugrated the trial to the new system with less than satisfactory results. The frustration of the public is owed to the current 4 day banking week. This would not be the case if the entire country moved to the Friday-Saturday weekend, where the regular 5 day banking week is restored, but the trial shift had not in any way suggested that the transition would be smooth, seamless, or beneficial.

My argument is .. Why bother ? The benefits gained by the transition while valid, seem unattractive enough to make such irreverseible change. If anything, it's going to accelerate downloading more of the traumatized global economy to Oman.

This post, however is not about praising the merits of the transition, or griping it's faults, it's about the Omani web arena's very open contempt to Majils Al-Shura's initative which opposed the shift to grounds of social, economical, and religous technicalities.

It seems that a lot of people simply forgot that these people are elected officials. Electors voted for these representatives affliating themselves to the agendas presented to them during elections, rendering criticism to that very agenda a logical fallacy. Whether this was the way it happened or not, it does not negate the fact that these official are now morally obligated to push forward whatever they were elected for, and if that was absolutly nothing, then the fault is beared on the elector.

Collectively, Shura studied, and discussed, the banking trial and came to the conclusion that the shift is not to our benefit, and that business should proceed as it previously was. Their views are only influencive, and not decisive. It's now up to the case to justify itself, which it's not doing too well.

I think this is a very cowardly move. There's much to criticize about the way our government handles some things, but it remains the fact the public choses not to excercise and deliever this criticism for irrational fear of the concerned officials. I think it's cowardly, because the people who are criticizing Shura this vehemently would not as readily criticize unelected governmental officials who have more influence and blame to some of these shortcomings.

Not only is it cowardly, I think it's also stupid of us all. The Omani public, rightly so, assumes the problem of Shura being the fact that they do not have decisive power and that some of that power should be delegated to them from whomever has it, but we're too stupid to realise that no such powers will ever be delegated if there's no respect to the process itself. If the Omani people show that they strongly prefer, respect and encourage the contribuitive process of decision making, some of the decision making power will definetly be delegated to the Majlis. This is not an egg and chick question, so we should stop making it one.

My name is Mohammed, and I shall be here all week.

Question

2008-12-21T13:19:00.003+04:00

I was wondering here if there's anyone who knows how I can apply for a visit Visa to Israel, Gaza & the Westbank ? and where if possible ?

Thanks very much,

Subtitles

2008-12-21T11:05:00.004+04:00

I just realised something insane about myself. I am obsessed with subtitles. I understand, write, and speak both arabic and english at a fairly comfortable level. There are two things you need to know here. First, arabic is my first language (I think), and second, all the television I watch is almost strictly english speaking.

Now, my interest in american and british programming has manifested quite early in my life. Because, I'm the professional television watcher that I am (fancy words for couch potatoe), I have always been able to listen to what's being said, watch what's going on, and read the subtitles whenever they were available. I didn't need subtitles , but I considered having them a luxury, which I fully intended to use, which I did. Perhaps not intentionally, but I think I owe a bit of doing that to my english getting better and better over the years.

Since then, almost all my television watching is been unsubtitled. Only because it's unavailable, not because I see it less of a luxury now. I'm saying this, because I was watching an arabic video subtitled in english on youtube, and I was reading the subtitles ! ... in arabic !

That got me thinking and made realise that I always prefer to have subtitles activated when I'm watching DVDs as well, even though it wouldn't influence my viewing experience or understanding any more or any less. I even like having english subtitles on, when watching english programming (like closed caption).

God, I'm so quirky it's almost neat.

Who The Hell Is Talal Al-Rashdi ?

2008-12-21T04:52:00.004+04:00

I've been feeling slightly more compelled to posting in the blog these past few days. I gave a look at my stat counter to see what kind of traffic or readership I'm getting. There's a feature within the counter I use that lets me log visits based on keywords that people have used on search engines (like Google) before they were linked here.

I found three really REALLY odd ones, ranked from my least to most favorite.

1. "Talal Al Rashdi Safety"

Seriously, what the hell ? Who in the world is Talal Al Rashdi and why would google associate it me with this person ? Then there's the safety part, which could only mean that someone out there is feeling unsafe from Mr Al Rashdi.

2. "Gay Shatti Al Qurum"

I'm not a homophobe, but would all the closet cases please go elsewhere for guidance on the (thriving ?) gay scene in Shatti Al Qurum or anywhere else.

3. "مختن"

I completely flipped laughing reading this. The word above for those of you pointing at the jibbersh and banging their heads on their desks, it means circumsized. Now nowhere in this blog or elsewhere in the blogosphere did I disclose any information regarding my , errrm, "status" personally or circumcision in general.

Ofcourse there was a myriad of other out-there search keywords, a lot of which included whom I assume are 40 year old's looking for "hot emarati ass" and "dating for love in oman", but hey .. you do what you can.

Under A Rock

2008-12-20T09:07:00.003+04:00

I think it's pretty much decided by now that I won't be going back to Oman for the Christmas. I, instead, will attempt to do some studying (yeah, right), check out the christmas and new year's party scene (yeah, right), and maybe finish a book or two in the four week strech(double yeah, rights). I was thinking about the act of going back the other day and the things that that usually entails.

It usually goes that after a few days of staying home, recovering from jetlag and getting my hair cut to presentable form again, I start calling my friends to hang out with them. Amongst other things, it's customary that a fair amount of talking is done in these reunions where I get reinformed to things that happened while I was away. Now while, a lot of this is gossip about the common social network, a lot of it is also of political, economic and social nature.

That's what this post is about. Me not keeping up with what's going on in Oman. While some of you would argue the extent of which this is effective, I have always felt that my morning newspaper tradition used to put me in a decent knowledge position.

I think it's far from convenient that I go visit all the main newspaper websites on a daily basis only to recieve an anorexic account of the dish in Oman. One would think that with the advent of internet, and the liberties it provides to the publishing and media world, the people working in the Omani publication industry would make the effort to incorporate at the very least the most massly adopted technologies available at this time.

RSS is an example of that. Real Simple Syndication prides itself in being real simple. Anyone who understands the premise of the internet can use RSS to syndicate media and content to a unified depot accessible anywhere where internet is present. Media & content providers are also able to utilize such technology to their advantage. Real Simple Syndication, is not only real simple to use, but real simple to implement as well. Perhaps someone should notify the great folk at the Omani publishing industry (whom I think are doing mighty fine and dandy job) of this and I'm sure very little time will be wasted to get us in correct gear again.

I believe it's fair to say that the region not having showed an interest just yet to New Media is a strongly influencive force to Oman not doing so, but it only takes one to start a trend and starting this trend is well within Oman's ambit.

But perhaps it's not ignorance or reluctance that are bouncing at our technodoors. Perhaps it's the good ol-fashioned way of thinking which take new media not to be any more than a cosmetic affair, which it may very well be at the outer crust and inner crust, but it has to be realised that at the core of new media lies a significantly vital feature, which is archiving.

The simple fact is that the way our media operates today makes it very difficult to properly document and properly archive Polisocioeconomical publication. In turn then making it difficult to publicily access said archives by commentators, analysts, historians and academics for whichever use. We are yet to find out how important that really is.

But until then, don't pull me from under my rock. If something happened, I don't wanna know about it.

The Greek

2008-12-16T22:16:00.003+04:00

The greek have been rioting in athens and all over the country for the past few days over the death of a 15-year-old boy after being shot at by the police. While the riots included opposition against the wavering economy and political corruption, it namely opposed the use of excessive violence by the police.

How you ask ? .. By the use of excessive violence.

But ofcourse, you don't know about this. Seeing footwear thrown at US presidents is just far more dandy.

I recommend seeing some of the photos on The Big Picture.

Mr. Bush, I'm Sincerely Sorry

2008-12-15T08:10:00.003+04:00

I haven't written here in a while, but what I saw today is shocking enough to shock anyone out of blogoslumbers. I'm ofcourse talking about, the shoe thrown at GW yesterday during a visit to Iraq.

I didn't think it was ever possible for the Iraqi people to stoop to a new low, but the traitor, coward, selfish bastards not only managed to conquest new grounds in their eager quest for self destruction, but also managed to drag the rest of us along.

As an Arab and Muslim, I'm completely ashamed at this display. Our tradition & religoun holds immense respect and great pride in how we treat our guests and this was a completey disregard to that.

The Iraqi's show us once again their true colors. We are once again faced with the bitter reality of the mistake that giving the Iraqi's speaking floor was. The speaking floor that remained unused through foreign occupancy, governmental corruption, the masquerade that the trial of the entury was, and the sectatorial laden presidential assasination that followed. The Iraqi's have forfeited their political podium. They not only didn't have the right to use it, but when they did, they used it shamefully. Disgustingly. Foolishly. Ignorantly. Ignorant to how much more powerful and hurtful words are compared to footwear.

Saddam Hussien is rolling in his grave as we speak. Ghandi is rolling in his grave as we speak, and the rest of us can't wait to join them.

The grandest scientific event of this century was is starting, and what are you watching ? .. The stupid fucking Apple Let's Rock Keynote

2008-09-10T18:32:00.005+04:00

For those of you who live with us here on earth, you probably would have known that European Organization for Nuclear Raesearch's Large Hadron Collider 26-kilometer proton smashing machine was inaugrated earlier today for the first test runs.

The 26 kilometer tunnel is created simply to generate two charged protons (positively charged particles) to travel at the speed of light in opposite directions then to only collide in the middle to further break down to other particles.

Scientists believe this process will provide "exciting" knowledge opportunities of the how the universe started, how biological life started and other breakthroughs in physics, chemistry and medicine.

The first test was to determine the machines ability to create and control the proton succesfully and to move along the 26 kilometres. The next test was to determine the same, but in the other direction. Both tests were succesful. Both tests were also streamed live all over the internet, and through various live feeds and it was very exciting watching those.

I'm only glad that this is already greater than anything space exploration has brought to us.

Even google is in on the fun.

Live analysis, and a live feed from the control room of the LHC can be found here

Well Done, Hi FM

2008-09-08T23:36:00.002+04:00

Hi FM Radio on 95.9 have just launched a giveway campaign, promising thousands of dollars worth of goodies ranging from AV equipment, silly plain cash, or laptops throughout the month of September.

I tuned in this morning to the Darren Shortt's Breakfast show from 6:00 to 9:00 and in the course of three hours he gave away 450 rials in cash to 3 listeners, and a Bose discman to another listener. I haven't tuned in for the Kathy Cole afternoon 'big drive back' show which as the Hi FM Radio website indicates has had simillar giveaways.

I have great respect for the the work these guys are doing here. An easy notch up from the Faiq on the Mic show which I haven't listened to since Hi FM launched. Just wanted to alert everyone of the really cool campain.

You can tune in on 95.9 all around muscat, or you can stream a live feed from their website.

أقولكم سالفة

2008-09-08T04:34:00.011+04:00

Inzain. My morning papers tradition has been long left dusting in the uncomplete crooked shelves of my existence (Lovely, innit ?) I had an urge the other day to go through the dailies. These were the dailies of the day in which the Ministry Of Commerce released a statement asserting dishdasha tailors to commit to the 'áccepted' design óf the Omani dishdasha, and not get excessively conformative with the wishes of some of their more creative customers.

I was rather impressed with the decision. It came perfectly preemptive, and the language delivered the seriousness suitable for the sensitivity of the matter.

I was then surprised to see that some of the aforementioned more creative customers, came barking back with claims that new regulations are against personal liberties, not soundly enforceable and out of the Ministry of Commerce's turf in the first place.

I had previously posted a comment in a blog post in which the topic was discussed, after which the blog owner very conveniently deleted, but for the sake of the better good I will repost my comment here.

The argument said that the government putting out a warning like this one is against the personal liberty of choice of clothing. To think that would be utterly stupid, simply because the government CAN tell you what not to wear. Logically, if the government can control what is not to be worn, they can with equal power control what can. The government can choose to decide that no conceivable item of clothing is allowed to be worn (which kinda would be fun), which in effect has eliminated every choice you have of choosing in what to wear. Saying anything against that is a logical fallacy.

I was rather surprised at these people hoping that this would not be enforceable. A completely ridiculously argument easily countered by a simple visit to the nearest dishdasha place.

Then there's Ministry Of Commerce sticking their noses where it doesn't belong. Any money in exchange for a product in Omani territory is the responsibility of the Ministry Of Commerce. This clearly being a quality control measure easily puts it within the leashes of the MOC.

My concern here comes from being a jealous Omani, slightly too attached to a slightly struggling cultural image which everyone else seems to be taking a stab at. People who's little belonging to the land, makes it difficult to see the need for decisions that preserve and echo the makings of our identity to the future, as they have been echoed from the past.

Not only that, but to defend against an icon which has been tampered with only to create a disgustingly vile and revolting hybrid of between some of the greatest things in the world ( Oman ) and some of the very worst. (Kuwait) is just shockingly tasteless.

و السموحة منكم ...

Caramel

2008-09-06T02:13:00.003+04:00

Caramel is the first full feature film by Lebanese director Nadine Labaki. The film, released last year, elaborates on the lives of five Lebanese women and the intersecting themes of their everyday lives.

Despite very limited release, I had watched this film earlier this year when it was released in the UK. A couple of days ago, a friend told me that he had found the film in a group of art movies he got from someone and had never watched it before. I got it and watched it again last night.

I am as ever impressed. The level of production is not only reminiscent of Hollywood's latest blockbusters, but even surpasses the aforementioned. While Hollywood have recently tipped towards hyperscaling to attract attention, Caramel is effortlessly intense by getting the basics of film making right.

