tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-318832952024-03-13T22:12:47.231+03:00No_AngelNo_Angelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443783795297272286noreply@blogger.comBlogger177125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31883295.post-17485641891102199312008-10-15T11:58:00.004+03:002008-10-15T16:07:38.818+03:00suspendedthIs is My blOg and the Vote is to suspEnD and CAn iT, Can'T Have it Magically Erased. shucks!<br />ps. puzzles and more are backNo_Angelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443783795297272286noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31883295.post-6574386106567587972008-08-19T13:20:00.003+03:002008-08-19T14:52:14.688+03:00Stuff to Stealstole this from <a href="http://7akifadi.com/2008/08/15/stuff-to-steal/">7aki</a>, so thought to fill it up...<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">I am:</span> Always trying to learn a new thing.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">I think:</span> Its about time to get off my ass after being lethargic for more than two years.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">I know:</span> that i am doing better now than 6 months ago.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">I have:</span> been away from this blog and the internet for a long time<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">I wish:</span> That I can figure out how things are going to be 2 years from now. Since by then a lot should have changed by then. <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />I hate: </span>how I had been lied to, spied on, manipulated, and generally not being myself.<br /> <span style="font-weight: bold;">I miss: </span>my partner of 4 years it will never be the same at work without him<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">I fear:</span> Disclosure and the mayhem it might bring, oh and going back to Yemen. <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />I hear: </span>that you can shoot someone 4 times and get off with close to nothing if your last name is birdy (asfour), but i guess the same can't be said about being a pedo those birdies get caught on camera and go to jail. <span>so birdies shoot away.</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />I smell:</span> little to nothing, pretty much lost it at a young age. <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />I crave: </span>A cordon bleu. <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />I search: </span>to grasp an rope's end. <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />I wonder: </span>what others that are close to me are thinking, especially the ones that i can't ask directly. <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />I regret:</span> what ? me ? nah ! <span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />I love: </span>the fact that I wore a skirt this morning, soooo comfy (me3waz, wizra whatever you wanna call it .... this thing in case you people start thinking I'm more of a pervert than i already am...)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj73Eiv_emKTWET_fhQ7vqVdJNUtiv0InKMb0NUi90pWiKVqG-ifeJ7uQyuXw1fyu1Hzx3V093hU9uxVFgygP70h0SxaYHaE_HaS3ag4vCZnX2DoJ5P2ZL2VUbAZp4n4AxtimJxrg/s1600-h/me3waz.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj73Eiv_emKTWET_fhQ7vqVdJNUtiv0InKMb0NUi90pWiKVqG-ifeJ7uQyuXw1fyu1Hzx3V093hU9uxVFgygP70h0SxaYHaE_HaS3ag4vCZnX2DoJ5P2ZL2VUbAZp4n4AxtimJxrg/s320/me3waz.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5236185836311335794" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-weight: bold;">I ache:</span> <span>sometimes when I think too much and end up not sleeping at night. </span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />I am not: </span><span>a lot of things that people think I am, and I'm a lot of things they never think I could be<span style="font-weight: bold;">. </span>All without being a liar </span><span>or a hypocrite, and just by capitalizing on peoples ability to be in denial</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />I believe:</span> <span>that I need to be less of an asshole to people, regardless of the fact that i think they totally deserve whats coming to them ... that's why i never am nicer ;)</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />I dance:</span> <span>atleast once a week, to get the jitterbugs out of my system</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />I sing:</span> <span>at the top of my lungs while I'm driving (and dancing too)</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />I cry:</span> <span>rarely now, i think i dried my ducts as a kid (Big boys do cry!) </span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />I fight:</span> <span>with myself quite a lot ...</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />I win:</span> <span>at losing ? does that qualify ?</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />I lose:</span> <span>when I feel that it would make others happy while I could careless about it, that's quite often. competitive sports aint my thing </span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />I </span><span><span style="font-style: italic;">almost</span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> never: </span><span>fully comprehend anything, there is always more to learn about it. </span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />I always:</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span>try to keep the people i care about close to me, closer than most and it sometimes spreads me thin</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />I confuse: </span><span>others by my unwillingness to fit in one of two polar camps </span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />I listen: </span> <span>to others and genuinely enjoy<span style="font-weight: bold;">. </span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />I can usually be found:</span> <span>at my home(s) .... or online </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">...<br />I am scared: </span><span>of being in my thirties and its totally unrelated to my age.</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">I need: </span><span>To be complimented every once in a while (even though i act contrary to that and might bitch at you for doing it) </span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">I am happy about:</span><span> A lot </span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />I imagine: </span><span>my area if specialization will be drasticly different than what i studied years ago. </span><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span>No_Angelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443783795297272286noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31883295.post-88727015936346458702008-07-28T10:05:00.006+03:002008-07-28T10:34:55.391+03:00Prices only go up in our version of the the "free" market<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXxpWT__LrR4ERGec80GpEnOfaqKQC-wpyuvBg3wsdpsoCCPaAFbGbbc3BNK3izr0I60LZEkg0ZbrY_tk5_fvNx2SyEdqJceyHFL9uWzFeeRe6pF13ikpjNnmMYTUyb6j4jmqe1A/s1600-h/oilprices.gif"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXxpWT__LrR4ERGec80GpEnOfaqKQC-wpyuvBg3wsdpsoCCPaAFbGbbc3BNK3izr0I60LZEkg0ZbrY_tk5_fvNx2SyEdqJceyHFL9uWzFeeRe6pF13ikpjNnmMYTUyb6j4jmqe1A/s320/oilprices.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5227965020590143378" /></a><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">cartoon by payne </span><br /><br />I told u so ... prices only go up in our version of the the "free" market<br />So the prices for gas have been priced at $140 per barrel in jordan and it took them like 10 days to actually price it at that after it hit that mark ... now after 18 trading session of falling petrol prices and it being at $123 (a 16% drop from the peak) we are told that they might think about lowering the price and fixing things if it hits $90 a barrel! &@ck#%% $#^! $u^& licking ^%$&* #%^&#%&^ #%#&%^ @#!#!@# <br />This concludes our short report of "you should've known betta!"<br />ENJOY!No_Angelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443783795297272286noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31883295.post-2269252835330072082008-07-23T15:08:00.004+03:002008-07-23T16:29:14.421+03:00Disturbia p.IVhaven't done this in a while and this one is different since its only one site ! <br />go there for a dose of truly disturbing whispers -- <a href="http://www.commonties.com/index.php?cat=28">http://www.commonties.com</a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">sample 1: </span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidmn7xQH1RZM9fPraMRPqT_jn7pjOJBjPDn-4l7pNnLW8McTsFOOkazuT1qbr7ateNMZeUnjueHIhB6Zvd_fOoc-wsUA24k-FA-sOAEPA2fKNJ5GOcelx87UeE8KZrMyycgbW8sA/s1600-h/therazor.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidmn7xQH1RZM9fPraMRPqT_jn7pjOJBjPDn-4l7pNnLW8McTsFOOkazuT1qbr7ateNMZeUnjueHIhB6Zvd_fOoc-wsUA24k-FA-sOAEPA2fKNJ5GOcelx87UeE8KZrMyycgbW8sA/s320/therazor.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5226181137624149874" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Sample 2:</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUZ1a4h8tp1d-A-zqKZDJg9Df_rIuABcVViT1cCXWLSyH_wRz0juyu2r0BoVJ0YEwVaxA_YZhCIDAiEDcX0-D4HYoqI6omsc4ChgBY0LT69R2daHePKv_iVQGytgBlOwPLrTOSVg/s1600-h/ingrandmasbed.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUZ1a4h8tp1d-A-zqKZDJg9Df_rIuABcVViT1cCXWLSyH_wRz0juyu2r0BoVJ0YEwVaxA_YZhCIDAiEDcX0-D4HYoqI6omsc4ChgBY0LT69R2daHePKv_iVQGytgBlOwPLrTOSVg/s320/ingrandmasbed.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5226181142007360226" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Sample 3:</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIX7UFDlqo9WMDk-gZMsWgXIMl2haUMSu2mg4aabn7fa70jMgUIzTXwWsEW2sSclAeELPz1thR4UTSZ-MuLyR5ZD4jW70y0PcaCUIGmwyHGO4goh0Q11o_aK5bR7OyIHTQrk8Ubg/s1600-h/myluckycharm.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIX7UFDlqo9WMDk-gZMsWgXIMl2haUMSu2mg4aabn7fa70jMgUIzTXwWsEW2sSclAeELPz1thR4UTSZ-MuLyR5ZD4jW70y0PcaCUIGmwyHGO4goh0Q11o_aK5bR7OyIHTQrk8Ubg/s320/myluckycharm.