The masterful original soundtrack by Khaled Mouzanar (who now Nadine Labaki is married to) is an example of such. The magnificence of blending the Arabic orient and western occidental instrumentation and composition will prove challenging even for the most outrageous cross-genre-bouncers out there. The golden hue of the camera work intensifies the dramatic storyline and the makes the film much more connectible and human. The way all the factors easily fit enriches the very accommodating story. A comical, dramatic and sentimental affair.

All resulting in a distinctly encapsulated experience which I'd easily recommend to any movie lover, wouldn't recommend to someone looking for a cheap popcorn movie.

Watch this movie.

The movie's official website is available somewhere up there, you can buy the DVD here from Amazon, and I'd be happy to upload a track or two off the soundtrack if anyone would be interested in that.

Trailer

Mustafa Jawad Sultan Khalfan Nabhan Are A Cult Of Racist Paganist Satan Worshippers

2008-08-31T15:07:00.004+04:00

How else could they explain displaying the pilgrim wearing negro sons of Lucifer on their newly 'decorated' Al-Khuwair forefront ?

I've Been Saying This Shit Forever

2008-07-22T20:56:00.000+04:00

The "Private Sector" Is Not Working For A Free Market, It's Working Between My Legs

2008-07-22T18:34:00.004+04:00

Seriously, who would want to work for a sector that's named after genitalia ? This is a response to that person that ranted on and on about the so called benefits of working for a free market while I pretended to care about other people's opinions, but was really thinking about girls, guitars and Dire Straits albums

I just wanted to say to that person, and everyone else who agrees with him, that you're completely wrong. I admire the devotion you have for the cause, but I condemn your stupendously poor use of time and readiness to being wrong.

Politics, Politics

2008-07-19T17:58:00.004+04:00

I don't know why I thought that having a read around the interwebs of Omani blogs was a good idea at the time, but now that I'm done, someone's definitely going to have to pay for the frog in the throat experience.

I'm specifically talking about those who commented on the recent Tier 3 drama that had snowballed recently when the US Foreign whatserface filed a report classifying Oman's human rights track record in a less than honorable position, and has recieved admirably responsive retorts in the local media (I know, shocking) and around the rice dishes in majlises all around the country.

Naturally, however, there were a few who chose against seeing the larger picture and chose to blindly agree with the report solely because of it's soundbite-iness, and refusing to look at the debacles context within the larger picture.

I will not comment on the topic myself because I won't say anything that hasn't been said before, but I will say this to those who're less enthusiastic about condemning the report or questioning it's validity. Just shut up. Your arguments are ill informed and your politics are severely distorted.

Life's too short to dance with fat chicks.

مب كيفكم احط تايتل و لا ما أحط

2008-07-19T05:18:00.005+04:00

I've been taking Bahraini lesson ^

I'm bored, and the blog's under some serious LOAS (Lack of Appreciation Syndrome), and I'm just sick of Amjad's ridiculous two liner blogs. Which pretty much adds up to everything sucking endlessly.

So I'll do the natural thing and consider deleting the blog for good, but then I remind myself of how much buttons I'll have to click for that. Please note that I'm now 19 years old, not 17 as the profile suggests, and that's 4 clicks, 5 tops. Maybe a couple of key strokes.

So I'll just fiind something to bitch about for a few minutes before I try to go read something that I might trip on and hurt myself badly on if I didn't (all the unread books go on the floor, along with everything else).

So you should have understood by now how this blog really works (you should have also noticed by now that I start every paragraph wih so). I usually find something to bitch about and try to resolute to learning something new about myself through it, but I'll make an exception for this post. Partly, because I don't wish to expand on one of a lot of particular of the many that are bothering me now, and partly because favouring one thing by hating it more would only make me hate the unfavoured less, and if we've realised anything from post dated 29th August 2007, it's that I hate everything that I hate in a perfectly proportional to how much they suck.

So I'll save my and yourselves a lot of time (Honestly, I just want to make more self-loathing time for everyone) and tell you new realizations that you will oblige to agreeing with me on blindly.

Things that are utterly and completely an absolute waste of precious brain cells :-

Greek Mythology. Sigmond Frued. Muscat. University Admission "Officers". Shatti Cinema. Oman Mail (or whatever they're called). Oman Mobile. Nokia. Apple. Samsung Airconditioners (Don't ask). Range Rovers. Range Rovin' Drivin' Cocks (I wouldn't do the victory dance just yet, Porsche Cayenne, you're right up there) and Amjad.

Now please post something purposeful in the comments section. I've been reading your comments lately and if I didn't know there will be a lot of clicking involved, I would have cleaned the place up a little.

Later Losers.

p.s. It must've felt great when Bill Hicks found out that he was gonna die from cancer and got up on stage and took the piss on everyone.

Farewell Mancester, You've Been Sexy

2008-07-17T19:18:00.003+04:00

I got the bad news a few days ago. I will not be returning to Manchester. I got a conditional offer from them back in April but unfortunately I couldn't meet their required academic standard. Had there been some room for tango I would've rang 'em up and tried to work out something, but unfortunately they're fully UCAS-committed and negotiation is out of the question.

I've already secured a place in another university, and I'm talking to two other universities to see if they might be interested in offering me a place as well.

Manchester, You've been great.

TI3GIB >> TIZGIB

2008-07-11T17:04:00.003+04:00

Ti3gib's nickname has now officially been changed to TIZGIB. Thanks to the Filipino lady at the Oman Bowling Center in al-Khuwair.

P.S: I was supposed to post about this last week, but I totally forgot about it.

Random Thought

2008-07-04T01:02:00.001+04:00

Jackie Chan turned out not to be dead, but I'm still hoping he'd stop making movies. Especially ones with Owen Wilson.

Bea-Tagged ... By Amjad

2008-06-08T01:24:00.004+04:00

See what I did there ? .. Cute, nah ?

The task:

# Pick up the nearest book.
# Open to page 123.
# Locate the fifth sentence.
# Post the next three sentences on your blog and in so doing...
# Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.

Been studying for my finals, so the nearest book to me right now is a text book. Business Studies (Third Edition) by Dave Hall, Rob Jones & Carlo Raffo and on the 123rd page it says ..

"A Business is made up of sub-cultures which coexist. Sometimes these are in harmony, but sometimes in conflict. There may be differences of interests and opinions among different groups. As a result, cultural practices in companies are interpreted in different ways by employees. These may not always be those intended by management. For example, a profit-sharing scheme may be seen as a sign of equality by one group. Everyone gets a share in the profit, not just management and shareholders. Another group, however, may see it as a bribe for employees to conform with the company."

You brought it unto yourself, taggers.

----------------
Now playing: The Mars Volta - Asilos Magdalena
via FoxyTunes

Oh Great .. .

2008-06-02T11:39:00.002+04:00

I just started getting sick of my 'Punk is not dead' t-shirt, I can push it for a few years and replace the Punk with Net.

Off Digg.

Don't Send A Stupid Omani Businessman To Do An Indian Geek's Job

2008-05-29T20:30:00.003+04:00

Was browsing this, The website of the newest addition to the still boring city of ours. Obviously, the website template (which on it's own is quite shameful to a project of this caliber) was handed over to some stupid fuck that can't even walk a computer mouse.

Hey .. At lease we know where the punch line will be waiting, we just have to wait for it.

What A Wonderful World (2)

2008-05-29T17:15:00.004+04:00

I don't have readership, but if I did, most of it would be a transferred fanbase from a local forum EnglishSabla which I used to be a celebrity in (The sole purpose of this entry is that sentence).

Anyway.

At home, not in the mood to do any studying, just having read my entire RSS subscribed feeds, I thought I'd give English Sabla a visit see how they're doing without me (tripping over each other btw).

I see this Dunkin' Donuts Opening Soon !, just a short while after having seen this

Isn't it a wonderful world ?

Wigga Guy Outs T-Pain

2008-05-26T22:43:00.002+04:00

You probably heard about pitch correction, but I seriously love the presentation this guy does. Really sells it.

The Saddest Most Bizzare Thing Ever

2008-05-20T22:53:00.002+04:00

The Most Bizzare Thing Ever :-
I walk into class, and there's a clock facing down somewhere around the seat i take in the back (because I'm one of the cool kids), I pick it up and thing's freaking out. The minutes dial is completing an hour in about 30 seconds. It was before class had started so I walk up to the tutor and tell him "uhh, dude .. we're in a time warp or some shit". He then explains that the clock is one of those radio controlled ones and there is no signal inside the building so all the clocks in the building are acting the same way.

He then tells us about when he first bought these and saw them do what they were doing. He took them to the building engineers for advice and they told him that they need to take all the clocks 'for a walk'. (Outside. Where there is radio signal).

Isn't that like totally the most bizzare thing like ever ?

The Saddest Thing Ever :-
Imagine a person walking down the street. A handful of ropes in each hand, dragging behind him .. Clocks.

If that's not sad, I don't know what is.

Ok, but can we have sex later ?

2008-05-20T22:45:00.003+04:00

Ok. So I'm in the library, minding my own business (that's what libraries are for, right ? -- what do you mean books ?) and this chinese (asian, whatever you call them .. the smelly ones) chick approaches me, and goes "ekuge meh, is can you help me widees ?" and throws some economics shit in my face.

The thing is, I recall similar situations where my classmates came for tutional guiadance with a simliar style of approach (Yes, I'm a god here) but I don't know what gave anyone the impression that I'm running some kind of charity service. I neither look like a might have a clue or helpful, so it's just bizzare that I get approached this way.

Morale of the story. I Rule, you suck and the world is at extreme disharmony. (Is this being a forced blog (verb) obvious ?)

The Cock In The Mouth Of Generation : Inaugural

2008-05-06T08:38:00.005+04:00

Ok, so I have a 1000 word essay due 4 hours, and I haven't started. Don't bother telling me to start now, because it's 5:39, and my life works in 30 minute increments. It means that I can start doing things either at the zer0-minute of the hour, or 30 minutes in.

Anyhoo, this gives me 20 minutes (05:40), and I just have a few rants in me that've been bottling up and listening to too much Whitesnake gets unhealthy after a while. Here goes.

Every where I go, I see you people. I don't think you even know that there's anything wrong with you. I thought you rarely say anything new because you have nothing to say, but I just realised that there's a cock in your mouth. A feeding tube that injects a drug into your tiny flaccid minds. A tasklist that tells you to think what you think, say what you say, watch what you watch, and listen to what you listen to, and like sheep you follow. That's all you are. Fucking sheep.

I don't know whether I should feel sorry for myself for having to live around you, or feel sorry for the single original thought you have a year which eventually dies out of lonliness. What really saddens me more than anything is you thinking you have choice in anything. Your life is merely a playlist, and you're just waiting for the next movie, song, and opinion to come along so you can hibernate back to your oblivion.

Running out of time. Will Continue later.

Certain Incredibly Sexy People Celebrate Their Birthday Today

2008-05-04T09:47:00.001+04:00

No. Not Adriana Lima. Her's is on June 12th.

I'm A ...

2008-05-02T22:11:00.004+04:00

I'm great with my hands, terrible with tools, I want to be naked all the time, I have hair all over my body (oh yes, there too), my grip is naturally curved, my walk is funny, my frame is boxy, I'm sexually aggressive and socially repulsive, I dry hump anything that moves (and a few things that don't), I don't have an eating schedule and I eat whatever I want to whenever i want to, I love eating with my hands, my hair is terrible (bad hair decade) and when people see me they tend to want to pet on me.

I think I'm a caveman.

Backstory : I just got a pigeon hole file organizer (file trays). It came with 3 trays, two stools, three bars and a few screws to put it all together. A 5 minute job took me two hours, and the stools are all bent and scratched up. Getting the job done however made me feel like I'm contributing to the success of my neanderthal race.

Ronnie

2008-04-29T06:44:00.000+04:00

Bad ass. Seriously.

Thanks To Google AdSense, Whatever Remaining Creative Output Energy I Had Left In Me Will Now Go Into My Secret Porn DVD Rating Blog

2008-04-25T07:01:00.004+04:00

Dare I say, my longest title ?

Anyhoos, friends, you probably all have noticed that I spend very little of my very little output into maintaining a quality blog, resulting in an experience lackluster compared to that of the greatly exaggerated ti3gib experience. One of which, I can confirm, is special, but far from the epic proportions that are advertised around.

I had prepared a follow up to the very popular Ti3gib's Guide To Dating Khaeegi Girls (4 Readers so far, a personal record), but because Google's AdSense advertising that was my pathetic attempt of monetizing my internet experience, I can just push you to the right corner of the page and not update for a while. Again.

The following picture will definitely put the missing sense into your slightly confused faces.

Needless to say (but I think I'll just go ahead and say it) , These ArabLounge have will land you a greater opportunity of courting a Yemeni girl than my method ever would have.

The Only Way Oman Will Win Khaleeji 19

2008-04-24T03:58:00.003+04:00

In the last two Khaleeji tournaments, Oman reached the final match and lost in both occasions to the host. Supporters claim that the winning-host theory along with the reached-final one, we have a greater chance than ever to, for the first time ever, win something.

However, with the humiliating display the national team put in their last matches, I have strong doubts of that happening. I am not here to thwart that possibility crushing our dreams, but I'm here to offer not only a fail-safe solution but the only way for us to fulfill that dream.