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5226181138938126658" /></a>No_Angelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443783795297272286noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31883295.post-46659453011509754562008-07-23T10:16:00.002+03:002008-07-23T10:36:46.880+03:002il 3asfora 2alatli (the lil robin told me) ...Sick and tired to having to pay your bills for water and electricity ? are you tired of being to have unlimited access to water and electricity and then paying for it (sometimes optional or heavily discounted) ? <br />Well soon enough you won't have to! introducing the pre-paid electricity and water system coming to Amman by the end of the year. no more worries, need water at mid-night because your water quota has been consumed ... you should have known better beaver, you should have been prepared and kept some pre-paid cards reserved. <br />Welcome to the new utility horizon ! <br /><br />So diesel costs for the winter are going to be a pain, gas ? not a chance you might as well take out those Romos and sell them while you can ? <br />So what are the people supposed to do ? well easy turn to electricity and wood... so hail on the new deforestation age and illegally cutting trees for timber (yeah thats like so last year). Actually the interesting phenomena this summer, i believe that it will get worse in winter, is that people are actually stealing electricity from the main lines and overloading the stations in the process (because its not just 1 or 2 people it is the whole damn neighborhood). so come winter expect this piece of news to make its rounds.No_Angelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443783795297272286noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31883295.post-19844536398898797072008-07-23T09:46:00.005+03:002008-07-23T10:37:56.353+03:00The future of the internet, will you bend over please ?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia_j8ucY4j90AsK7X4O4jcA7Zy6j5gkQS9JzV6lRWAIimvKWg3z5_E-cGqcOxtORjC7wfLWirKxX2sDhPSgvVMaHRUuj4AGmTQbALBnVLA63pNZIkR-fRaGHOH6YbD-4aq2AyFXQ/s1600-h/netneutrality.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia_j8ucY4j90AsK7X4O4jcA7Zy6j5gkQS9JzV6lRWAIimvKWg3z5_E-cGqcOxtORjC7wfLWirKxX2sDhPSgvVMaHRUuj4AGmTQbALBnVLA63pNZIkR-fRaGHOH6YbD-4aq2AyFXQ/s320/netneutrality.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5226097883301619890" /></a><br />This is what they are trying to do, kill off the free medium of expression that we all have and cherish. If you think "meh... this is canada its not going to affect me!" then you are wrong ! once the model is applied in one country, other ISP's will be slobbering to cash in. They already started that with mobile internet websites and soon they will embark on decimating the internet. <br />Stand up ! <br /><br />Source - <a href="http://ipower.ning.com/netneutrality2">Ipower</a><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/t89WwcsOj9U&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/t89WwcsOj9U&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Extra Reading - <a href="http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/canada_net_censorship.html">Article by mike finch</a><br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;">ps. while this seems to be a hoax its still a viable future ... </span>No_Angelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443783795297272286noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31883295.post-4906596732254987432008-07-22T11:11:00.001+03:002008-07-23T10:16:01.450+03:00Jordan; a 110% behind entrepreneurs. sho bitgol ?!<a href="http://www.black-iris.com/2008/06/10/what-are-the-issues-that-jordanians-really-care-about/">Nassim was Talking</a> a while back about issue blogging so I thought I'll pitch in to the cup, what I want to talk about today is a fairly simple issue; how regulations, the blessings system and bureaucracy blocks and crushes entrepreneurial spirit in our community. It really is interesting for me to be living in a country and always hearing people say that they are a 110% backing entrepreneurs. while, in reality, they are just paddling backwards when it comes to it. <br /><br /> well the story goes like this, a group of Jordanian individuals came up with an idea that had a lot of potential, something that would raise the level of services in the public schools. <br /><br />The idea was to centralize the food production for schools, to arrange that all the food that will be provided for the public school to be produced and packaged in a central stations located in proximity to a group of schools and delivered fresh daily to the schools. each meal will compose of a balanced diet, the centralization of the meal will reduce the cost on the students and there will be subsidies and aids. Even 10% of the profits will go into a scholarship & aid fund for the students, without effecting the current break-ups. The element that will be effected is the system in which the teachers at the beginning of the year cut a deal with the falafel store at the corner of the school to provide the cafeteria with sandwiches around the year .... YUM !<br /><br />So since the project involves the public school system you have to go do the rounds of blessings from various people and more importantly the department of education. <br />So you go and do your presentation rounds and the atmosphere is mostly reactionary... they will attack you on every front if they feel that you will curtail on their authority, reduce their income streams or be a serious competitor to anything on the market. On the other hand if you have a genuinely profitable idea that hasn't be implemented then you will certainly be blocked, without a reason or justification for that rejection. It's the attitude of "2i7na awla" (we deserve it more) that prevails. <br /><br />By the way if anybody has the leverage to implement the idea, please make haste and hit the ground running. It's already in the pipeline.<br /><br />ps. this was supposed to be one of those long posts that dissects things but it kinda never made it there.No_Angelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443783795297272286noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31883295.post-9179797478259205262008-05-11T10:25:00.005+03:002008-05-11T15:33:33.639+03:00Meh .....<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_lXFrBCR41SG4y5wv8lFrA00B1fc9Fv8eqMrL4LYMo9hIBZQBMj83dDYt1e05u8t3OrE4beQHsVnE8var_EpDOpTQQH-o7wsWOFbrwnsE8xc9J4z3mHx1WDBaeTmIvXj7BuJkPA/s1600-h/biggerbirdrb9.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_lXFrBCR41SG4y5wv8lFrA00B1fc9Fv8eqMrL4LYMo9hIBZQBMj83dDYt1e05u8t3OrE4beQHsVnE8var_EpDOpTQQH-o7wsWOFbrwnsE8xc9J4z3mHx1WDBaeTmIvXj7BuJkPA/s320/biggerbirdrb9.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5199096951275356066" border="0" /></a><br />"<span style="font-weight: bold;">O</span>bviously fighting against the Israeli's gives you the right and the backing to do whatever you want, and guarantees you a clean bill regardless of what you do. So by that logic it is perfectly fine for me to be peccant and the evilest being on earth as long as i promise that i do it for the sake of justice ? And people nod happily to that ?"<br /><br /> "<span style="font-weight: bold;">Y</span>ou know how they tell you a cup is either half full or half empty ? I say bullshit ... the whole concept of the cup is an illusion for the masses to be fooled into thinking that there is any substance to what they are seeing at all ... in fact there is nothing. And the group that gets on my nerves the most are the ones that think although it's half full it is really full since it's bottomless cup of water."<br /><br />"<span style="font-weight: bold;">M</span>oderates should really die, i suggest a mass seppuku it would be quite the spectacle.... reason.... well they are the wolf's in a sheep cloth, pandering around that they are centrist and peaceful people while allowing extremist of both sides to transgress.... worst kind are those damn religious moderates! "<br /><br />" <span style="font-weight: bold;">I</span>t must have been a very sinister guy that coined the term "blowjob", so that he can crack up every time a girl tries to blow his whistle"<br /><br />ENJOY!No_Angelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443783795297272286noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31883295.post-70175679260023824112008-04-28T17:00:00.001+03:002008-04-29T16:23:19.024+03:00Only I.F... (Inflation Fornication)So <a href="http://nonangel.blogspot.com/2008/04/feverish-mind-scorching-skies-and.html">after discussing some background about inflation</a>, and heaps of people complaining about it (of course not on here!) and the people discussing whether it's ethical or not, or whether it's an international phenomena that our revered government can do nothing about or not. There have even been <a href="http://thearabobserver.blogspot.com/2008/04/strike-in-jordan-on-4th-of-may.html">voices about holding a strike on May 4th</a>, and discussion ensued on whether it's even a good idea!<br /><br />With all that talk about inflation I have not once read, from a Jordanian perspective, what are the actual options available for us to fight inflation, or some forecast to where we are heading. The most common thing that gets repeated is "the government is doing the best they can and the population should bear with the situation right now since it will pass"<br /><br />Inflation is a perpetual problem that faces every economy and it's addressed by the fiscal policy of a country in order to expect it and put measures to control it and meet those expectations.<br />To fight a sharp rise in inflation both short term and long term plans must be adopted after identifying the main cause for the inflation, which i'll attempt to zero in on later on in this post.<br /><br />In what follows I'll try to the best of my ability to answer most of those question, atleast from my perspective.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Is sharp increases in inflation an international problem ? if so how are other countries dealing with it ? </span></span><br /></div><br />simply YES ! inflation rates in many countries have rose to critical level during the past year. Taking a look at inflation rates of countries around us and those who we do considerable importing from:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOKk8tvf-SAp2zKaBFpyNsu4vVVmtXqpRpqMdFlBOd6u1_WqaxhaSgmeMKp_ZDqvKkWcxJ2qpZkrcMs6sqQ9eC1A_PNhNuI4depmhFsBvyfm7fFHoPQEWftCbOfUCv21WGEeq-UA/s1600-h/inflation.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOKk8tvf-SAp2zKaBFpyNsu4vVVmtXqpRpqMdFlBOd6u1_WqaxhaSgmeMKp_ZDqvKkWcxJ2qpZkrcMs6sqQ9eC1A_PNhNuI4depmhFsBvyfm7fFHoPQEWftCbOfUCv21WGEeq-UA/s320/inflation.