I have embeded a video that will best explain what I have in mind. Please observe the little boy wearing the blue outfit, we will be calling him Hassan, and he'll be representing the rival team. We'll also be calling the boy in the brown-ish dishdasha Ahmed, and he'll be our national team. I want you to closely observe what happens.

You can, at the beggining of the video from 0:00 to 0:12 see the superior playing skills of the rival player. He plays in a much more dynamic game and a greater energy. Infact, so dynamic and energetic that our national player is no where in the image.

We only appear in second 0:13 of the video with a weak dribble that leads to no where and is soon recovered by the rival player. You can tell how out-of-place and distraught our national player by his lack of orientation skills, where in second 0:21 you see him clearly heading away from the game, while the rival player appears miles away from nowhere in second 0:21 and stands there without movement, as if mocking our national player.

However, what happens next is fascinating and very aligned with our culture. You see, in Oman we're notorious for being magicians, wizards, m3alems and sa7ara, and that's exactly what happens in second 0:27 while we apply a previously prepared 7urz (3amal, spell) to the rival player.

And not only that, but we also prove it's worthiness by kicking the ball from right under the rival player's feet and looking back at the audience (second 0:29) for a victory smile. And victorious we are indeed, the rival player not only does an unwillingful handball but also admits it by shouting "Ahhh, Waish 9ar ?!" in disbelif (Translation : What happened ?!).

But no, we don't stop there, we further proof this great skill by making the rival player carry the ball to our national player and sets it perfectly on the floor for our national player to finish it with a winning goslin second 0:31 right out of the hands of the rival player.

Munthir's magician friend is our only hope.

Note : If you're wondering what's going on with the kid in the white dishdasha, he's Kuwaiti, that's why he's depressed, and ostracized to himself to a life of sodomy and drugs.

Ti3gib's Guide To Dating Khaeegi Girls

2008-04-24T02:55:00.011+04:00

Okay, so I'm sick of all my Arab friends telling me about their relationships issues, so I this is a guide that will assist you in picking up a sex partner for one night. I'm a guy, so my expertise are those on how to pick up girls, but if there are any girls that would like to share their experiences with us, please feel free to do so.

Omani :-
Follow her in your car. Think of what you're going to say. Ask friends A about her name. Call your friends B and ask if they know a , and what they know about her. Call her on the phone, and talk to her for months, make sure to use fancy language like Bella La Rose, and City Centre.

If you're lucky, it shouldn't take more than 3 months before you get rejected and she moves on to the next guy.

Success rate : 0%
Verdict : Don't bother, it's easier getting to Queen Elizabeth's room in Buckingham Palace (this is not an invitation to do so, we do not endorse this action).

Emarati :-
(This only applies to the rich emirates) They're fairly easier, the only thing you need to worry about, is to avoid harassment charges. Here's an easy game that will always win you the Emarati girl, it's called "My Dad Is Richer".

You need a rich Emarati kid (the first person wearing white in your admist). It's simple. The first one of you to go through the Bentley dealership, buy a Continental GT, and totals it over crazy driving wins. You may get extra points if you do drive on 2-Wheels before you total the car.

You get the girl by boasting about your win and this always works. However, the results may vary with hybrid Emaratis.

Success Rate : 0%,
Verdict : There is no such thing as Emarati girls, there's only Emarati-Iranian-Moroccan-Omani-Indian Hybrids, and this won't work on them.

Qatari :-
Ok. You court a Qatari girl the way you court any girl in the world. Only you do it in Milan, carrying her shopping bags, holding her phone to her face while she alternates between talking to her friend Farah in the Paris branch of the same botique store you're in and feeding her grapes. Peeled grapes.

You can also grab her jaw and move it up and down to chew the chewing gum in her mouth for extra points.

Success Rate : 50%
Verdict : Good luck.

Kuwaiti :-
Smiling at her would be more than enough.

Success Rate : 100%
Verdict : Always gets you laid.

Bahraini :-
Ok. Kinda hot and not too hard to court. Find out if she's Shiia or Sunniya. Give her a call and bash the opposite sect and smooth sailing from thereon.

Success Rate : 99%
Verdict : You tiger, you ;)

Saudi :-
Do this

But I have some suggestions to enhance your chances. I strongly suggest changing the soundtrack before presenting your display of high speed acrobatica, and for god's sake, make sure the driver of the vehicle has the hazard blinker signals on, you don't want her thinking that you're crazy or something like that !

Success Rate : 1%
Verdict : According to various fatwas, the girl must be accompanied by a Muhram while being on the YouTubes, so honor that rule.

This concludes our guide to Khaleegi girls, please return soon for other nationalities. I look forward to all the "int chelb wo ma mtrabey, jileel il 7aya" comments from all the angry Khaleegi girls that I've "conquered"

Maybe Da2et Fi Wishoh ?

2008-04-18T05:27:00.001+04:00

ضحكت من خاطري والله ...

What A Wonderful World ...

2008-04-16T22:42:00.002+04:00

A Chinese man, doing a spanish song, for an American presidency candidate. What kind of fucked up world do we live in ?

This Blog Needs Purpose

2008-04-16T20:47:00.003+04:00

This blog has lost all purpose (Didn't I just say that up there ?). I really don't want to delete it, so I'll be posting some music for all of you. This is the greatest music you'll ever hear, and if you think otherwise, you have bad taste. If you think I'm an asshole, fuck you.

Know that saying "All Good things start with an M ?" .. Yeah, neither do I, but we're piloting this thing with some Michael Jackson.

Michael Jackson > Tabloid Junkie
Classic Pop. I know all of you kids think you're too cool for it now. You don't have to listen to it right now, but download this shit, and put it in your MP3 player. One lucky day, you'll be driving home alone and this will come playing on a shuffle. Thank me later.
Listen & Download

Lou Donaldson > Don't Worry (If There's a Hell Below, We're All Going to Go)
Funk. What do you mean you don't listen to funk ? .. Jesus Christ, Mohammed, Buddha and .. Uhh, all the rest of them important religion folk. No wonder none of you kids get laid ever. You'll listen to the damn thing and like it. You hear me ? .. You'll like the shit out of it if that's the last productive (or reproductive, because Funk gets you laid) thing you'll ever do.
Listen & Download

Madonna Ritchie > 4 Minutes (Ft. Justin Timberlake & Timbaland)
Pop/Hip Hop. Ok I know what you're thinking. I'm here preaching about good taste, and I pull something that sounds like what a public toilet in a Burger King in Kuwait would look like off. I uploaded this for a very simple reason, and that's because Madonna Ritchie, Jennifer Timberlake, and Timberland are the worst musicians that this planet has ever had to tolerate. Usually, for this single, you'd have to pay a significant amount of money for a fairly insignificant piece of garbage, but in the junkbox all your garbage is for free ! (Ok, I admit that the garbage logic is leaking), but I'm not gonna like your father who tells you not to smoke and then goes for a fag after (lol, your father is gay). So, smoke this fag and see the bad taste it leaves in your mouth for yourself.
Listen & Download

Alter Bridge > Break Me Down
Alternative. Ok. This is for my 13-18 year old female readers (basically, the girl in the back picking her nose, and her girlfriend on the phone). Alter Bridge's first album was one the first that I listened to when I took up rock/metal a few years back, and even though I now grew on to like stuff that have more of the "Rock & Roll, Up Your Hole" sentiment, I still frequent some of the more groomed, pretty boys from San Fransisco stuff. This is from their "Blackbird" album. More than decent, buy it. Seriously.
Listen & Download

Boy Kill Boy > Be Somebody
Indie. Some good English Indie music. Having good musical taste means you have to help the little guy out, this is me helping the little guy out.
Listen & Download

Opeth > Serenity Painted Death
Metal. Clocking in at a nudge above 9 minutes, this would seem a little too tiring for musical virgins like yourself, and even though it starts off with Death Metal Growls (you know, what you people call satanic black music glorifying the devil), the music changes to something much more musical delicate before it rapes you again. Great Fucking Music this is. Just great.
Listen & Download

Pure Reason Revolution > Apprentice Of The Universe.
Really Weird Shit. Very very weird experimental progressive feel to this. I don't know what to tell you about this, other than just listen to it. It's cool.
Listen & Download

Brian Setzer > Put Your Cat Clothes On
Rockabilly. Rockabilly is basically some type of original Rock & Roll (what you guys think is country). I don't know what the fuck this song is about, but I think it's about wearing animals and I'm always up for any music that encourages wearing animals (Die tree huggers !).
Listen & Download

Ron DeFilippo & Clare North > You Never Played By The Rules
Jazz. Ok, so your dad listens to Jazz. How about you do something that your dad actually approves of for once ? I mean, you haven't "talked" in years. Even though, throught the whole song basically Ron & Clare (I'm cool enough to call them by their first names like I I know them) are basically vocally sexing each other up, it's a good start.
Listen & Download

Ok. I've had enough with giving you my good stuff. If you want more of those, leave a comment saying so or email me at ti3gib [at] gmail [dot] com. If you spam me, I'll kill your mother.

First YouTube Video

2008-04-02T19:50:00.000+04:00

I never really wondered what it'd be until I accidentally ran into it today. Don't worry I'm not Rickrolling anyone.

That's Jawed Karim. One of the founders of YouTube.

Nice Hair. Extra Nice.

2008-04-02T14:21:00.002+04:00

Too nice to healthily tolerate.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2020/2339075269_0973c89c67.jpg?

I'm out of content. Obviously.

Things To Watch Only At 2:00 AM With an Exam the Next Day

2008-03-12T05:34:00.001+04:00

Well, technically, that would be the same day.

OMFG

2008-03-12T03:39:00.001+04:00

Have you seen this ?

I'm Hardcore

2008-03-04T22:55:00.004+04:00

I was trying to download an episode of something off my RapidShare premium account and look at the message I got.

You have downloaded more than 25 GB in the last 5 days exceeding your download limit.

Internet-preneurs ?

2008-03-04T19:52:00.005+04:00

Gone are the days of your suit and tie entrepreneurs. I just saw some videos of Gary Vay.ner.chuck (that's how he writes it) talking about the shift from traditional mediums into internet media and how YOU could become the next big thing.

I'm usually not big on self help, this guy sounds different. I have a feeling about him, he's gonna be huge one day. He's definetly already favorited in every wine fans bookmark, because he has a 400+ episode online wine tasting show, which has a certrain internet influenced perkiness and freshness to it.

I've embeded a video of him talking in some sort of business and marketing convention, and make sure you Wikipedia him and find the "domain" follow up game he once did. Super fun.

Eat. Sleep. Dysfunctional.

2008-02-28T01:36:00.005+04:00

Sadly, not the name of my next teen comedy, but rather story Of my life.

In a world that usually works against Average Joe knowing truths, and feeds on making sure that the confused little smile on Joe's face never erases as he gets impoverished economically, politically, intellectually and morally, the rarity of a deep strong profound human realization comes as both refreshing and hopeful.

While I'm not sure about refreshing and hopeful, we've hit a home run on profound human realization. Not about how the world works or how people do what they do instead of what they're supposed to do, but rather something about me, and shockingly I find it equally pleasing as those, if not more.

I realized that I'm made of metal. Wherever and however, the frosting my change a little, but the core will always be metal. Proof ? ... For those of you who don't know me enough to know that I've, since two months, undergone some life altering changes.

One, for example, would be that I'm no longer in the same country I used to be in (yet I still feel close enough to be yekh-ed out by Kuwait & Bahrain). I no longer am the unproductive hermit that I was. I go to college everyday (well, not every every day), and these arms rolled their sleeves up, after having being rolled down for more than half a year, and picked up again where it left off in the future building mission. (Major literary overkill. Sue me)

Back to the main topic (what main topic ?). I'm metal, and I have proof. Even these life altering changes did not change my outline. My thing. My Identity. The cliff notes would be. Eat. Sleep. Dysfunctional.

And when it comes to my life, I don't see another way of it happening. It's made from metal and it'll never change.

I will be taking your compliments, praises and questions on the comments.

Paris at night...

2008-02-14T05:46:00.003+04:00

How gorgeous is Paris at night ?

Click on picture to enlarge

[Pic source: Wikipedia]

And Like Totally and Stuff

2008-02-13T12:00:00.002+04:00

Anyone who doesn't watch this video is a heartless bitch.

You gotta give it to the guy. He's good, and I almost pissed myself watching this.

This post is about nothing, but I'm dropping hints about the clutserfuck to the white house.

2008-02-10T01:38:00.000+04:00

Warning : This piece of writing is written directly raw from heart. It has not, and will not be edited. Which means .. Run on sentences ! and Run on Thoughts YAY ! Verbal Diarrhea basically.

I just got out of my post-super-tuesday depression, and I've spent the last couple of days reasavouring all of it in my mouth. I know that all of you don't care about the race to American president, but on the other hand you so want to fortify your fancy-tongue talk to go along with your white chocolate moccachinos around the Starbucks tables, and so I've broken down for you what you need to know.

This gets tricky so pay attention.

is it just me ? or is this kinda sexy ?

Ok so it's coming to either Obama or The Clintons. Unless the Republicans go ahead and pull a Bush (A Bush is the sort of thing Bush would do, you know like rigging the election) the Democrats are most likely going to win this election.

The question is Who ? .. Obama, the nigger -I can't wait to refute your racism claims in the comments- or The Clintons, the woman (questionable). While I can't tell you for sure why you should vote for these people, I can tell you reasons why you shouldn't.

Both Obama & The Clintons are for the war against Iraq. Now, before some smart-panted-preferably-Kuwaiti-or-Bahraini-asshole comes along and pulls a link of the internet saying that Obama has a very clear 18-month pullout strategy, I will be kind enough this evening to save you the tiresome searching and instead hand you some very surprising news, and it goes like this.

Don't vote for him. He's already stealing your money.

Fuck You. Unless you really want to know why that's such a terrible policy which you'll do through comments, I think a simple, yet effective Fuck You would suffice. Both of them voted for the war in favor of continuing the war and continue funding it.

Then there's always that part of both them supporting the AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee). Basically, to sum up their foreign policy .. er policies, about Iraq, Palestine and Iraq, they're not offering much change from whatever (if anything) George is offering now, which is promises.

I could spoon-feed every little bit of their policies about Taxation, Healthcare, the Economy, Iraq and Iran, Immigrancy and the other vital topics, I will conclude by saying this.

The only reason Obama & Hillary's policies sound like drastic improvements is because they are reasonable solutions to extreme situations. They will not make things good, but they will make them better than what they are now.

The race is practically over, and Obama is going to be in the oval office in Jan 21st, 2008, but now you know you haven't contributed to that short coming.

Thank you. This post has been an entire waste of time. Thank you for reading it.

Technical Support : Books

2008-02-09T05:39:00.000+04:00

I've always had trouble with these. Watch the video.

O RLY ?

2008-02-09T04:56:00.000+04:00

Sick, both physically and mentally. Tired. Hungry. Lonely. Heart Broken and Pissed the hell off.

But you could chose to disregard that the whole world is walking around you in masturbatory glee, pointing their dirty little pointy fingers at you, until your very own anti-virus decides to block your own blog and decides it's a phishing website.

Thanks for nothing Anti-Virus. I will be taking your warmest apologetic sympathies through comments, but I'll not be able to read them. Until I clean this mess over.

Yours,
Ti3 Himself

reBlog: It snowed!

2008-02-01T00:24:00.001+04:00

Ti3gib doesn't get snow at his city in UK, so this is a gift for him :P

[Link]

Amjad in the house...

2008-01-27T21:36:00.000+04:00

After days of continuous begging from the ti3 himself, I agreed to contribute with him on this blog. I don't know what will I be posting here, but for sure it would be way better than the crap he posts here.

My blog is better than yours , owkay ? noob.

An Interesting Fix In The Mix

2008-01-27T21:04:00.000+04:00

After hours of continues begging, I agreed to let Amjad write in my blog. I don't know what he'll post, but if it's anything like his blog (pictures of french fries and juice and all) I'll kick him off and make it dramatic.

Post on.

The Rise Of The Internet

2008-01-25T03:17:00.000+04:00

For the past two days, use content aggregator Digg has been flooded by more than ten articles about what appears to be the very first internet orchestrated attack against something. The Church of Scientology, has taken it's very first hits from the internet community Anonymous because of their ridiculous over ego'd attempts to censor the internet.

Particularly ticked off by TCoS' attempts to stop people from seeing Tom Cruise's freakishly chilling video of himself talking about Scientology that circulated around the internet a little while ago, Anonymous have launched their own "constitution" against Scientology in a video dubbed by an electronically synthesized voice calling the alleged-religion a cult of misinformation and a deceitful money making pyramid scheme.

Anonymous, have also, starting yesterday, started distributing secret documents authored by the Church of Scientology containing the details of the religion that, for years, were somewhat kept in the dark. The documents were taken off secret portals which require member access from the church of Scientology's website, and distributed severely by fans of Anonymous all over hosting websites on the internet. That in hand, these files WILL be widely distributed despite the church's efforts to prevent that. Simply because, so many people who stand against internet censorship, have these files waiting to be reuploaded.

Anonymous have also set their first congregation in front of the Church Of Scientology in London on the 10th of February. Details about the event are somewhat shady in the moment, but more details are definitely bound to come. Scientology and Anonymous related posts have dominated the Digg top stories and first page stories for almost two days now, and it doesn't seem like it's slowing down.

Is this the first anarchist rise of the internet against the internet ? ..

If you don't know what Scientology is, it's an alleged "religoun" that started off being a novel by a guy called L. Ron Hubbard back in the 1960's. Since then, the Church of Scientology has been notoriously marked for it's notorious over secrecy (that's why these leaked documents are a huge huge deal) and for recently marked for their notorious lawyers and their campaign against freedom of choice and expression on the internet, when they tried to stop the circulation of the Tom Cruise video.

I will include a link to the said documents, and will reupload them as many times as I have to.

Secret Scientology Documents 1
Secret Scientology Documents 2
The "copyrighted" Tom Cruise Video from Gawker.com (who refused to take the video down after being threatened by scientology lawyers)

Update : I've just learned that these documents come as a CD package for scientology, sold to new members of the cult as mandatory part of their enrollment. They had to pay $900 for this package and more and more of it is being leaked on the internet. Will reupload accordingly.

I realize that I haven't elaborated on the money making scheme part of Scientology, basically the more you pay, the higher your rank in a pyramid scheme (allegedly a better scientologist)

Ahmed Abdulnabi Makki

2008-01-17T22:52:00.001+04:00

Update : Thanks to Amna, who linked the article from it's original source with it's author. Abu Emad, I'm sure some of you are familiar with the name from back in the Sabla days.

Interesting article that someone emailed to me. I think it says a lot of what everyone wants to say right now.

مؤتمر مكي الذي بثه تلفزيون عمان الملون منذ أيام خلت حمل ألينا ريح السموم و خيبة الأمل والنذير العسير بسوء المصير بعد أن أكد لنا بقوله ومنقولة أن الطريق مسدود مسدود مسدود ، وقد ألقى بتبعية ارتفاع الأسعار وتدهور المعيشة وفواجع الغلابة على العالم كله، فما عساه يفعل لكبح الارتفاع الرهيب في الأسعار ما دام أن الأمر دولي وعالمي ولا ناقة للحكومة فيه ولا جمل

وبما أن الصحافة العمانية لا حية فترجى ولا ميتة فتنسى فقد نشرت وبالخط العريض فتوى مكي عن الاقتصاد وارتفاع الأسعار وبقاء الراتب على ماهو عليه دون تعليق او تحليل او نقد بناء ، بل وتناقلت الحكمة المشهورة التى وعظنا بها مكي ((لكل دولة سياستها وحقها المشروع في رعاية الرعية))

وكأنها وحي منزل من حكيم حميد ..

ودون الخوض بعيدا في قيمة برميل النفط الذي يتجاوز القيمة المقدرة له في الميزانية بأضعاف والتي بكل تأكيد عند مكي الخبر اليقين عن فوائضها أين تذهب.

وبعيدا عن التفاسير المنوعة والفتاوى الجاهزة لتبرير وإقناع المغفلين أمثالنا بأسباب العجز الذي أصبح ملازما للميزانية، وبعيدا عن تفاصيلها ومصروفاتها وأعجازها التي أسهب مكي في شرحها إلا أن الذي يغيض ويرفع الضغط والكلسترول ويتعسر على معدة الفيل هضمه تأكيد مكي المانع القاطع لكل رجاء أن الحكومة لن ترفع الرواتب وان رفع الرواتب ليس هو الحل الناجع لمواجهة ارتفاع الأسعار ومن ثم فعلينا أن نخيط بمسلة غير مسلة رفع الرواتب

وهذه النظرية المكية العجيبة يراد لها أن تكون الجواب الكافي والرد الشافي للفقراء و المساكين من أبناء الشعب الغلابة الحالمين يقظة ومناما بزيادة الراتب لمواجهة إعصار الأسعار ، وقد اشرأبت أعناقهم وشنفت آذانهم وهم يتطلعون بفراغ الصبر للاستماع الى الإعلان عن الموازنة ألعامه للدولة

لعلها تحمل لهم الأمل وطوق النجاة وتذكرة الخروج من النفق المظلم والواقع المرير وأتون عاصفة الأسعار

تلك الميزانية التي دون شك لن يسقط منها لا سهوا ولا قصدا مخصصات الوزراء وكبار رجال الدولة من المقربين الأخيار وأصحاب اليمين ، ولن تنتقص مكافئاتهم وحوافزهم ومصروفاتهم من الحنطور والخنزيرة الى القبقاب والشبشب والله يرزق من يشاء بغير حساب

الا أن خيبة الأمل وبتلك الأعذار الواهية التى لم تكن لا على البال ولا الخاطر خاصة بعد أن انتشرت إشاعة رفع الرواتب انتشار النار في الهشيم حتى أن البعض رتب أموره على تلك الزيادة الوهمية تجعلنا كمواطنين مطحونين وخائبي الرجاء نتساءل و نسأل مكي ، يا ترى لماذا رفع الرواتب لا يساعد في حل مشكلة ارتفاع الأسعار يامعالى الوزير ؟؟ رغم أن دول الجوار كلها بقادتها واقتصاديها وخبراءها رأوا في رفع الرواتب حلا لجزء كبير من المشكلة فرفعوا الرواتب أكثر من مرة في غضون اشهر معدوات

حتى أن الدول الفقيرة التي تقتات على المساعدات رفعت الرواتب لتخفف عن شبعها ومواطنيها وطأت الغلاء،

هل يامعالى الوزير اختصك الله بالفهم دون سائر العالمين وألهمك الصواب من بين خلقه وكشف عنك الحجب لتدرك ببصيرة نافذة أن رفع الرواتب ليس الحل الناجع لمواجهة ارتفاع الأسعار، وان كل دول الجوار التي رفعت الرواتب قد استنزلها الشيطان وغضب عليها الرحمن فأعمى بصيرتها عن رؤية الحل الصحيح وأوقعها جهلها وسوء تدبيرها وغيها في الضلال المبين وجرتْ الويل والخراب على شعوبها برفع الرواتب

أم أن مخصصاتكم كوزير من تلك الميزانية التي تتحدثون عنها والمكبلة بالعجز قد وقتكم شر نار الأسعار ولهيبها فلم يصبكم من سعيرها شررا ولم تشعروا بحفيفها وأنتم تشمون الهواء العليل في شرفات قصوركم المنيفة فحال ذلك دون إدراككم لحقيقة الأوضاع المزرية التي نزلت بنا حتى نكاد نشد منها الأحجار على بطوننا ونعض منها الأنامل

اننا وبكل تأكيد ندرك يامعالى الوزير أن أبنائكم لن يخوضوا في عراك الصباح على كرسي حافلة مهترئة توصلهم الى المدرسة ولن يذهبوا الى المدرسة بدون مصروف الجيب ولن يتذوقوا مرارة الحرمان لتدركوا معنى بقاء الراتب الضعيف على ماهو عليه فالدولة قد وقتكم ذلك

وندرك ايضا انكم سوف تذهبون الى وزارتكم وكراسيكم الهزازة صباحا وانتم مطمئنون ان بابوا وكومار وشندرا لن يقتحموا بيوتكم في غيابكم ليقطعوا عن قصوركم التيار الكهربائى لتراكم الفواتير وعجزكم عن السداد بسبب قلة الرتب فالدولة قد وقتكم ذلك

ونعلم يامعالى الوزير انكم تشربون الماء الصافي الزلال وربما عندكم بركات سباحة ونوافير مياه ولن يغض مضجعكم او تتفاجاون بانقطاع الماء وانتم في دورة المياه بسبب تراكم فواتير الماء وعجزكم عن السداد فالدولة قد وقتكم ذلك

ونعلم يامعالى الوزير انكم لن يضطر احدكم الى حمل ابنه على ظهره ليذهب به الى مستشفى لعجزه عن تحمل نفقات محروقات السيارة لقلة الراتب الذي لم يعد يكفي لشراء ضروريات المأكل والمشرب فما بالكم بالمحروقات

ونعلم يامعالى الوزير انكم لن تضطروا الى تعليل أبناءكم ببسكويت نبيل لأنكم لا تستطيعون توفير وجبة غداء ولو حتى بنصف دجاجه بسب ضعف الراتب لان الدولة قد وقتكم ذلك

ونعلم يامعالى الوزير وندرك انكم لن تشعروا بالعجز ومرارة الحرمان ولن تروا ثياب أبنائكم ممزقه مرقعه فالدولة قد وقتكم ذلك

ونعلم يامعالى الوزيرو ندرك انكم لن تقفوا ساعة امام بائغ تفاصلونه في قيمة سلعة لعلكم تظفرون بتخفيض مائة بيسه لان الدولة والميزانية التي تتحدثون عنها قد وقتكم ذلك

ولان الدولة قد وقتكم كل ذلك فبكل تاكيد لن ترو يوما أن مشكلة الأسعار والحرمان يمكن ان تحل برفع الرواتب فنار الاسعار ومرارة الحرمان لم تتذوقوها يوما حتى تدركوا وقع تصريحاتكم على من ذاقها ويذوقها في عهدكم الميميون

لا يبقى لنا ونحن نتجرع خيبة الامل من تصريحات مكي والموازنة إلا أن ندعوا حكومتنا الرشيدة دعاء المستجير ،ونقول لها بالفم المليان كفاية ياحكومه يكفي مكى ثلث قرن ويزيد

ارحمونا يرحمكم الله

على الاقل نريد وجها جديدا يزرع فينا الامل و لو كان كاذبا

Caves

2007-12-31T09:08:00.000+04:00

You seriously need to watch this. The guy's a Gulliani surrogate.

Ron Paul x Mike Gravel FTW.

Ok now, I'm off to my cave.

Question Please. Oman's 2008 Budget.