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5193892074539885106" border="0" /></a>So we note that Gulf countries have experienced a huge inflation (with Qatar having the lead with its 13.8%) that is expected due to their economical boom and increases in oil prices. The main cause of inflation in those countries are their currency pegs against the dollar, with booming economies and the continued lowering of interest rates on the dollar it is forcing those central banks in the gulf to lower their interest rates instead of increasing it which is causing more inflation. The current method adopted to fight inflation in those countries is to raise wages and cap commodities prices, and they are intervening directly in real estate loans since real estate is the other major contributing factor of inflation. Kuwait broke its dollar peg in may of last year for basket of currencies, although it remained heavily weighed. there is growing pressure on other gulf countries to drop their pegs too in order to be able to maintain the economic growth rather than adopting band aid solutions that will contribute to future inflation. While the other option is to allow their currencies to appreciate against the dollar.<br /><br />Given that 23% of Jordan imports are from Saudi Arabia, a 16 year high inflation rate is sure to translate into our markets. On the other hand China (inflation of 8% by the 1st quarter of this year) with a share of 8% of Jordanian imports (a figure that sure sounds too low in my opinion) is sure to translate in even higher rates. The inflation in China is a combination of four major factors, the fixed exchange rate with the dollar, the increases in oil prices, the super booming economy, and the developing middle class with the ability for spending.<br /><br />Currently China is fighting inflation with little success, they are using commodity price controls and fixing the price of gas, they are raising their interest rates and bank reserve requirement and hoping to hold out from attacking the main culprit for inflation which is their undervalued currency against the dollar. if they decide to reevaluate their yuan (Chinese currency) by selling off their dollar reserves (in the form of T-Bills) they are bound to bring down the house of cards.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Focus! so what about Jordan ? </span></span><br /></div><br />Well For Jordan, as discussed in the previous article, the causes of inflation in order of importance are as follow:<br /><ul><li>Increased taxation and lifting of subsidies on commodities which contributed to market uncertainty and sharp increases in the prices of commodities.<br /></li><li>A Bubble real estate market that is fueled by speculation due to the low interest rate and enticing loan arrangements which is not reflected with an equal rise in demand.<br /></li><li>Increase in commodity prices globally regardless of the first point, coupled with a depreciating currency</li></ul>Taxation is becoming the sole contributor to the Jordanian fiscal budget, after the privatization of many governmental income streams based on the requirements of free market adoption recommended by the world bank and IMF. The country found no option to reduce the deficit without increasing the taxation and lifting the subsidies, the problem with both is twofolds; one is the timing which came at a turbulent time where there is no stability in global market prices, two in the mismanaged transparency in lifting up the subsidies based on schedule rather than surprise which was the case.<br /><br />Now that the subsidies have been lifted totally, it will most likely be followed by an increase in taxation, most likely an increase on an already high sales tax.<br /><br />Since real estate speculation has been a major contributor for Jordanian economy and we are already reached the peak in that market, it will most likely put even more pressure on the speculators translated by higher level of defaults at banks and a slow down in the real estate market akin to the one experience in the early 90's after the second gulf war estate boom.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Short Term solutions</span><br /></div><br />Currently those are some of the short term solutions that might be able to curb the inflation rate and help elevate the consequences on the citizens.<br /><br /><ul><li> Lifting of subsidies and revaluation of commodity prices that are set by the government should be fixed to a schedule that is transparent to the citizens while taking into account the shortages that might occur before each increase. That will help price stability in the market. stabilizing the prices of certain staple commodities as was done with natural gas is also encouraged but not to overburden the budget. (prices of natural gas, bread, livestock's grain and hay prices have been fixed)<br /></li><li>The increase in productivity and private sector profits haven't been translated in higher wages coupled with low interest rates encouraged debt while discouraging savings. The salaries for the private and public sector should be increase accordingly and the minimum wage to be reevaluated based on current prices. (lip services increases in salary that doesn't meet the cost of living increases)<br /></li><li>To maintain the investment in real estate which is a main driver of the economy in jordan it is encouraged to fix the price of iron. ( the government reduced the sales tax on iron from 16% to 8%)<br /></li><li>Limiting the amount of loans given out by public banks in order to limit the supplies by a requirement to increase the reserves.</li><li>Encouragement of farming and agriculture projects that are provided with governmental protection in form of loans and tax exemptions to satisfy the country's local needs for staple commodities especially grain. To ward off the inflation and speculation of the global market and to make it viable to be competitive locally with the governmental backing.<br /></li></ul><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Long Term solutions</span></span><br /></div><br />On the long term the major problems that are facing Jordan are ever increasing petrol consumption without any semblance of independence or capitalization on years of dirt cheap oil. The shortage of water supplies and the dependence on seasonal rain reservoirs, and wide economic restructuring.<br /><ul><li>Re-investment of the privatization capitol in forms of alternative energy, in terms of nuclear, solar or wind energy sources in order to provide part of the countries energy needs and to drive up a new sector into economic growth. The solution and pipe dreams of oil shale and petrol wells being found in Jordan do little since they will come at a time period that will demand more cost effective solutions for Jordan and Shale oil as it stands currently will provide little of our energy needs at too exuberant of a cost, and talk about petrol beds being found conveniently at this time is a bit too frowzy for my taste.<br /></li><li>A solution to the ever dwindling value of the dollar, which with the current adopted policy of the fed will continue on deteriorating. So a solution to this problem will be necessary to remove some of the downward pressure on the Jordanian economy.</li><li>A tightening of the budget is required, and by that I mean to act like the economy we are and not put up appearances for appearances sake. Till now, year over year our fiscal budget has been mushrooming endlessly.<br /></li><li>Economical transparency of the government budget and investments, plus the democratization of the process as has been worked on since the year 2000 is required to be followed upon, and careful attention needs to be given to the water shortage issues and methods of circumventing the problem with diplomatic ties with neighboring countries is needed.<br /></li></ul><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Conclusion </span></span><br /></div><br /><br />Well I tried to be optimistic as much as possible. but i Got bored towards the end and had to wrap up, <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">My only hope in the short term lies in the workers and people of jordan. It would be of extreme importance to start a co-operative consumer watch to help market forces and bring down commodity prices. That would be done by sharing consumer price information and boycotting the higher priced retailers. All that it requires of the consumer is to share their grocery bill with an aggregator and follow up on market prices and shop at the cheapest available option based on the data. that will surely control the supply cartel from increasing the prices too rashly.</span><br /><br />On the other hand wages needs to pushed up from within the institutions, and the lowest paid workers need to organize in order to realize their fair share of the profit to translate into higher wages. Anyways am writing in English so all this falls to deaf ears in my opinion.<br /><br />What is interesting is the latest brain storming session came to the conclusion that everything is dandy and the denizens have been through worse so there is no need to do anything to rectify the situation and we need to stay the course.<br />So dear denizens, please drop your pants and bend over cause you might as well start enjoying !<br /><br />ENJOY !No_Angelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443783795297272286noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31883295.post-20307894772576470732008-04-22T14:22:00.006+03:002008-04-22T21:55:30.721+03:00feverish mind, scorching skies, and spontaneously combusting incomeA long overdue post that has been fermenting for like three months and when do I decide to finally write it and post ? Yes, you guessed it (err probably not), when I'm operating on a fever with multiple system failures (not my computer, I mean my body with that) because it's the best excuse to have when someone calls me raving mad after this.<br /><br />So whats the most appropriate topic to rave mad about when your temperature is setting new highs ? well inflation of course !<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">so lets start of with what is inflation ?</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-style: italic;"><blockquote>Economic condition characterized by an increase in prices and wages, and declining purchasing power. Inflation is usually measured by changes in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The result is diminished purchasing power, and frequently a lower rate of savings as wage earners put more of their disposable assets in consumption, and less in long-term savings. Inflation is a monetary phenomenon. It occurs when there is too much money in circulation relative to the production of actual goods and services.