2007-12-31T08:45:00.000+04:00

I know the proposed budget for 2008 will be approved by (Makki, Sultan ?) in a few days. I've read the contents and even though the numbers do seem a little unsettling in light of growth rates of economies internationally, everything seems to be in lack of order, which is pretty much right. I have a question though, and I do hope that anyone who reads this and has a clue please explain elaborately. It goes like this.

If the government was planning any flat percentage salary raises, shouldn't they be included in the awaiting approval budget of 2008 ? If the answer is no, and such a plan is revised later on in the year, does it get included in the budget when it's applied or do these funds go out of the national reserve ?

The post Guno expenditures. Were they entirely taken from the reserve or were they deducted from oh-seven's budget ? Is there a post year report on 07 that illustrates what happened post Guno ?

Thanks in advance.

P.S. I just realized that the most fitting name for 2007 in Oman is .. Guno Year ?

Blogging On Demand : Bidoons

2007-12-28T21:45:00.000+04:00

Hessa : Regarding bidons in Kuwait.. should we, the citizens of Kuwait, fight for their rights (nationality, health care, education, etc, or we better off without them having the Kuwaiti nationality, keeping in mind the financial burden they will cause

I have come to learn this term just recently, and if anyone else is wondering. Bidoons is the arabic term for illegal immigrants.

As to the question. I think that you, the citizens of Kuwait, should NOT invest in fighting for their rights. This approach proves tiring and draining to resources, not to mention time consuming. However, the humanitarian aspect is not to be disregarded. These are people that often left their homes and their children for a better opportunity, rarely with enough money for them to return back to their homes should things not prevail for them.

I think there are two solutions that would uni formally work for everyone. A short term solution and a long term solution. First, you need to assume that the majority of asylum seekers, and illegal immigrants leave their countries for better working opportunities. The short term solution entails granting these immigrants what's called a 'work visa'. A work visa is basically a permit that allows these workers to remain in any given country should they prove to be employed. This gives them the basic workforce rights set by the state, such as being applied to the standard working hours, health and safety guidelines and personal damages laws. This also prevents employers from reducing their pay under the minimum wages set by the state.

From an employer's perspective. This prevents him from having to deal with the recurring 'mishaps' of illegal immigrant employment and their associated problems. With the correct amount of restrictions and properly set guidelines this will relieve the state from their illegality by offering them Visas authenticated by proper state issued identification. By restrictions here, I mean not offering them nationality, unless they've completed a preset of requisites. A minimum amounts of stay years or a minimum amount of capital investment in the country and not exceed a certain quota in a criminal record.

The long term approach would be to, strengthen borders and enforce more rigid border jumping punishments under a unified United Nations asylum treaty. Preventing these people from entering the country is much easier than having to deal with them. Such a treaty would also penalize countries for certain miconducts (such as the killing, and drowning of West African population trying to get in countries like France & Spain through sea), and at the same protect the rights of these asylum seekers.

I hope that answers your question. Next Question.

The One In Which I Explain Everything

2007-12-21T21:17:00.000+04:00

Dear loyal readers,

You have been remotely concerned about my well being, since I haven't posted anything in weeks. Thank you. I've come bearing great news. Don't bother turning to this blog. This is my way of saying that I won't be "updating" it anymore, but rather posting something whenever I have anything to say.

Say for example, Now. I feel like saying that I don't like the new corvette and the new SLK is ugly as hell. There I said it, but I won't say anything else in periodical basis. I've found myself to be unable to maintain a blog.

For every established blogger out there I say 'Kudos to you, mate'. Having an updated interesting blog is a lot of work, and I've been unable to deliver either, so I'm better off not delivering anything. I don't want to go deleting this to regret not having a documentation of a thought I once had, or a person I've once been, and so I'll keep it open for myself or whomever wants to read.

I'd rather make this choice than the choice of, despite it being an often updated one, having a shallow minded, poorly drafted food blog. I've discovered that my writing skills are that of the equivalent to a sixth grader. I've never been good with structured writing, I'm slightly better on debates or conversations, and so I've devised a rather elegant solution for whomever feels the same way. It goes as such.

See that little screambox on the corner right there ? It's mainly set up for all of you to praise how great everything I do and say is, and how sexy I like under certain lighting, but now I've found more to it. The problem was that I've had so much to talk about, that I didn't know where or how to start, so I'll leave that to you. Whenever anyone of you wants to know what I have to say regarding any given thing, whether it's local news, politics, human nature, technology, music, movies or anything else, drop me a line in the screambox or on my email (below) and I will try my best to answer it.

This whole traditional casual blogging thing isn't working for me, and so I'll try this new thing for a while and see how it works. Maybe this is the best idea I've had in a while, and it would work marvelously, or it's the stupidest shit I've said all year, and it's already failing. Let's see now. I'll try to find a good way of "upping" this post so everyone knows what's going on.

Your Failure Of A Writer,
- Ti3ster.

Email : ti3gib@gmail.com
IM (only hot sexy ladeez) : ti3gib@hotmail.com

Ladies & Gentlemen .. It's My Pleasure to Announce

2007-11-23T09:37:00.001+04:00

Hint : Look under the network signal bars.

It's fast. Boy, is it fast.

Screenshot : TI3GIB's Nokia N73

Toyota Camry [ 7371| AD | Oman ] ...

2007-11-07T14:17:00.000+04:00

Not only does the woman driving this car overtake you from the right side through the yellow line, but she also does it while toying around with the portable knife (I think it was that new Sony Ericsson ) waiting to kill somebody with it.

Fellow drivers, consider yourself warned.

Nissan Maxima [ 477 | BS | Oman ] ...

2007-11-06T02:23:00.000+04:00

What is the deal with Maxima drivers ?

This guy's story. He was right in front of me in the car park, finds a spot, parks most way into his space and a little into the space on the left. Guy gets out and locks his car. I want the spot right next to it, but it's too tight for the car to fit in comfortably, so I honk to the guy twice before he leaves, and once more before he looks back without giving a shit and walking away.

I get pissed, and want to teach the guy a lesson, and with his car barging into my space, I park just fine, making entry to his car from the driver's seat impossible. Lockd the car and got into to a restaurant.

20 or so minutes later. Guy comes in the restaurant says "you're the guy with the 'car here' ? .. "You're blocking my way, and I can't get out". I explain to the guy that I'm parked just fine and my car is perfectly within the confines of my space, and it's his fault that he's parked incorrectly even after I honked to him 3 times to tell him about it. Anyway, out of good nature, I go and move the car. Guy apologizes in what seemed like sincerity and leaves.

That's one driving asshole that will think twice next time. I hope.

The Asus Eee PC701

2007-11-05T19:16:00.000+04:00

If you still think that the iPhone is the gadget of the year, this ought to change your mind. During Computex earlier this year, Asus launched their new series of laptops/UMPC. Designated the Eee (Easy to Learn, Easy to Work, Easy to Play), with a price point of $199 and a weight of approximately 2 pounds (0.98 Kg to be exact), this sure was a winner.

And yes it was, the internet media has been eagerly awaiting to see what this is going to be like. On the specifications front, the laptop sports a 900Mhz Celeron M processor, 512 Megs of Ram, 4 Gigabyte of SSD (Solid State Drive), a 7-inch 800x480 screen, WLAN, 10/100 LAN, 3 USB 2.0 ports, a VGA out, an SD card reader and your standard audio jacks. All to run on the pre-installed free custom version of Xandros Linux.

There are going to be a few versions of the Eee ranging from 2 Gig and perhaps up to 32 Gigs of storage. Some of you might be wondering why the storage space is this small considering that +120 Gigabytes in laptops nowadays are nothing surprising. The laptop utilizes the new type of very-durable, blazing-fast, flash-based Solid State Drives (read more on Sleepless' Blog). Don't forget that you can still attach any portable hard drive via USB and easily expand that 4 Gigs to 250 Gigs on 2.5" drives, and 500~750 Gigs on 3.5" drives. This comes in very handy for photographers. Insert their SD memory cards (or any other type through a dedicated memory card reader), and transfer or back up their photos to portable hard drives, out ruling the need to special device to do that, or the hassle of carrying a laptop around. With Internet from your phone, or through a dedicated USB modem, you can even upload these to your flickr anywhere where there's now WLAN.

The price for the just released, currently available 4 Gigger is $399 with a year's warranty (some places mention 2 years), and since Costco and Newegg started selling those a few days back, a lot of people have been showing off with their unboxes and pictures on YouTube, Flickr and on many reviews online.

I don't like laptops, and since it's inevitable that I will have to get one for school later this year, I've been eyeing the market lightly. With that superb price tag of 400$, I can get this laptop for it's necessity AND a dedicated desktop for my normal usage. And this is not just something to 'cover the need', I'm genuinely impressed by the Eee.

It's extremely light weight, small form factor (slightly larger than a standard DVD box), considerably good performance, superb usability, admirable battery life (rated at 3.5 hours) and welcoming price point, makes this a steal. From all the reviews I've seen so far, it's been able to handle whatever anyone would throw at a dedicated laptop. Of course, you can't expect to play 3D video games on this thing or 720p HD video, but it can probably handle anything else which you would expect from a laptop.

Not only that, but since this is a fully-fledged laptop and not just a UMPC (Ultra Mobile Personal Computer) you can install any OS you like on it (except Apple products - problem on their end). With it being out for less than a week, users report that there were no glitches at all with installing lightened versions (space wise) of Windows XP and Linux Ubuntu.

From what I've seen on videos, XP usage is fast and snappy, and is identical to using XP anywhere else with similar hardware components, and to further enhance usage, the memory slots are the industry standardized DIMM laptop RAM sticks, and so you can easily upgrade the 512 Megs to 1 Gig of ram (these cost around $45 right now).

The only complaints on the device so far is that the keyboard is slightly too small to feel comfortable with right away, but most people who claimed that also said that it gets a lot easier after a day or two. Some people also mentioned that the 7-inch screen isn't very durable and some already have cracks and LCD spills on theirs. Without having used it , the only thing I consider upsetting is the lack of integrated bluetooth. Ofcourse this can easily be tackled in the XP enviorment with an external bluetooth device, but with the included Linux one, finding bluetooth device drivers for Linux can prove challenging. That and the lack of an optical drive (CD/DVD/RW) drive.

I'll be getting a black 4 gigger one (the only currently available color is the Pearl White) hopefully by the end of the year, when reliability issues, if any, start to become more evident, and hopefully be writing a review on it. Meanwhile, a few pictures and videos. I've selected a few pictures and uploaded them to this album here, click on the magnifying glass for real size images

Reviews :-
1. NotebookReview.com
2. TrustedReviews.com
3. PCPro.co.uk
4. HotHardware.com
5. EEEuser.com

Image Courtsey of :-
1. NotebookReview.com
2. 'EEEuser' @ Flickr

Video :-
1. Unwired 14 : YouTube Review
2. Linux Interface Walkthrough (Part 1, Part 2)
3. Unboxing and Box Contents
4. Windows XP Pro Boot Time (Fast as hell)
5. Eee PC Running Office 2007 on Windows XP Pro
6. Eee PC Running Photoshop CS2 on Windows XP Pro
7. Eee PC Playing Various Video Formats

Borders - City Center Muscat

2007-11-04T10:50:00.000+04:00

Even though, I've been to City Center Muscat quite a few times since the expansions that took place a few weeks ago. I haven't been bothered enough to go have a look at the new Borders bookshop opened in the new wing.

That until a couple of days back when a few people and I went for dinner. Almost occupying an entire floor of the new wing, my first impression of the place is that it's larger than I anticipated, and in a store of this type. Size does matter.

The corridors are clearly labeled by genre and the book collections were admirable, but not impressive. For a bookstore chain of this magnitude, perhaps I expected a little too much. I was there to look for two books, of which neither I found. The first was Stephen Colbert's I am America, and So Can You !, currently ranked 4th in Amazon's books bestseller list. The second was Jon Stewart's America (The Book) : A Citizen's Guide To Democracy Inaction, which they had record of in the their book database, but wasn't too important to stock.

Next, I went over to have a look at their DVD concert collection, and there was nothing noteworthy there either. Most of the concerts, I had seen in shelves of a few stores that sell DVDs, of which most of were quite old. I have to say, though, that their TV show DVD sets collection was better than I expected. Not necessarily the most updated, but definitely large enough to have most major shows whether they came out last year or in the 90s.

The big one. Pricing. Too too too much. Not only are the prices are not good(which I was expecting the to be), but not even fair. Most books that I had a look would've costed anywhere from 1-2 rials less at any other books store around (Family & Turtles), and that wouldn't sound so bad if you were buying one book, but if you were to buy a collection than you could potentially buy an extra book or two with the same amount elsewhere.

I don't know if they still do this, but there was a Al-Manahil Something place that used to send you books from Amazon UK for 1 rial per book. Even though Amazon UK prices are slightly higher than it's American counterpart, and even including the 1 rial shipping few, it's still cheaper than buying the book from Borders. Ofcourse then, there's a considerable wait, and it's just too much of a hassle if you're not going to buy a few books.

and that's pretty much it. There's one more thing, aparently we're still not significant enough to be on their international outlet list. Pfft. So Borders kind of gets a Sucked rating. Now, go read or something.

When In Doubt ..

2007-11-03T09:05:00.000+04:00

About who you really are (which happens often enough), take an online personality test. The results are in and they're fascinating.

What Famous Leader Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

This can't be a good thing.

Nissan Maxima [ 686 | A | Oman ] ...