</blockquote></span></div><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br />thats pretty self explanatory so essentially it means that everything becomes more expensive.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">So what causes inflation ?</span></span><br /><br />hmm... in that definition they mentioned something about an increase in money supply (that reminds me of something that happened here in '03, I wonder) , but what the hell does that mean anyways ?<br />thats just the tip of the iceberg of causes and only half of the views available from an economical point of view, but I'm just another average mo so lets consult with them pundits and see what they say since am mainly interested in sharp increases in inflation I'm gonna focus on that only.<br /><br />So turns out that sharp increases in inflation beyond the fiscal policy estimates (about 3-4% for a growing economy) is attributed to the following:<br /><ul><li>Depreciation of exchange rate</li><li>Rapid growth of money supply: An increase in loans by banks and building society borrowing due to low interest rates or incentives.</li><li>Food shortages, increase in oil prices and lifting on subsidies when a country is Dependant on imports.<br /></li><li>Increases in consumer confidence and home prices translated in a increase purchasing power.<br /></li><li>Faster economic growth in other countries: economical growth is tied to inflation so while their services and prices are going they are not matched by the country and hence that is reflected in an increase in price of goods and services that isn't matched.<br /></li><li>Rising labor costs: an increase in wages that isn't translated in an increase in productivity with strains the demand and supply relationship.<br /></li><li>Higher taxes and increase in raw material costs.<br /></li></ul>So yeah I guess it was nicer when it was simply an increase in money supply, but those are the main reasons for inflation<br /><br />So now that I'm done with that bit of background --rolling up my selves-- I'm gonna dig in and try to localize all of this in a nice way(as much as my delirium allows) . Hell i'm even talking Jordanian economics ... i just hope i don't come off the same way "dr." fanek comes off to me.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">So what's up Jordan ( thats a definite hat tip here) ?</span></span><br /><br />So let's see what is the inflation rate in Jordan ? It's 5.4% in 2007 thats a nice drop from the 6.25% in 2006, thats damn dandy !<br /><br />2007? like last year ? like the year when i first started to feel the pinch. prices didn't increase ... oh wait ! remember in the definition of inflation they mentioned something called CPI (consumer price index) , what the hell is that ? do we have one ? how did they calculate the inflation in the first place ? Well lets pay the department of statistics a visit and see if there is anything about it.<br />OK, it's <a href="http://www.dos.gov.jo/sdb_ind/sdb_ind_a/2000/index.htm">here</a> . Great more numbers ! so essentially the CPI is calculating how families spend their money and how much is the increase in price of the commodities and comparing them to the prices of base year.<br /><br />So lets take a look at the Jordanian CPI break down:<br /><ul><li>The break up of household expenditure is 39.72% on food, clothing and shoes 4.85%, housing and living expenses 26.40% ( of which is notable fuel and lighting is 4.29%, home related expenditures 16.93%, and rentals 15.77%. did i mention that rentals are mentioned twice in every year ?).<br /></li><li>those expenditure break ups are based on survey done in 1998 and hence taken as the base year. they never change in all of the CPI calculation so it means that expenditure break ups are disconnected from inflation. hmm... maybe that last point is due to my fever ignore it.<br /></li><li>After 1999 the base year is taken as 2002 in terms of prices of the products. so the base year for the CPI of 2000 is 2002. Our main export should be clairvoyant economics researchers.<br /></li></ul>I guess its just my tendency to be a philistine and be confused by number so i might have misunderstood somethings there and in the end they make perfect sense and the 5.4% inflation rate of 2007 will hopefully be reduced to around 4% this year, and i'm happy that i didn't let my fingertips go on and write the rest of my thoughts about the CPI.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:130%;" >Number munching gives me indigestion, give me the meat !</span><br /><br />So I looked at the CPI and left me in more confusion ( I hope it made more sense to you), so lets look at the factors for inflation and how they relate to Jordan shall we ?<br /><br />First of all the depreciation of currency, some how i feel like i talked about this before, so our currency is still worth 0.709 $ since it's pegged. So the depreciation must come from the dollar ? how is that doing lately ? Well the dollar lost about 38% of its value against the euro since 2003, and as of today it lost 11% of its value in the last six months. that means that saving accounts at banks are loosing value rather than gaining. In turn that is putting some pressure on the purchasing power of the JD since accordingly Jordan is an import heavy country when it comes to staples, food and oil. So check, we definitely are experiencing a considerable monetary depreciation.<br /><br />In the past 5 years the number of banks offering their services to the consumers in Jordan has quintupled or even more. With that easier access to loans and other debt instruments became available, coupled by the real estate bubble and influx of immigrants helped to expand the money supply pool considerably in the span of a relatively short period of time. so definitely CHECK, we did have that plus the interest rates since they are pegged to the dollar have been near zero rates through out the decade and seem to continue based on the FED's latest woes and trends.<br /><br />If you haven't noticed the consumerist shift in Jordanian society in the last 5 years then i'll just apologize on behalf of my fever, but for now i'll just say double CHECKS on that. As for other countries, lets see Europe ? china ? Saudi Arabia ? did I miss anyone of our main import countries ? or did I misunderstand that year over year they have performed better and better ? anyways I'll leave that as undecided just for fevers sake ( apparently, one symptom of fever is the repeating of the word fever. I'm so gonna suggest that to webmd)<br /><br />While consistently higher taxes since 2004 has been the bi-annual diet of us denizens, the wage increases have only started lately. Did I miss any of the points ?<br /><br />Oh right, there was that thing about food and oil prices. OK, so international oil prices increased more than 400% since September 2003 that must do something for inflation. While local prices have increased by more than a 100% (hey i can't remember/find how much the price of gas in jordan was in 2003 so if anyone knows please tell me). As for food prices, the problem has been brewing since early on in the turn of the century since the acts of deregulation and adoptiong of free market economics couple with "global warming" lead to a decades law in food reserves and it just happened that those condition kept on piling along others and only hit us real hard recently...CHECK !<br /><br />So essentially we got a full mark on the inflation check list, damn we are good! so now that am done with the background, I'll tackle what has been done by the government and the citizens and other such things.... but i'll have be lucid for that so am off to nap and get better.<br /><br />ENJOY!<br /><br />ps. note a 4-5% inflation rate is expected and doesn't require a government to take drastic actions to fight inflation since fighting inflation comes at the cost of economic growthNo_Angelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443783795297272286noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31883295.post-45464269050091475302008-03-27T13:08:00.005+03:002008-03-27T14:48:00.242+03:00Should I have intervened ?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPCYXK787lW2LZi4ck8eBPJEzJLnNEIAVDSFttA0fR79DIj1P7fNrkCpW8g9LyMUKiub0IqPROziz-IpOxgiZz0iMWaLEt1nubnjAxEHZ9UUIDreyQOgTWbjgOQyz1iFcsbRi9YA/s1600-h/soc016c.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPCYXK787lW2LZi4ck8eBPJEzJLnNEIAVDSFttA0fR79DIj1P7fNrkCpW8g9LyMUKiub0IqPROziz-IpOxgiZz0iMWaLEt1nubnjAxEHZ9UUIDreyQOgTWbjgOQyz1iFcsbRi9YA/s320/soc016c.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5182386763337611186" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Y</span></span>esterday on the way back from work, all bored out of my mind and just wanting to get home I sped out of the office trying to reach home and lay down on my bed as soon as possible. Coming up on the way in Rabyeh I cam across a Srilankian maid, as I assumed, she was signaling out a driving instructors car to stop. So I smiled at the fact she was doing that and thought she confused it with a taxi but wondered why the hell is she doing that in the middle of the street rather than on the side.<br /><br />So it came my turn to pass her, and she signaled me down and that raised up a dozen questions in my mind at "what the hell is she doing?".Then I noticed an elderly man, in his late fifties I assume, he was standing around her holding her from the shoulder and seemed to be talking to her (rather than screaming) and trying to stop her. So I passed them but a part of me felt guilty so I parked a bit ahead and decided to observe. Things were escalating and it seemed like the man was getting impatient with her and more forceful in his request for her to come back with him. Then she started hitting him and although he tried to restrain himself, from what I saw, he did lash out a bit... at this point a younger guy, probably the guy's son, was heading towards them and things calmed down a bit so I decided to drive off.<br /><br />The whole incident just made me think for a while about quite a few things and I tried to honestly recognize why I reacted to the whole thing by trying to avoid it.<br /><br />So first observation was why did I first consider that she doesn't know the difference between a cad and a driving instructors car; that was because I perceived her a foreign made and I am biased to think that they will be less cultured and I consider maids to be less street smart than the rest.<br /><br />Then it came the fact of why didn't I stop and help resolve it. The conclusion that I reached is a chain of thought whether moral or not it's how I came to do what I did, or didn't in this case.<br /><br />The perception I have in my head is to side with the employer of the maid rather than the maid herself, that is purely based on my personal experience with maids. While I recognize the injustices that might befall them I still also can't distance myself from the crap the maids caused me and I had to put up with and the troubles they caused within my immediate family. So while she might be an honestly genuine victim the cost of verifying that and my skepticism were too high of a cost for the reward.<br /><br />On the other hand the realization that, really it is non of my business to step in to resolve this did pain me to say the least. When I said the cost of verifying, I meant the fact that if I had stepped in it might have escalated the altercation and shifted the focus to me instead of her and I won't be glad about that since I know how volatile people in this country are when they see a stranger butting into their business. Thats beside the fact that there is a high probability that the maid erred them rather than what I would initially assume, that would put me in more heat in that case.<br /><br />Thoughts about racism scantly skipped through my head at that point, would I have stopped if it wasn't a maid(someone who is more prone to be victimized). quickly the answer jolted in my brain with a resonating "NO, I wouldn't have even thought about it as much !". I usually don't like to involve myself into the troubles of two strangers and even people am familiar with since my experience is that they end up ganging up on you rather than appreciating the fact that you are trying to calm them down to rationalize the issue, so at an early age that was the rule whenever i observe something of that nature.<br />The only exceptions I have to that rule is when it involves a child or someone unable to stand to himself (for instance some of the special kids) . In that case it is irrelevant to me who wronged who, the child has a leeway not allowed to others.<br /><br />So I guess inaction is what I found to be the best action, but is it the morally right thing to do ? and is it worth the risk and cost ? What would you have done ?<br /><br />ENJOY!<br /><span style="font-style: italic;font-size:78%;" ><br />* art by Spalenka</span>No_Angelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443783795297272286noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31883295.post-24764680310823740942008-03-24T16:57:00.002+03:002008-03-24T17:00:17.917+03:00Viral pawnagebest I've seen in a while, click (or copy paste) the link<br /><br /><a href="ttp://www.quieroverunfantasma.com/eng/">http://www.quieroverunfantasma.com/eng/</a><br /><br />Enjoy!No_Angelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443783795297272286noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31883295.post-13189317459359594412008-03-13T15:17:00.004+03:002008-03-13T15:51:42.336+03:00"I'm the scat man" ..... NOT or maybe ?!<span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">H</span></span>ey you girls & guys remember this song ? Scatman ? remember how every kid around was trying to sing it ending up just uttering "I'm the scat man" .... lovely song, ain't it ?<br /><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/mpHLEm9-0bg&hl=en"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/mpHLEm9-0bg&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br />while the meaning of scat seems fitting for that song,<span style="font-style: italic;"> Jazz singing in which improvised, meaningless syllables are sung to a melody</span>, my debaucherous mind just goes on a tangent and i start laughing when I recall kids singing I'm the scat man, oh the ignorance of children and adults at that... then the next image in my brain is that of a doodie.com cartoon ...<br /><br />Either way, why the hell am I talking about that ?<br />well since I really don't want to talk about other things (well lets just say its not the most healthy option for me to do so), like the republishing of the cartoons and what happened on al jazeera on my blog, or whats going on in gaza, or the economic situation of Jordan and the United States and all the other lovely things going on around me and in my head. which honestly I can summarize my thoughts of them all with that talk above, what a bunch of scat loving men do we have in the world .... oh .... in case your not horrified and vowing to never open up this blog again I'll leave you with this, should do the job :P<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8yp5fldb4xcXWKGAaTZIdYigWkk8MRdVSmexziA0JgcRCvIuRABtE7Y87PXxBdnGlPRlPTmxQdEW2IeKA2xkheEpGh0PXHVIT1LYcIRIxkATyXLAqL8pAbyy_HPDyp7y_h3X54g/s1600-h/earthquake5.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8yp5fldb4xcXWKGAaTZIdYigWkk8MRdVSmexziA0JgcRCvIuRABtE7Y87PXxBdnGlPRlPTmxQdEW2IeKA2xkheEpGh0PXHVIT1LYcIRIxkATyXLAqL8pAbyy_HPDyp7y_h3X54g/s320/earthquake5.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5177205794121279090" border="0" /></a><br /><br />and for anyone having a writers block like i was having this proved to be of some help to me :D<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAK3a35TleqjBwXET3AyQ7Hmp6oE1bk3MaPdyqPqzij58s7g5zAQOIIdb_nByF-O53ccq2bI7T9reP0HdJDibyazV8VQqkmdL7IKq_WhUwK7JszISy36kx8U3i8Y7LwrhS7V194g/s1600-h/writer_block.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAK3a35TleqjBwXET3AyQ7Hmp6oE1bk3MaPdyqPqzij58s7g5zAQOIIdb_nByF-O53ccq2bI7T9reP0HdJDibyazV8VQqkmdL7IKq_WhUwK7JszISy36kx8U3i8Y7LwrhS7V194g/s320/writer_block.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5177205794121279106" border="0" /></a><br />ENJOY !No_Angelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443783795297272286noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31883295.post-77233054407338661112008-03-10T15:59:00.004+03:002008-03-10T16:17:16.445+03:00Why does crap fill the airwaves and how consumerist pop culture creates societies...Me like this, you watch this ! please ?<br /><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/LGEdDd5zsHo"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/LGEdDd5zsHo" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><br /><br />bambam is being nice today, give me a cookie ...<br /><br />don't ask me how the next one is related but it is, and thou shall watch if e have read thus far.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/bgcXXeWMUiI"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/bgcXXeWMUiI" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object><br /><br />Help ?No_Angelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443783795297272286noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31883295.post-70987364747466999572008-03-10T15:22:00.006+03:002008-03-10T16:17:34.549+03:00The forgotten tag<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnXk4X8-ZTfmmS2xl1ucBghKLPJX_kFrlR7P0kxVWsCop3g0YNu-3av1K5E5TeKJjH550uTupg3H3qeFxbI5t1J0TaD-6_zv1XwKOfioxAY8lRjVavnSPJMKQosd7w8YT443SFLA/s1600-h/bullies.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnXk4X8-ZTfmmS2xl1ucBghKLPJX_kFrlR7P0kxVWsCop3g0YNu-3av1K5E5TeKJjH550uTupg3H3qeFxbI5t1J0TaD-6_zv1XwKOfioxAY8lRjVavnSPJMKQosd7w8YT443SFLA/s320/bullies.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5176097443450807890" border="0" /></a><br />Tala & Kinzi tagged me ages ago with the pre-18 tag, Although i think life starts after 18 and whatever you do before really doesn't matter all that much (hmm yeah that includes the crappy tawjihi or whatever else there is in you life as a rights of passage)<br />so here it goes ...<br /><blockquote>to list 6 things one should do before becoming 18 years old.</blockquote>so am just going to say the highlights of pre-18.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">1. Ignore the popularity contest that is school, you are who you are make that bloom:</span> so much damage and false expectations in life stem from the fact that life in school mimics real life. If you don't develop the skill to connect with people beyond whats hot right now forget about ever being anything. Accept your differences, start thinking about who you are as a person, that is you, not which religion, family, country, color, and class. take a peak at the raw you.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">2. if possible, sleep through it: </span>oh sleeping in school is a must and i enjoyed that part thoroughly, if you feel you are not getting the education that you need from school that is the best protest you can do, while on the other hand you should not lax off and you should carry the burden of your education.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">3. Go to a test without even opening a book:</span> There are many types of intelligence in the world, don't make them brainwash you into thinking that you are irrelevant if you suck in any class. try to exercise your own system. by going to a test without studying you are measuring your recollection ability, your independent thought, your retention abilities if you paid attention in class, and you are also testing your stress tolerance and handling. screw a couple of grades points if you manage to get a positive experience in those areas which are far more important later on. you will never always have the whole answers in real life so might as well start now.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">4. you are grade what ? i don't care:</span> If you think that you shouldn't know something because its for a higher grade then i suggest that you lock yourself up for life and forfeit the dream of ever becoming more than what you are. You are only limited by the system, so screw the system. If you find that you have interest in something that goes beyond what is offered by the system then go after it, even if its at the peril of other courses that you yourself hold no interest in. Even<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">5. WHY ? just keep on asking others that:</span> it bears repeating, KEEP ON ASKING WHY. If the answer is "heik" or "its just the way it is", its worth asking "why" again. While getting an answer and learning from others is great, what is even more beneficial is discerning half-truths and uninformed answers from the rest. You will face a lot of bias when you ask for an answer about anything, anywhere. so the sooner you learn to distinguish which ones to keep and hold on and which ones to fight and decimate the better. Always do that with the knowledge that you might be wrong and you aren't always right. Also a warning for the wise, limit the parental "Why" to 5 a day otherwise you might be experiencing some financial hardships.