2007-11-03T02:21:00.000+04:00

I wouldn't mind it if you died on the road.

Nissan Maxima [ 2789 | R | Oman ] ...

2007-10-31T11:33:00.000+04:00

is a driving asshole.

I'm Officially Pleased To Officially Announce ..

2007-10-31T10:44:00.000+04:00

that I'm officially pissed the fuck off.

It would not be a surprise to hear from anyone how unpleasant any given morning commute is. It being an uncomfortable requisite is inevitable. It's agreed upon. That deal is sealed. No longer in the building. Ok, you get the pretty picture.

However, how uncomfortable it can get, is questionable. How many shades of black there really are yet to be known, for Alicia Keys black is no Beyonce black. Morgan Freeman black is no Kobe black. Driving in the morning commute, introduces you to a whole new level of blackness. In which darkness itself begs you to cut the Al Gore shit.

I really honestly don't get bothered that much by the wait, and the traffic. Some days, it's worse than the others, but in other days, you want to kick back and enjoy some radio. What does bother me though, is all the assholes that think we're all enjoying ourselves "hangin' out" in the line, that it would make it absolutely alright for them to cut in. That it's not like we're trying to get anywhere really, we just think it's cool to form a traffic congestion in which we breathe in each other's exhausts, pick our noses and be late for our affairs.

As opposed to them of course, who have matters of utmost importance. Kids to drop, business to attend to, money to Make, and people to meet. Matters that can't, and will not wait. Not in a ridiculously long of passive insignificant losers honking at each other.

I've seen my fair share of ignorant stupid self-absorbed people, but it's these people I hate more than anything. People who have no respect for anyone or anything. Not even the law. Especially not the law. The thought of them laughing in everyone's faces as they overtake everyone from the wrong side of the road (or worse, from the right side) has to be orgasmic. That overtake, and the laugh that comes with, has to be the highlight of their days. The only thing to make them feel good about the wifey problems, the mountains of debts and the noisy kids in the back seat.

Well, you'll see, my friend. It's not karma that blows, it's you that will blow karma. I just felt like I had to vent out a little, and so I did. Now let's get to the practical part. DO NOT LET THESE PEOPLE IN FRONT OF YOU. The might try to scare you by getting really close and not stopping to make you think that you'd bump into them if you don't hit the brakes. DON'T FUCKING HIT THE BRAKES. Stick as close as possible to the car in front of you and take their breathing spaces, breach into their comfort zone. .. and my personal favorite. Honk your horn. Honk your horn excessively long like your life depends on it.

The drivers asshole list is getting longer each and everyday, and so I thought it would be a great idea to make record of it. Officiliaze the assholes list, and I'll launch it with my favorite asshole of the day, today in the next post.

Thanks for listening. TI3GIB out.

Al-Shura Elections

2007-10-30T06:36:00.000+04:00

The right to vote is a very valuable one, and it’s a privilege to be able to exercise it. However, most people chose not to, not only because of the misconception that suggests that “Majlis Al-Shura is a mere formality that is rarely fruitful” that a lot of people are not being active in the democratic process, but rather.. and even after the whole advertising charade, people still don’t know who to vote for. If you’re not blind, you’ve probably seen at least a dozen faces of Majlis Al-Shura candidates in TV, newspapers or streets. You’re lying if you haven’t eaten on at least one of ‘em. (Omani people eat on their newspapers after their done reading them).

This is a great example of how a great policy is poorly utilized. The candidates, instead of using the newly acquired advertising power to voice their opinions and reason on why they should be voted for, settled for putting their picture and writing their names next to a cheesy tagline like “Let’s build Oman together” or “For a better tomorrow”.

And that would sound like there’s nothing wrong with it. If they were running for a beauty pageant. But they’re not, the Majlis Al-Shura membership is a serious job that requires a little more than charming looks.

Most of these people have never been politically involved, and some are more interested in the new car and driver than the privilege itself. I’ve never read (of) or from any of these people in the papers, or online. It’s a mere matter of guessing who to vote for, or which one from the candidates is your friend’s neighbor’s grandfather from their step sister’s side.

I think it’s time the voter’s eligibility age is lowered to 18. Young people should learn to participate while they still think there’s hope. Instead, decrease the candidate ages to a lower age. The demanding nature of the membership requires these people to travel a lot, and be in good shape and have good education. Some of the people elected are old enough to be my dead grandfather, and old enough to make their new job a challenge, and old enough that there’s a big chance that the level of education they’ve received is primitive.

Ahh, whatever .. or something like that. Like totally.

Open During Business Hours

2007-10-25T02:01:00.000+04:00

Today, marks one month since my last post here. For more reasons than I bother to count, I've been slightly slacking my thought recording effort here, explaining the lack of stimulating content on the internet.

It's kind've weird, considering that now out of all times, I have no commitments at all. Education is for losers, and I'm going straight into the raw and real workforce.

Ok, I'm not ..

.. My whole university situation has taken a halt , and is going to stay that way for a little more than a few weeks. I am, however, going to make it a commitment to put a little more effort in updating this blog, but due to the lack of a fanbase, and the loss of the 'spark' I used to have (LooL spark) in my writings before, I can make no promises. This sad news should come as understandable.

Anyway. I'm doing and feeling good. I've found out the joy in going out again, and discovered that Muscat isn't as bad as I thought it is. I've passed by a million things I can blog about, and remember a few so hopefully would catch up with that in the next few days.

For the time being, welcome back.

Scorpions : Humanity Hour 1

2007-09-24T12:19:00.000+04:00

Overview :-

After three years of studio absence, the legendary Scorpions come back with a new release. Humanity Hour 1 (Humanity Hour One) is the band's 21st album and if you're expecting little music maturity, prepare to get your socks knocked off.

The album is a conceptual album, the theme being a battle between human and robots. It vaguely appears throughout the songs, but somewhere between the stunningly fitting vocals, the heavy metal drive and the catchiness of the tunes, you care less about it.

The width of album is quite admirable, James Michael & Desmond Child (Producers) managed to make vastly diverse without compromising it's honesty. At times it gets excessively pop-like, but easily picks up the pace in songs like "321" & "You're Lovin' Me To Death" where the hard European guitar tones take over.

Almost half the songs in the album are rock ballads, and the other half is a mix of slowed down heavy metal, classic hard rock and fusions of a few things. One would think that after almost 40 years of throaty rock singing, Klaus Meine's voice would sound naturally lesser than expected, but the unnaturally unexpected hits and the performance in the songs are immaculate. The guitars tunes are great, but the tones are somewhat unremarkable, and the solos are good, but there's nothing special in them as well.

"The Cross" features Billy Corgan (of Smashing Pumpkins) and there are a few other features and contributions, none of which are compellingly noteworthy. What is noteworthy however, is the news about this being the band's last album. Klaus in the last track, the "Humanity" (very epic track), keeps repeating 'Goodbye' a lot. If indeed the news turn out to be true, then this is such a dramatic way to end the life of probably the best Hard Rock band alive.

This is really worth finding. Listen to it.

Details :-

Artist :	Scorpions
Album :	Humanity : Hour 1
Release :	August 28, 2007 by
Genre :	Hard Rock
Download	[RapidShare] Password in Comments
Rating :	9/10

Track list :-
1. Humanity 1(3:26)
2. The Game Of Life (4:04)
3. We Were Born To Fly (3:59)
4. The Future Never Dies (4:03)
5. You're Lovin' Me To Death (3:15)
6. 321 (3:5)
7. Love Will Keep Us Alive (4:32)
8. We Will Rise Again (3:49)
9. Your Last Song (3:44)
10. Love Is War (4:20)
11. The Cross (4:28)
12. Humanity (5:26)

Streams :-
Apart from the download link above, I've selected two tracks for streaming and downloading.

Scorpions > The Future Never Dies (4:03)

[Download File]

Scorpions > You're Lovin' Me To Death (3:15)

[Download File]

Sexiest Gadget Ever

2007-09-22T00:42:00.000+04:00

On average, I read somewhere between 50-70 articles on technology and gadget news per day. I've never ever reblogged any of these articles here, because, if any, people shouldn't be here reading something they can read somewhere more dedicated.

This all changes today, because I just saw the R3 UMPC from Asus, and I feel utterly compelled to let people know about it. Asus haven't release any technical details so far, but it appears that the device sports a 4.8-inch screen with 1024 x 600 resolution, a fingerprint reader, a video conference webcam and built-in GPS.

It just looks absolutely astonishing, and that screen looks incredible. The whole glossy button-crammed face, it's just gorgeous. I wouldn't mind getting one if they keep the prices down, not screw up the text-input system (fancy word for screen keyboard) like Apple did with the iPhone, include multiple SSD drive options, and of course a solid OS.

It's based on the new Intel Menlow platform which was previewed in a few devices aside to the R3 in IDF2007. This new platform is going sounds very promising in terms of what UMPC's (Ultra Mobile Personal Computers) in the next year are going to be like.

I can't wait for more details on this. Below, Asus' Keynote in IDF2007, which shows a few screen on what the UI should look like.

حبيـــبتي السمراء

2007-09-15T01:17:00.000+04:00

Lightbox Script & September Photography

2007-09-14T04:37:00.000+04:00

I just finished installing the extremely lovely Lightbox 2 image resizing hack, which I've been looking for for months now. It's a really really nice and organized way of keeping thumb nailed photographs on a web page, and it's extremely easy to install.

Now, when you click on any of these pictures below, it will take you to an enlarged version of that image without taking you to a different page or showing up as a pop up. It's really really slick.

As for the photographs. I've had some of those for a while and I completely forgot that I have a photography label here. Most of those are experiments with post processing, so ... whatever.

Here we go

ReBlog : Child Is Another Word For Punchbag

2007-09-12T15:52:00.000+04:00

You heard me. I saw this post on N00b's blog and I think it speaks a very important message. It talks about some very common parenting mistakes which a lot of parents fall in, putting blame on other things when a child runs into a wrong situation.

In the post, she gave this example ...

A child was running in the living room, suddenly tripped and hit his jaw on a table.

The mother comes running, picks up her crying child, and tries to calm him down: It’s okay honey, it’s okay, what hit you? The evil table? Don’t worry, I’ll hit the table! Atta! Bad table, Atta!

These children grow to have a very unrealistic sense of status. It teaches them not to take responsibility and it makes them think that most of the times people will disregard their mistakes or take blame for them.

She quotes the gentleman from the post saying that "Perhaps if you made the child understand that if he hadn't been running around, he wouldn't have hurt is jaw", which is a rather more rectified manner of dealing.

If I were to raise that child, I'd bitchslap that little asshole to death. What's he doing running around the house anyway ? Some of you might think that hitting children is the most severe solution or punishment, and that talking could be more efficient in making them understand their mistakes.

Idealistically, talking would work, but in a world where are all people who do talk, talk shit, the reasoning in your argument starts to withdraw. It takes a lot of time, it's boring and your butt cheeks hurt from sitting down too long. Let's not forget that children are stupid, they forget stuff and whatever you had to say should be long gone after dinner.

A simple hook or jab on the other hand would work marvelously. I could go an and explain why that would work better, but since you think I'm right about everyone talking shit, I'll assume that you think I talk shit too (you're wrong). Either way, here are two situations to put you in the bigger picture.

[ Situation 1 ]
*Child Runs around the house and knocks down vase*
Dad : Sarah ?
*Seven year old Sarah runs enthusiastically into the room*
Dad : Who broke the vase ?
Sarah : I was playing with Jane and Laurie and we broke it by mistake. Sorry Daddy.
Dad : Ohh Sarah, there darling .. It's okay, just remember that you shouldn't be running around the house, because you might 'hurt yourself'.

-----------------------------------

You don't need a masters in child psychology to know that probably it will take less than a week until Sarah "hurts herself" again (a.k.a break something more valuable than her).

-----------------------------------

[ Situation 2 ]
*Child Runs around the house and knocks down vase*
Dad : Sarah ?
*Seven year old Sarah runs enthusiastically into the room*
Dad : Who broke the vase ?
Sarah : I was playing with Jan ...
*PUNCH PUNCH KICK !*

-----------------------------------

Hopefully. Sarah breaks a knee or something and you don't have to worry about anything breaking around the house for at least six months. Maybe even talk to a lawyer, and sue Jane & Laurie's parents and get some money off of them, and treat yourself to a day in the spa and two vases where the broken one was. You'll have six months to come up with a new solution so it's a win-win situation.

-----------------------------------

I rest my case.

How To Buy The New BMW X6 Without Being Gay ...

2007-09-12T10:46:00.000+04:00

v
v
v
v
v
v
v
v
v
v
v
v
v
v
v
v
v
v
v
v

NOT POSSIBLE.
good luck with the anal sex.

Kuwaiti, Bahraini, Saudi Arabian and Food Bloggers .. Should all suck cock (2)

2007-09-09T21:55:00.000+04:00

Read Part one here.

Bahraini Bloggers :-

I have no idea how the hell a country the size of a shoe box can be this noisy. I really don't know how it goes down there, but my best guess is that they walk around the neighborhood (there's only one neighborhood in Bahrain) and pick fights with anyone.

Bahraini Bloggers are like niggers that tell me I can't used the "N-Word" (niggaz bitchez) because it's a reminder of the slavery the black race had to through once upon a time. I am sick of people thinking like they deserve some kind of special treatment because they're "special". Let me get this straight. You have Oprah. You have the NBA. you have MTV and you have the biggest dicks I've seen (from pr0n lol w00t) and you tell me that I can't call you nigger? NIGGA PLEEZ !