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">6. you know money ? You know the thing that you get for just breathing, eating and by now you should know how that sentence finishes:</span> Learn the value of money, money is what makes life easier but its never gives meaning to it. Learn what its worth to not have, and if you can learn how people that have a lot of it act, and how people change which the fluctuation of the amount of money in their pockets. learn what it means to save, learn what it means to over spend. just mess with money, earn money, try to do everything that you can possibly can with money before you hit 18. For it is the only 18 years of your life that your financial mistakes won't come back to haunt you later on.<br /><br />oh and btw, life starts after 18 so if you want to mess it up try to do it by then ... and like one really annoying presenter from my school days used to say "age is just a number it doesn't matter how old you are, what matters is how much you know in this life"<br /><br />ENJOYNo_Angelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443783795297272286noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31883295.post-25960701367692061472008-02-25T13:57:00.002+03:002008-02-25T14:15:00.704+03:00Why japanese people are more likely to commit suicide<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj-kU_fBxseZZxnOzyUCbV6HE4odQmIydnz8_HlfJsIBn1cXeR7NlsqKjeYqlbDj2GNLPfnjrEUIeKA2U8vL12m2TgTvPPMUV8m-rI-7oAW-fvTu2qNfirgaEHteJFzN919HQgTw/s1600-h/weta_eva.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj-kU_fBxseZZxnOzyUCbV6HE4odQmIydnz8_HlfJsIBn1cXeR7NlsqKjeYqlbDj2GNLPfnjrEUIeKA2U8vL12m2TgTvPPMUV8m-rI-7oAW-fvTu2qNfirgaEHteJFzN919HQgTw/s320/weta_eva.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5170874636524441602" border="0" /></a><br />Well Japanese boys grow up with amazing stories of the normal high, middle , grade school kid who some how became "super" preferably by being associated with a mecha. So they think that is the norm and they grow up with delusions of grandeur.<br /><blockquote>If I don't have my Mecha, I am a failure as a human being and I should cease to exist<br /><br /></blockquote>So they commit suicide.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnc6t3NXu1dbpgQhLkuDk3EJNlQI0tvBUKLlllAi8NoDLeOaaM2pGcZ_LlqPEJitQTR4J6DkEe2HYzyGdJS_WoeqQgHQmwibMpznetE8MGRqPTTBUDvIA7-ZEHN-qT6cbfD3oEsQ/s1600-h/287401chii.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnc6t3NXu1dbpgQhLkuDk3EJNlQI0tvBUKLlllAi8NoDLeOaaM2pGcZ_LlqPEJitQTR4J6DkEe2HYzyGdJS_WoeqQgHQmwibMpznetE8MGRqPTTBUDvIA7-ZEHN-qT6cbfD3oEsQ/s320/287401chii.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5170874640819408914" border="0" /></a><br />As for girls, they dream of wider eyes and wish that when they are older their eyes will grow wider. Manga style wide .... so they die too.<br /><br />Since we are on the subject of Anime, I am going to so make my kid watch this cartoon.... he is sooooo cute<br />I introduce you to the word Manko !<br /><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/MrVoC8_KE-U&rel=1"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/MrVoC8_KE-U&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br />ENJOY!<br />ps. With the last discussion<a href="http://nonangel.blogspot.com/2008/02/quantam-philosphy-implications.html"> here</a> I needed to throw a curve ball and lighten upNo_Angelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443783795297272286noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31883295.post-63893188506198218932008-02-21T14:48:00.004+03:002008-02-21T15:19:27.499+03:00An example of where Quranic Science might get you ?OK, maybe its a bit uncalled for there, but the fact that he found a podium to honestly discuss things is what makes me more sure that not all voices/ideas should be entertained equally.<br /> It's making me grind my teeth that am linking to a memri video, one of the most ultra zionistic unprofessional organizations that translate selectively for the only purpose of shedding light on Arabic ignorance and twisting things in Israeli favors but this video was just too much of a WTF moment to let it go unposted<br />I bet Galileo is turning like a maniac in his grave at the thought of people in the 21st century still arguing for the earth is flat idea. although I kind like having earth on a big giant turtle, it's cute eh ?<br /><br /><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/wppjYDj9JUc&rel=1"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/wppjYDj9JUc&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br />Just to be fair... he's not the only one to be arguing for such a hellish idea<br /><br /><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/LNC117UYsHs&rel=1"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/LNC117UYsHs&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br />ENJOY !No_Angelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443783795297272286noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31883295.post-83454436984708658882008-02-20T17:26:00.004+03:002008-02-20T17:38:01.524+03:00Microsoft marketing at its best, when you can't fight the parodies join them ...<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQI5vCQMiJ0mkRd8YZhygY7gNk6RFw6xdEli69hFvolfv2GWjiXriCaOhZmcEYGFxvsrO9cHp4XNS1mJpudu5vk-XaRzuA8LYVR63NJszpluG1jcS0LQawDo_xmMm2SNW32EYeFg/s1600-h/bio-ssg-03.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQI5vCQMiJ0mkRd8YZhygY7gNk6RFw6xdEli69hFvolfv2GWjiXriCaOhZmcEYGFxvsrO9cHp4XNS1mJpudu5vk-XaRzuA8LYVR63NJszpluG1jcS0LQawDo_xmMm2SNW32EYeFg/s320/bio-ssg-03.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5169069929921368050" border="0" /></a><br /> OK I had to pinch my self to make sure that am not seeing a parody of MS products...<br />people meet <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/events/hero/">the source fource</a><br /><br />My favourite is the SQL server gal;<br /><br /><blockquote>Anyway, I just wanted to say hello, in person, in my own voice. I'm positively thrilled to be asked back for another round. You like me. You really like me!</blockquote><br /><br />Yup I do, atleast more than the visual studio guy whose reply to the question of his favourite TV show is ;<br /><br /><blockquote>TV? He killed his TV long ago. In fact, he'd probably be more than happy to come over and kill yours too.</blockquote><br /><br />wouldn't let him close to my TV for sho.<br /><br />Now how the hell is that supposed to be a marketing campaign that doesn't make feel like am dealing with bambinos in grown ups clothes is beyond me.<br /><br />ENJOYNo_Angelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443783795297272286noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31883295.post-32486288771299770792008-02-20T14:39:00.007+03:002008-02-20T15:43:25.969+03:00Quantam philosphy - Implications<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivGlOcl7exH6TrunZQUIC077RNiAX0Njpm2AjeHzbX_54oSGFq4Na5JvWT_ijh7xGsXQ_49tQIFeotgpUcJCy4N969YWSek6ST0Z_ZVz9-kHJGBwgzcaOF6oQ7bN9BGDuXK4hyDg/s1600-h/05.09.27.NewCreation-X.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 304px; height: 226px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivGlOcl7exH6TrunZQUIC077RNiAX0Njpm2AjeHzbX_54oSGFq4Na5JvWT_ijh7xGsXQ_49tQIFeotgpUcJCy4N969YWSek6ST0Z_ZVz9-kHJGBwgzcaOF6oQ7bN9BGDuXK4hyDg/s320/05.09.27.NewCreation-X.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5169036321802276770" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />Out of the window is the <span style="font-weight: bold;">law of noncontradiction</span>, simply we have a physical proof that something can be in two states at the same time that are contradicting. it is evident not just from the this experiment of particle and waves but from others including quantum spin.<br /><br />This staple of a premise being logically impossible to be true or false, right or wrong, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schr%C3%B6dinger%27s_Cat">dead or alive</a> removed from any subjective view does dent universal logics (there are universal truths in our world philosophically) since it says that we each "create" our world rather than participate in it.<br /><br />Secondly that <span style="font-weight: bold;">our subjective influence</span> on one such system influences other systems that are <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_entanglement">entangled </a>with it. In quantum physics there are entangled particles, particles that have made contact with each other, think of it like 2 billiard balls hitting each other. When a measurement is made on one of the particles the other particle is exhibiting the opposite. So this<a href="http://www.signandsight.com/features/614.html"> spooky action states</a> makes fertile ground for some new age ideas, think telepathy of particles or perhaps evidence for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_viewing">remote viewing.</a><br /><br />Being the subjective interpretation that it is, in essence it is inferring that rather than the universe is being, <span style="font-weight: bold;">it is becoming</span>. To an extent it is alluding to the fact that our consciousness is shaping our universe into what we perceive as reality. Dare i say that it tells us that we might have a soul ...<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdbyKNVTZUhQj7ZREmbCgyTUzzMTYNvqJ5SSi44MHnBr7A-GY-4XRsscPdN88NpWCuD-Gx8BmTuz5ci7b3Jq6r99GDuwyt8An6x-e_OZxnO-eYyXWGE4vUCZyvo2wHMv3Wv9bHCw/s1600-h/chickenjason.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 260px; height: 265px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdbyKNVTZUhQj7ZREmbCgyTUzzMTYNvqJ5SSi44MHnBr7A-GY-4XRsscPdN88NpWCuD-Gx8BmTuz5ci7b3Jq6r99GDuwyt8An6x-e_OZxnO-eYyXWGE4vUCZyvo2wHMv3Wv9bHCw/s320/chickenjason.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5169036326097244082" border="0" /></a>Need I say that <span style="font-weight: bold;">absolute determinism</span> is out of the question at this point, since the idea that the universe is like a big machine where everything has been set in motion from day one with no influence that a person can have on his past, present or future. Since simply that holds out to be false experimentally :P It is the more of a free-will universe where to some extend determinism deals with out past but holds little influence on our future and doesn't predict our future .