You see. Bahraini Bloggers, very similarly to what niggers do, try to emphasize a certain right that they already have and act like they don't have it or have enough of it. Like freedom of speech for example. They're the loudest, most annoying, most boring, bitchiest herd on earth and I just wonder what the fuck is it more that they'd say if they were "completely entitled to freedom of speech".

What you're completely entitled to is shutting the fuck up and hoping that I wouldn't force you to suck a Kuwaiti (the biggest insult ever). Which reminds me, STOP PUSHING IT. You're so very openly swearing down ministers and public figures and call it "an attack on human rights" when you get gang-raped in prison for it. And there's always some sort of demonstration like "Free BASHAR !" or something ... Errm, why ? .. What's so special that Bashar would do once he's out of prison ? You should thank the people that are locking up Bashar, they're doing everyone the favor of me not getting pissed at some moron whose progress in typing on the keyboard is faster then his brain development.

Which brings me to my next point. Bahraini Bloggers are lousy, terrible, unintelligent human beings. What's the deal with the whole "No Shi'ee, No Sunni, Just Bahraini" shit ? Unless you've got all the Shiaas in Bahrain in one half, and the Sunna's in the other (that would like leave .. 5 meters of space between them) and you're punching the shit out of each other, cut the stupid crap. Why not embrace the things that make you different and project the ones that you can benefit from instead of being scared of profiling ?

The concept of human equality says that all people should be treated as one, not be one you idiots. So I'll make you a favor and change your slogan to "Not Sunni, Not Shiee, Just Plain Stupid". I know it sounds a little weird, but it's a good thing, because you can be something else as well as stupid, but when you're just Bahraini, that's it, you kiss that personality goodbye.

Fucktards.

Kuwaiti, Bahraini, Saudi Arabian and Food Bloggers .. Should all suck cock.

2007-09-09T20:05:00.000+04:00

One, throughout the reading one does in one's day, is bound to fall upon a piece of writing that would most be suitable for ass-wiping. One is a moron and doesn't usually say anything about it, but I will. We're gonna categorize it "Things That Suck Cock" (Not right now, because this layout needs immense work which I don't have time for ..)

The summer is supposedly over, but since I'm bumming around doing nothing (WOHOO !) I feel compelled every once in a while (Okay Quite Often. Okay A Lot. Jesus, ALL THE TIME OKAY ?) to practice my link clicking skills.

Despite my continues practicing, I still find it hard to score and instead I'm usually transfered to either a Kuwaiti, Bahraini, Saudi Arabian or Food Blogger (Food Bloggers often have Kuwait Bloggers, Bahraini Bloggers or Saudi Arabian Bloggers as part of their ingredients), and within the ramblings of these people, one (I thought we stopped talking in one, because one's a moron?) gets a pretty decent set of reasons of why KBSA (Kuwaiti + Bahraini + Saudi Arabian = كبسة) should suck cock. Here are some of mine.

Kuwaiti Bloggers :-
Well .. I think this one's quite obvious. Kuwaiti Bloggers should suck cock because that's what you do to someone who talks shit too much. You stuff something in and hope they'd continually gag themselves to death (Oh how sad, let's draw on their faces).

No really. These people have an extreme EXTREME case of lack of mental stimulation, and everything about their lives is sensual (as in senses -I saw, I heard, I want- not like two ladies groping each other kind of sensual). I've never ever came upon anyone that discusses a economicsociopolitical aspect about the everyday life in Kuwait. That unless you count "We're out of orange juice I'll send Peter and Suzie in the limo to get me some and spoon feed it to me" a dire of apocalyptic proportions.

There's something else that I've noticed. They just LOVE to do reviews. I swear if you look hard enough you can find some Kuwaiti fucktard that wrote a review on a pencil sharpener he just bought, but since they're Kuwaiti and all it would be a 150$ sharpener with like ... an LCD screen and an iPod Dock (I have no idea why). Real Kuwaiti Style.

You see, Kuwaiti people remind me of post-jail Paris Hilton. In two ways. One being the fact the think the rest of world give two shits worth of caring what time they woke up, the kind of toothpaste that they used (which they have a review on somewhere), the time they got out, where they went, what they did there, who they did whatever they did there with, what whoever they did whatever they did there with was wearing, what time they plan to finish and what time they really finished, the time they go to take a dunp, the time they finished taking a dump, and a review of the dump itself (usually with a picture and a five star scale) etc etc etc. The second that Kuwaiti people remind me of Paris Hilton is that they never wear underwear.

I'm pretty certain, because I'm yet to read a review on underwear. I'm not kidding, I googled it and in the first few pages there are no results to a review.

I'll go have dinner and do Bahrain later.

OCB : TeleMess (1)

2007-09-03T02:33:00.000+04:00

Here is the link to my last entry in the Oman Community Blog. I discuss -very politely- how fucking full of shit OmanHell is (very polite, eh ?). Read it up, and tell me what you think. Here or there.

Since that post, there seems to be some administrative changes in OCB, but it's still a good read (so far). I'll keep you updated (because that's really I have anything else to blog about).

Californication

2007-09-02T22:13:00.000+04:00

Since I've been spending a lot of my time lately watching a lot of television shows, I thought I could write about some of the stuff I've been following up regularly these days. I download most of these shows and you can find them on torrent websites.

Californication, a Showtime series production is the story of Hank Moody (played by David Duchovny) and his struggle to control the troubles of his professional writing career, family and sex life in a comic approach.

David, one of my favorite actors, is as ever, brilliant in this series. He's Agent Malder from back in the X-Files days, and his TV ability has barely softened up. So far, three 35 minute episodes have been aired from the 12 episodes of a the series and it's looking very very promising.

Showtime has finally done something better than their other disappointing current offerings. I can't think of any other show or movie that Showtime produced that can easily escape the mind, other than Weeds and Disturbia. Either way this show could really do it for them if they play their cards right. It's got everything, the plot, the drama, the comic relief and the sex, and trust me there's a lot of it.

It's a really good show, and since it's in it's first episodes, you can still keep up. Download it, you won't be disappointed. Note : The show has language, nudity, softcore intercourse, do NOT download if you're easily offended.

Dedication

2007-09-01T11:50:00.000+04:00

This little nursery tune is dedicated to the previous post. May god be with you.

Download File

Sleep

2007-09-01T11:26:00.000+04:00

I've been going through extremely unusual sleep pattern these last two months. I find it extremely difficult to sleep at anytime before 3:00 AM and I don't remember the last time I have.

My bio-clock got so used to this new pattern that it's fighting religiously not to get out of it. I know the problem. I don't spend any energy on any physical activity through out the day. Only mental activity (lol mental activity lol). With an extremely depressing city night life, and the lazy butt friends I have who suck at everything ~~(including my penis. Especially actually)~~ except at making excuses and reasons of why we can't play football, and all the rest of excuses I can't bring up now because I haven't slept yet, the blame on me lessens. A LOT.

Someone suggested gym-ming. Body Building, and I haven't been following on that enthusiastically (I am following it non-enthusiastically so if you have a problem with that .. tough luck) <-- This was so seriously uncalled for. I mean what the hell ? Who the hell do I think I am ? .. TI3GIB ? .. ohh I am ? so that means I CAN ?! WOHOOOO SUCK IT BITCH.

*Victory Dance Time*

Where were we ? Ohh yes. Any ideas on do-able physical activities ? and please before anyone suggests running around and jumping and shit, something that will NOT make me lose weight, I'm already 50Kg (107 pounds) and if I lose anymore weight I will be mistaken for an iPhone (Yes, people tap their fingers on me all the time)

WHAT ?

Note : Post written while BUI (Blogging Under the Influence)

Evo-X Brochure Leaked

2007-08-27T19:47:00.000+04:00

Autoblog just posted that a 14 page brochure for the new Mitsubishi Evolution X has been leaked on an EVO-Fan forum. It's entirely in Japanese and has a few pictures and sketches of the car. Since this in print, I think it's fairly easy to say that this will be the final shape of the new car, not too different from the study design released a few weeks ago.

For the first time ever, this brochure brings pictures of the new interior. An overall upgrade since the last interior with a newer cleaner brushed aluminum look, sport gauges, and LCD in the instrument cluster to display on-board computer readings and other settings. A new half leather-half cloth option for the sports seats. Standard F1 Paddle Shifters for sequential gear shifting through the new double clutch.

Engine wise, the 2.0L 4B11T engine with MIVEC technology is expected to be announced around the 300Hp mark, but nothing is conclusive at the moment, and more information is expected in the Tokyo Motor Show around 8 weeks from now.

Can't wait.

Brochure scans here.

Zubair Lands Jeep

2007-08-27T13:30:00.000+04:00

This post was posted on Amjad's blog two d There had been talks from Al-Zubair Automotives and Al-Shanfari Automotives over the Jeeays ago, asking about why there are Jeep cars in Al-Zubair Automotive's showroom in Al-Authaiba.p brand name. Al-Zubair aims to have all Chrysler International cars (Dodge, Chrysler, Jeep) under one roof and Al-Shanfari's ownership of the Jeep brand came contradictory.

No longer, because in today's newspaper, apparently, the Chrysler group has granted Al-Zubair Automotives the liscence to use the Jeep brand name and distribute Jeep products. There's no mention of Al-Shanfari whatsoever, and there's no indication if the settlement occurred between Al-Shanfari and Al-Zubair or if it came from Chrysler immediately. This is big news because by the end of next year, Jeep is hoping to introduce 5 new models to the market. FIVE.

Either way. That's cleared up.

A scan of the article can be found here.

Makes My Minde Hurte

2007-08-27T09:22:00.000+04:00

From the Oman Tourism governmental website. Witness the greatest literary achievements of our lifetime ~~fall to the ground.~~

Peace of what ? and seriously you could've put an image better than the Chedi Hotel, that only got completely flooded out during Gonu, for piece of mind.

Great Job.

There's No Ice Cream Like ...

2007-08-26T21:17:00.000+04:00

FREE ICE CREAM !

Check out the shoutbox. Bogus sent me some ice cream because I wasn't feeling well (because she's trying to get me worse). 5 OF THEM ! STRAWBERRY ! A little too much milk though (don't drink milk).

Thanks Bogus. I think I'm getting worse tomorrow, that means more Ice Cream Right ?

Embedable MP3s No Longer

2007-07-30T14:29:00.001+04:00

Just as a notice. All the streaming MP3s I posted on this blog will no longer work (like this one). That little nifty MP3 player was a player Google used to stream attached MP3s directly through it from Gmail, and since it's so elegant and good, people found a way to port it out for the rest of the internet, and not only Gmail.

Google figured it out, so .. no longer. There are a few internet MP3 players, I'll find out what I can do and see if I can return those files back again.

Anyway ..

Potty Potter

2007-07-24T18:57:00.000+04:00

I can't believe this worldly phenomenon of this Harry Potter character. To me, it's incomprehensible which part in exact tagged him the Mother Teresa of our generation, and just like anything incomprehensible to me, I hate it. I can't say that I'm in position to speak as the caretaker of literature, but I think we're a huge disappointment. Where there were illustrious books that marked their respected eras, we have nothing but a boy with a wand and a scar to show for.

It's a good thing. Taking forward with children literature and get them just as interested in reading as they are in sports or toys, but It's worrisome how the series has taken a life of it's own. [Textbook Moral Speech] A life that is more interest in the economic value, than in the moral and intellectual ones. Perhaps that is the cause to our social decay, using the power of influence to maximize return profit [/Textbook Moral Speech]

Yes. That's what I think. JK Rolling sells books and doesn't write them, she made sure of it to go that way. It's over-whelming the amount of lawsuits her books have stirred, and the amount of controversy that came from Christian's frustration about the obscurity in promoting wizardry while denunciating faith. All, only to create the media frenzy that Harry Potter is today.

"But it's a nice story !". What-the fuck-ever. Cultural infantilism is intolerable, and that should be more than enough reason for me or anyone to stop reading it. Get over it, this is no where near close to becoming the best shot at portraying the battle between good and evil. In fact it's so far from it that it's just a little dot in it's horizon. There are books that personify that genre more capably. Some of these books are even specifically targeted for children and adolescents to cope with their tender understanding.

The last time I remember, witches and wizards were burned at stakes, not given merit house points or whatever. There's no harm in embracing fantasy and imagination but it has to be vehemently denunciated if it was paired with reality the way the fans of the series do. It's psychologically devastating to later get them to draw the line between fiction and reality, and that's exactly what happened, reports are surfacing all over the internet that child psychologists are receiving patients who need help in dealing with preparing to or 'losing a loved one'. I mean come-the fuck-on.

and Let's be honest. Rowlings style is only mediocrely functional. It's without the pleasures that fiction can outclass non-fiction in. The prose is shepardly and the characters are repetitive and expected. Ron Weasly will always shriek in a high-pitched voice when you expect him to. Hermione Granger will always strike back and correct him very matter-of-factly. Harry Potter will always be awarded instead of punished for his mischief and destructive curiosity.

If JK Rowling is the queen of modern mainstream fiction, then Dan Brown has to be the king of it, he just happens to be one my favorite authors. Yes, The Da Vinci Code also falls in the mainstream category, but even if you take the overwhelming public interest in it, you're still left with a good read. Maybe too cliched for some people in the way it builds the suspense, and yes maybe some of the controversy set in the pages is a intentionally planted, but if you take those factors out, you're still left with a good enjoyable very-well-written read.