<br /><br />In fear of making this post more disjointed than it already is, I'll stop this series at this in hope of expanding on it later on, sorry for making it long but I tried to cut it up as much as possible. I tried to limit my explanation as much as possible too, so I don't know if i made any leaps of logic.<br /><br />Thanks to <a href="http://thearabobserver.blogspot.com/">Observer</a> for serving as <a href="http://thearabobserver.blogspot.com/2008/02/fadi-contemplating-destiny.html">the inspiration</a> to these posts based on you post about determinism and the view that you can build a computer big enough to map out the paths of all humans if given enough information, and I hope I made you re-think that possibility. Sorry it took so long to write this too.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"></span>No_Angelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443783795297272286noreply@blogger.com101tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31883295.post-79643174972563586122008-02-11T16:33:00.004+03:002008-02-20T15:35:37.361+03:00Quantum philosophy - What it means<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6H72lGWtpxlIzSjTNw93veZKhZJunG3iFKuTNFm1A1WDXQCwSOQ085S3tEuXdDm4HjBwVFHu-3BdqMSnHcACFZ9K7S_5oI6uEBtQNQYkc-ShhikF0iq8M8lpS9WnUpqCQzvbc2w/s1600-h/tpo8.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6H72lGWtpxlIzSjTNw93veZKhZJunG3iFKuTNFm1A1WDXQCwSOQ085S3tEuXdDm4HjBwVFHu-3BdqMSnHcACFZ9K7S_5oI6uEBtQNQYkc-ShhikF0iq8M8lpS9WnUpqCQzvbc2w/s320/tpo8.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5169039637517029346" border="0" /></a><br />In the previous post, I mentioned the double slit experiment. In that experiment the Results are determined by the subjective outlook of the observer. If he wants to see light as waves it will be waves and if he wants it to be particles it will act as such. but never both at the same time.<br /><br />The results of that different experiments were replicated in several more complex ones, that address any other possibility of experimental error, the mathematical models correspond to the results.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">So What does this all mean ?<br /><br /></span>Interpreting the experimental findings has been the unorthodox part of quantum, since it threw determinism and the mechanistic view of the universe out of the window. It is the attempt to bridge the gap between what happens at the subatomic level and why it isn't observed in our universe at a larger scales.<br /><br />The most widely supported view is that of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copenhagen_interpretation">Copenhagen's interpretation</a> which simply says that every particle is described by its wavefuntion that dictates its probability to be found in any place, and upon measurement that wave collapses placing the particle into what the subject is expecting of it with that measurement and that every measurement influences the end result. wave function in this interpretation means more of a non-committal mode rather than an actual wave like movement of particles.<br /><br />Just in terms of reference to other interpretations in case you are saying that what this suggests is way too woo like and way too far fetched that it can't make sense (who said the universe should make sense). <span style="font-style: italic;">I won't discuss Hidden variable interpretation since it is old, and mostly a discarded attempt to hold on to classical mechanistic view of the world</span><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7h8w5fMbDaTmBCMBjFa0WJf9_RGBCd-irRrQ7RIMWqc5TfCgU5LWBMN2jSIKfolV0dO3O928AfyMAb2rSZyA1CLJXFO-Mf-VfrxIZbWL4froXsG4sCtRVHFtutMZRHGWr7WJqdw/s1600-h/chickenparallel.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7h8w5fMbDaTmBCMBjFa0WJf9_RGBCd-irRrQ7RIMWqc5TfCgU5LWBMN2jSIKfolV0dO3O928AfyMAb2rSZyA1CLJXFO-Mf-VfrxIZbWL4froXsG4sCtRVHFtutMZRHGWr7WJqdw/s320/chickenparallel.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5169039637517029330" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Many-worlds_interpretation">Many World interpretation</a><br />this is the interesting interpretation that explains that instead of what happens after something is observed and all the other possibilities are discarded to form the current reality. It says that all those probabilities actually occur and we are only able to perceive one of those realities.<br />Those realities (universes) are part of a bigger multiverse which encompasses all those universes. If it happens that any 2 universes happen to intersect then they would end up merging into a single universe. It helps remove the fact that we are participants in shaping the universe (atleast the one that we live in) and back to participants... Do you remember <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sliders">Sliders</a>.No_Angelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443783795297272286noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31883295.post-1926508262476024422008-02-11T15:13:00.002+03:002008-02-20T15:43:24.310+03:00Quantum Philosophy - Prologue<span style="font-style: italic;"> My knowledge of the subject is rudimentary, from my perspective, so I'll try to explain to the best of my abilities. Plus I'll try to place my tendency to go to the moon and back when discussing something on a leash.</span><br /><br />To start the subject up, I'd like to quote something that was said in the course "introduction to quantum mechanics". The professor started the class by saying this (paraphrase):<br /><br /><blockquote>Look, if you teach an introductory course on quantum mechanics, and the students don't have nightmares for weeks, tear their hair out, wander around with bloodshot eyes, etc., then you probably didn't get the point across.</blockquote><br /><br />A lot of great thinkers in the past had a tough time swallowing what quantum mechanics indicated about our reality, Einstein was quoted on the subject saying "God doesn't play dice with the universe".<br /><br />Essentially while classical Newtonian physics can predict every fall of the sparrow, quantum mechanics can only leave us with possibilities. The real trouble with quantum mechanics doesn't arise from the fact that we can't predict the future in it ala classical physics. The real trouble arises from the fact that not only is that the future is indeterministic, the past is also indeterministic. Also that the probabilistic nature of quantum mechanics doesn't arise from our own ignorance like statistical probabilities it is an inherent attribute of the system .<br /><br />Still reading ?? REALLY ?<br /><br />Since the days of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democritus">Democritus </a> it was thought that everything tangible in this universe is made up of atoms that form the building blocks of our reality, Well quantum mechanics is the study of subatomic particles, the building blocks of all the universe.<br /><br />So lets look at a simple experiment. you remember the science experiment where you have a tank of water and u place and object with two slits and turn on the wave generator to see how waves interfere with each other ? And do you remember them referring to light as both wave and particle in nature.<br />Well that experiment can be done with light.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2YnDcoYBdxrgmc5vsDLWOM4A043HsAfmRqalo30nmzAZu-EK3DcvarvYAOydTbxNYf2xzKXTsBz0RbvQhmNip8ZN6UyjBKuUZBivQ6mBtm4s3ebN0wsXGdemgTAxE1yGp95HhBA/s1600-h/QPHIL1.gif"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2YnDcoYBdxrgmc5vsDLWOM4A043HsAfmRqalo30nmzAZu-EK3DcvarvYAOydTbxNYf2xzKXTsBz0RbvQhmNip8ZN6UyjBKuUZBivQ6mBtm4s3ebN0wsXGdemgTAxE1yGp95HhBA/s320/QPHIL1.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5165705411455471506" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double-slit_experiment">double-slit experiments</a> reveal that photons,<br />the quantum entities giving rise to light and other<br />forms of electromagnetic radiation, act both like<br />particles and like waves. A single photon will<br />strike the screen in a particular place,<br />like a particle (left)- But as more photons strike<br />the screen, they begin to create an interference pattern<br />(center). Such a pattern could occur only if each photon<br />had actually gone through both slits, like a wave (right).</b></span></div><br /><br />If that isn't baffling enough, if you only permit one photon to pass through the slits. The interference pattern is still observed suggesting that wave went through. But when you add an apparatus that can detect which slit the photon passed through the interference pattern disappears. This experiment can be replicated on electrons, neutrons, atoms, and theoretically to other bigger things.<br /><br />It is as if what we are experementing on is making future predictions and providing us with the answers that we want to see.<br /><br />I'll stop here for this post, and let you think about what implications such result can have.No_Angelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443783795297272286noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31883295.post-29322200899005636872008-02-06T21:55:00.000+03:002008-02-06T23:19:17.602+03:00Hey muslims are Making headlines ...... AGAIN !!!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG3CaGwgBtOmBqPeI9FE5XlvPIZc8v5QjwG1_IT5H7Ga5xkMNN1kqSVW4wI-NJKDITAjmkKoevemIQFkvdSu-w0M3dhbF7AG0AiYoLzzPv7_kHQG1LnDUFi0rN9gE5NHVaQKoi6w/s1600-h/20060204.gif"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 252px; height: 190px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiG3CaGwgBtOmBqPeI9FE5XlvPIZc8v5QjwG1_IT5H7Ga5xkMNN1kqSVW4wI-NJKDITAjmkKoevemIQFkvdSu-w0M3dhbF7AG0AiYoLzzPv7_kHQG1LnDUFi0rN9gE5NHVaQKoi6w/s320/20060204.gif" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5163962503462765874" border="0" /></a><br />So Muslims are in the headlines of the <a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/05/technology/wiki.php">Herald Tribune</a> (<span style="font-style: italic;">shame seems we are moving down the scale now in media haute couture</span>) . This time it is to remove a depiction of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) ... either go to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad">Wiki </a>or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Mohammed_kaaba_1315.jpg">here </a> (<span style="font-style: italic;">Close your eyes now I wouldn't want you to be "<span style="font-weight: bold;">offended</span>"</span>)<br /><br />Can somebody please explain this to me ? we never went around banning and petitioning Britannica as far as I remember. Look if you ever want to be genuinely accepted in better light stop being so antagonistic about every single little thing. You want to recreate your image then recognize that you have to play according to the rules, it's like the 12th player on a football field cursing his mates for not passing the ball <span style="font-style: italic;">sheesh</span>.