To conclude, I have to say that my frustration mostly comes from the danger I see when I know that there's a big chance that the young (and adult) generations will have to live in the shadows of he who lived. Unfair and undeserving to people who can really write good stories, with responsible moral content and elaborate prose form. Now, I'll go back to read My Life by Bill Clinton . (Great Storytelling Btw)

Update :-
Found this great article in a blog that I read periodically (Who is IOZ ?). The guy does it so much better than I do. Can be found here.

Take on Education + Oman Community Blog

2007-07-24T15:12:00.000+04:00

I know, I know. It's been a while, not my fault so save it. No time or point of a life update now, but I'll just quickly say that I'm done with school. Finally.

I've recently received the honor of being invited to Oman Community Blog, It has opened about two weeks ago and due to circumstances out of my influence I could not post in earlier opportunity. I just finished my first post there, and it's about my take on the educational system here in Oman, and the changes it desperately needs to undertake to set it on the straight track.

That post is available here, and the blog's link is here. Just wanted to tell you about those two things. If you'd like it, you can also respond with your observations here and not strictly there.

Later.

The Apple iPhone. Revisited.

2007-07-01T19:40:00.000+04:00

The response has not been overwhelming since yesterday's release tip. Four comments so far (yay!) but I'm sure that most of you just got away with curbing that enthusiasm. So, again, the longly-awaited Apple iPhone has release yesterday (29th of June) in the US bringing both iGeeks and non-iGeeks into geek-mode frenzy.

Apple has never been good at keeping secrets, so there really weren't any surprises with the release. All initial reports indicate that all release devices are still working perfectly, excluding a few that say their iPhones will not activate.

That is quite a serious problem, because you see, until you activate your iPhone it's just a 600$ piece of paperweight. All iPhones features will not work until activation and not only the telephone ones (Calls, Messages, Email, Internet). They all come from the store unactivated and you have to do that through the newest version of iTunes (which is already a problem for some Microsoft 64-bit users). A valid AT&T two-year plan is mandatory, and the activating process simply is when you choose which plan you want.

Innovation aside, the technical specifications of the iPhone are modest and outdated at best. On technical sheets, the iPhone easily loses to a lot of phones, and badly beaten by some others. The iPhone will however not get away to be the great phone it's set to by competing with what's already here, but by widening the combat arena a little. It's not meant to impress anyone with it's 2 Megapixel camera, tech-ancient processing or memory. It however is going to thrill a lot of people with it's 4 or 8 Gb of storage crammed into the unbelievably thin 11.6 millimeter case. It's amount of sensors will leave you careful of your every gesture. It's multi-touch large screen displaying that sleek intuitive user interface will leave you in awe.

But it's no where near perfect. The battery talk times are overrated as opposed to Apple advertising. It can open documents an view them, but it cannot edit any. No memory card expandability. No Instant Messaging. No voice recognition. No Java or Flash technology in the integrated Safari web browser. The 2MP is average at best in snapshots, and it does not capture videos. No MMS capability. No 3G capability. YES, NO 3G CAPABILITY. No Interchangeable battery, as in after 300-400 charges the battery loses power immensely and you have to send it in for replacement. A lot of professional reviewers did not like the text-input system, and judged the on-screen keyboard to be buggy and annoying. Shockingly, No way of copy-paste-ing. No user ringtones.

Of course most of you by know realize what the AT&T exclusive mandatory subscription means. It does not have a SIM card slot, which means it will not work on any other service provider, so it should be at least a year until we hear of any iPhones coming our way. Some news are starting to appear that a 3G-capable iPhone is planned to be announced for Europe with Vodafone affiliation soon. I just checked the accessories it may come with, and the only one I found so far was the Bluetooth Headset+Dock for around 130$. I don't know if it will work with other Bluetooth headsets but from the look of things, Apple will not be that pocket-friendly.

I don't think the iPhone revolutionizes the mobile phone industry. It just creates the possibility that a lot of phone makers will be reconsidering the way they design mobile phones. I can't say when, but I'm certain that a lot of "iPhone-Killers" coming in the near future. Companies like Nokia, Sony Erricsson, LG, Motorolla and Samsung will start to reconsider how they implement the already wonderful technologies they have into the real world. Maybe, as Apple suggests, it IS time to ditch the current "Screen and Text Entry Buttons" design, and change it to something different and better. That and buttons are so 2005.

If I had the money will I get one ? Sure, but with my current consumer-consciousness, and if I ever "had the money" *Wipe tear now* I'm almost certain I will be requiring some changes before throwing in to an Apple product. To think about it, my current P990i does everything the iPhone does, not as intuitively or skinny-ly the iPhone does it, but with a few firmware revisions with stress on beautifying the Web Browser, I say, very offensively, they come pretty close.

Respond. Ohh and don't curb it this time. Wink.
Linkage :-
Engadget : How does the iPhone stack in total cost ?
Engadget : iPhone Facts from the early reviews.
Engadget : Apple iPhone HD Video Walkthrough and Hands On
Apple : Guided Tour

Blogger Draft

2007-06-30T18:34:00.001+04:00

I've seen this a while back when it was still under beta development, but it's been released officially a couple of days ago. Dubbed Blogger In Beta. More features have been introduced to Blogger users such as Video Uploading, Polls and Enclosures.

I'm yet to test any of the new features, but here is a brief description of what the how the new additions might interest you.

1) Video Uploading
Similar to the current image uploading service offered by blogger, users now will be able to upload and insert their uploaded videos of multiple formats to their blogger account. The videos will be saved under MP4 format, and will contain a download link, which means that it will easily be inserted in iPod Videos, the PSP, computers and some phones.

2) Polls
I don't think it needs any explaining, but the new poll offering will be easily inserted as a widget. Since it will be used as widget, this will only work with the newer blogs that have already switched to new blogger layout templates (if you haven't, do it now).

3) Enclosures
Very good news to the Podcast or Video-cast people. This new feature will make you able to use your blog as a subscription-feed-based podcast. Which means any video or MP3 you post as a podcast through your blog can be subscribed with on iTunes or any other podcatcher.

This is not the final version of this release, but it's ready for use. To use those new features you have to access your Blog's dashboard through http://draft.blogger.com, and post from this new address. Tips and further explanations can be found in the developmental blog for the new service.

Now go put them to use.

It's here !

2007-06-30T05:11:00.000+04:00

Apple pulls an apple. Again !

I'm a hardcore anti-Apple but I actually stayed up to read around the launch day coverages from Engadget (and to supposedly study for my physics final which is in 3 hours) . It didn't seem that long back when Apple first announced their new iPhone, but what matters is that it's here.

Apple calls it the 'most anticipated consumer electronics launch day ever', and as preposterous and deceiving that is, I can't help but think this is a very very wanted item right now. Even I can't wait to set my hands on one, and smear my fingers all around the touchscreen.

The undressing pictures can be found here , enjoy that until I get a little more in-depth later today.

Can't wait

Land Of The Free The Pussies

2007-06-24T23:09:00.000+04:00

My views on the United States, whether politically, socially or emotionally, have been anything but tergiversational. This time, it's not out of hate or grudge that I say the following, but rather out of sheer astonishment on some of the ridiculous standards they have.

Pussies. Though humble, not the best of my vocabulary, but I think it's a perfect way to describe how scared, sensitive and emotionally fragile -oh so godly- America is. I was reading around news websites, as I usually do, when I first stumbled upon this first article. Jerry Seinfeld gets heat for edgy joke. Famous television star and comedian, Jerry Seinfeld, was frowned upon by an army of organizations that deal with rape and sex-violence, after saying this "Bees have the only perfect society on earth ... They have no crime, they have no drugs, they have no rape. A little rape, but it's not that bad."

They called it shocking and offensive ! and you just wait to hear what the bee-groups will be saying. It's beyond me how something like that could be deemed offensive. If that's the way people think nowadays, then anything anyone could say could easily offend a person or a label, and be considered slurring, racism or stereotypicallity.

I moved on to find this. Land Rover's Ad Agency Has A Sick Sense Of Marketing. The advertising agency responsible of creating the publicity for the Land Rover LR3 has caused quite a stir when a filming crew was caught filming the car, and using the aftermaths of natural disasters as backdrops. Portraying it as a 'hero' waiting for 'the one'. That flood, hurricane or earthquake the car was built to defy.

Radical and blunt ? I agree. Advertising ingeniousness ? A lot would disagree. They somehow found it disrespectful to the victims' and an exploitation of what caused their misery. I can't understand how exactly was this upsetting idea conceived. Maybe it would've made a little more sense to me of why these advertises are insensitive and an exploitation of disasters if they filmed the cars running over little children in Darfur. They however do not do that, and their shoots have not harmed anyone, directly or remotely, infact, the same cars used in the shoots were used to deliver necessities to the needy and Land Rover gave donations in the devastated areas (with no press announcements).

The responses vary in the comments. Some said it's not a big deal and others called it distasteful and unmannered. "Getting outraged over this takes a willful disregard for reality." is the way one commenter put it, and the way I'd put it.

These kind of things happen all the time. Big corporations and celebrities are very targeted, and they unnecessarily have to censor what they say or the way the say it. Is it the death of humor in America ? Has their personalities been permanently marred by dysphemism and their period-like postbirth vulnerable emotions ?

Save Internet Webcasting

2007-06-21T16:07:00.000+04:00

If you haven't heard about this before. Here's a very short Wikipedia entry on the issue. Basically, what that says is that if the CRB (Copyright's Royality Board)'s modifications will be gone through, a huge lot of internet radio webcasting will go bankrupt or stop broadcasting free of charge (which eventually would lead to bankruptcy because no one would buy such services).

The Internet Radio Equality Act, is a bill that was proposed to the US House of Representatives to reverse the CRB's adjustments on the 26th of April. If this bill is denied and not enough senators or representatives support the law before JULY 15TH, these new rates will be enforced upon all internet radio web casting companies' service's since January 1st, 2007. This in it's turn will cause a lot of internet radio services to become bankrupt, or discontinue their services.

This decision will effect people internationally, but sadly, only US citizens can do anything about it. These citizens will have to contact their representatives and senators and ask them to consider supporting the internet radio equality act. A lot of internet campaigning has been made asking people to make that effort.

The 26th of June, Day of Silence, where all webcasting stations that are part of this media event, will silence their usual broadcasts and replace them by explanations, broadcaster testimonials and calls to action to stop the upcoming danger to internet radio, for if the bill is denied, the price of that after July 15th could be silence itself.

Other services such as the Music Genome Project, a great service offered by Pandora.com, have already been affected. Pandora no longer offers it's services -free or paid- to anyone outside the United States and started using an IP filter to restrict non-US-residents to access their services.

The internet, has always been about internationality and diversity, and I think that individual countries laws should not apply on it. Instead, an internationally recognized board, preferably orchestrated by the United Nations, should take over of what rules regulate the internet globally. That would cease all country-oriented services such as Pandora, PayPal, Fox Network Internet Streams to be indulged by the international audience.

There are about 23 days left on the clock and it really is sad to see all of this happen and not be able to do anything about it. A few links if you're short on reading material.

Shloggerism

2007-06-20T14:22:00.000+04:00

that's Shit.blogging.err.ism and there's a lot of it here in Oman. Not too long ago, Oman had a very avidly enthusiastic blogging scene. Forward to today, and you get the opposite, a dead, slow and boring scene lost in hibernation, or possibly, a comma.

Some of the very little people reading this are already getting an itch, and a million thoughts to go with. "Who are you to say anything ?", "You're not the best around", "What are YOU doing about it ?", "Damn, I'm thirsty" (what ?). I'd like to feel that I'm more concerned than I am involved. It would appear like I'm dodging that responsibility myself, but I hope I'm covered through addressing the issue by this entry.

The number of active bloggers has been decreasing steadily and radically over the last year, and if it continues at this rate, we -Omani bloggers- should be keyboard-silent in a few months from now. I don't know what the causes are, but I think time-management could be a big role. Too busy, is and excuse but not a reason, maybe laziness and routine and those could easily be dealt with.

Another reason is that some bloggers feel that they have nothing special going on in their personal lives to blog about, maybe that's true, but blogging doesn't necessarily have to involve your personal life. Mostly, I think it doesn't, it however does involve your personal opinion and if you don't have that, then we have a serious problem.

Blogging is a part of the internet experience, which cannot live with blogging alone, so if people have less reason or interest to go on the internet, then I believe that, too, could be a factor. A lot of the previously active bloggers were active forum-goers, and since the Omani forum scene has officially thrown the towel, and got replaced by the nazi-moderation-regime, a lot of those people felt repelled and driven away.

It's worrying, this wave of new forum-goers who have no respect to boundaries (not rules), grammar and spelling whatsoever. A young nation that would rather have more friends on MySpace, FaceBook, Hi5, Piczo (long list) than an opinion of their own and a unique remarkable personality. Personally, I think that's what blogging is all about expressing and enforcing your personality. If this new wave of internet-goers don't have personalities, then it would make perfect sense why the number of bloggers are decreasing instead of increasing.

I did not write this because I was running out of things to blog about, or because of my extreme sense of floccinaucinihilipilification, but because it's truly concerning, especially when comparing our blogging scene to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain or Kuwait, where these countries have blogging scenes that are taking things to the next level, with Vlogging (Video Blogging), Podcasting, and even influence on the local written media and political arena.

Do something about it.

Casual People & The News

2007-06-20T01:51:00.000+04:00

The best way to get casual people to watch the news ? Semi-naked.