<br /><br />If there is anyone offended by seeing a picture that was drawn in the 13th century please tell me how you are offended by it. Now I draw, and I have always drawn characters and people thats what I enjoy drawing. So I remember the issue being brought up to me back when I was in school early on. For one, even as a child I thought it was absurd and irrelevant to our day and age. I am not gonna end up idolizing my drawings and praying to them ...<br /><br />So here are the hadiths and the futwa on depictions , since Quran doesn't mention the issue;<br /><blockquote>الرسم له معنيان : <br />أحدهما رسم الصور ذوات الأرواح ، وهذا جاءت السنة بتحريمه ، فلا يجوز الرسم الذي هو رسم ذوات الأرواح ، لقول النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم في الحديث الصحيح : " كل مصوّر في النار " وقوله صلى الله عليه وسلم : " أشد الناس عذاباً يوم القيامة المصورون ، الذين يضاهئون بخلق الله " ، ولقوله صلى الله عليه وسلم : " إن أصحاب هذه الصور يعذبون يوم القيامة ويقال لهم : أحيوا ما خلقتم "<br /><br />ولأنه صلى الله عليه وسلم لعن آكل الربا وموكله ، ولعن المصور ، فدل ذلك على تحريم التصوير ، وفسر العلماء ذلك بأنه تصوير ذوات الأرواح من الدواب والإنسان والطيور .<br /><br />أما رسم ما لا روح فيه ـ وهو المعنى الثاني ـ فهذا لا حرج فيه كرسم الجبل والشجر والطائرة والسيارة وأشباه ذلك ، لا حرج فيه عند أهل العلم .<br /><br />ويستثني من الرسم المحرم ما تدعو الضرورة إليه ، كرسم صور المجرمين حتى يعرفوا وحتى يمسكوا ، أو الصورة في حفيظة النفوس التي لا بد منها ولا يستطيع الحصول عليها إلا بذلك ، وهكذا ما تدعو الضرورة من سوى ذلك ، فإذا رأى ولي الأمر أن هذا الشيء مما تدعو الضرورة إلى تصويره ، لخطورته ، ولقصد سلامة المسلمين من شره حتى يعرف ، أو لأسباب أخرى فلا باس ، قال الله عز وجل : ( وَقَدْ فَصَّلَ لَكُمْ مَا حَرَّمَ عَلَيْكُمْ إِلَّا مَا اضْطُرِرْتُمْ إِلَيْهِ ) الأنعام 19/ 1</blockquote><br /><br />Translation:<br /><blockquote>visual depictions refers to two types:<br />The first type is referring to<span style="font-weight: bold;"> depictions of creatures with souls(all living creatures except for trees) </span>and that is forbidden because of the prophet's(PBUH) saying "every depicter is in hell" , also quoted saying "[one of] the people most severely punished on judgment day are depicters, those who compete with god's creation". finally adding "the authors of those depictions are tortured on judgment day and are told: give life to your creations"<br /><br />And because the prophet (PBUH) cursed the usury, her agents, and depicters. that points out that it is <span style="font-weight: bold;">haram (forbidden)</span>. The people of knowledge explained that this prohibition applies to depictions of anything with a soul.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Depictions of the soulless </span>is the second, that includes trees, mountains and other inanimate objects. There are no issues in this regard and it is permissible.<br /><br />The exception to the depiction of creatures with souls is in cases where it is deemed necessary and helps in protecting the muslims from harm. </blockquote><br />Reading the above, it is not particularly depictions of the prophet per se, although those are deemed extremely offensive. It is anything and everything that has a soul. (I<span style="font-style: italic;"> wonder do viruses and bacteria have one ? and poor trees are singled out ... dammit, sunflowers look happy in the sun to me, they even lean forward to greet it </span>)<br /><br />So there you go, for anyone that ever took a photograph of his friends, drew a cartoon character or did anything that is loosely related to illustrating anything that would have a soul. <span style="font-weight: bold;">I'll see you in hell for the remix !</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">ps. i picked depiction so it will include sculptures, drawings and photographs. even though its not a proper noun, so if anyone has a better word for it am welcoming suggestions. plus the translation is my own so if there are any mistakes please do point them out(I omitted some because i got bored).</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF6RqYmonWMDrdy59AwZko6PsFwstmbS7Jz93U7mpG9kF4xAZHtyB18mJIs4aVVJ0JSyQW99uyXtubjLVhhe-68MIgodjpu0mKzFKbQezPgtByTqwQTLSdjsx25Rs1tjZEPN7Evg/s1600-h/Image1.jpg"><img style="margin: auto 10px; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF6RqYmonWMDrdy59AwZko6PsFwstmbS7Jz93U7mpG9kF4xAZHtyB18mJIs4aVVJ0JSyQW99uyXtubjLVhhe-68MIgodjpu0mKzFKbQezPgtByTqwQTLSdjsx25Rs1tjZEPN7Evg/s320/Image1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5163962499167798562" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">ENJOY!</span>No_Angelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443783795297272286noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31883295.post-55508911414309991042008-02-05T02:17:00.000+03:002008-02-05T11:05:17.231+03:00Why would they cut the internet --- a tinfoil theory<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Mln3F0d6vemKFME1QjZNJ1rIwn1NTTOt40VCDDPUx0X8Z9OJfgiFOgnFAWHT8ZZwkViPKzrV_HTcxsOKtEyAAJ4MhW0po3bll73DsyO26jvZHL5qy5zuBK72XmJ-au7Zg_pI0Q/s1600-h/LOL+in-ur-tubez-blockin-ur-internetz.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 236px; height: 177px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7Mln3F0d6vemKFME1QjZNJ1rIwn1NTTOt40VCDDPUx0X8Z9OJfgiFOgnFAWHT8ZZwkViPKzrV_HTcxsOKtEyAAJ4MhW0po3bll73DsyO26jvZHL5qy5zuBK72XmJ-au7Zg_pI0Q/s320/LOL+in-ur-tubez-blockin-ur-internetz.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5163282519945495794" border="0" /></a>Internet underwater cable don't just get cut by themselves, nothing short of an attack by a militant <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loch_Ness_Monster">nessy</a> would cause <a href="http://www.dslreports.com/shownews/Fourth-Undersea-Fiber-Cable-Cut-91576">four</a> of them to be cut off in the span of a few days. All in our lovely region of stability.<br />The first rule of modern warfare is to disrupt the communication, which raises the question of foul play. So that makes you ponder who could possibly do it and why ? then a light bulb just burns bright in your head .... IRAN !<br /><br />So why now ? Mr. bushy was here at a peculiar time in his presidency and surely it was to instigate a new botched up peace process you know, in the last year of his second term. For me it was all about embezzling some friends at gun point to front up some money (<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6920458.stm">20$ billion</a> you might say sounds like a nice sum) and more importantly to bitch slap some sense into them into forgetting about ever dreaming about removing their pegs from the dollar, like <a href="http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2212899,00.html">that idiotic folly of broadcasting a private meeting</a> of OPEC discussing just that. Also to get their <a href="http://www.arabnews.com/?page=6&section=0&article=102925&d=28&m=10&y=2007">mouth pieces</a> working to reassure the people that sticking with the peg is for the best. All you have to do is tape your eyes, plug your ears and stuff your mouth shut and bend over for some kinky time with big bro inflation which is at a two decade high in most countries. that should do the economy some good.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvO1fWFiMwYagQ5iHCtHDvIjtaAJ72LZGYu5emUMpZHmaeZd-zJk-l9LYUY0a-I32ytNho-wKl-BYWJsCCyMHL7UyBRAgO36T88ud-I98E9zIsRYasFq1EbGmGRujnRzgQvG_7IQ/s1600-h/bush.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 181px; height: 144px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvO1fWFiMwYagQ5iHCtHDvIjtaAJ72LZGYu5emUMpZHmaeZd-zJk-l9LYUY0a-I32ytNho-wKl-BYWJsCCyMHL7UyBRAgO36T88ud-I98E9zIsRYasFq1EbGmGRujnRzgQvG_7IQ/s320/bush.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5163282524240463106" border="0" /></a> All that occurs at a time when Iran is about to launch "Iranian Oil Bourse", which is the first bourse in the world that will deal petrol in non dollar currency and undermining the last crotch to the Dollar. The petrodollar would be under even more pressure, as if it wasn't already. So when was it launching you ask ? well during the period of February 1-11th, interesting eh ? now you would think you want to delay that, dontcha ?<br /><br />It gets even better, who just happens to be holding war games around this month. well non other than the <a href="http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7983">Russians</a> , <a href="http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=3346953&C=mideast">the french, the emiratis and qataris</a>. Really now ? you don't say the Russians will hold exercises for the first time in 15 years in the area for nothing.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD1rdNg5mWdQdurh9r68LWOiHfCqWcbeEXaPhJvB-fDC58IA7XzzCMFajPuNi9tjH7mtjhOTzLI2Izfrukbb6y2C3GpCAzDzFAZGc_rjaO3677yQBnn1cfdSueGL6z2Wqhd7F4JA/s1600-h/tinfoil_brandon.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 222px; height: 148px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD1rdNg5mWdQdurh9r68LWOiHfCqWcbeEXaPhJvB-fDC58IA7XzzCMFajPuNi9tjH7mtjhOTzLI2Izfrukbb6y2C3GpCAzDzFAZGc_rjaO3677yQBnn1cfdSueGL6z2Wqhd7F4JA/s320/tinfoil_brandon.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5163282532830397714" border="0" /></a> Now I remember another country that messed with the petro-dollar before and within the span of 6 months it was kaboomed back to the mongrel invasion. So you don't say he would ? It must have been god speaking to him again you know. It is funny how when normal people start hearing voices we place them in mental institutions but when its a bushy they make him a president.<br />Alas for after all its just seems like am the one hallucinating since there is no way in hell no one would have been talking about it by now ? meh, either way welcome to our fun filled '08 strap you safety belt tight for it's gonna be one hell of a ride.<br /><br />ENJOY!<br /><br />h/t : <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article19280.htm"><b><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;">Mike Whitney </span></b>ICH</a>No_Angelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443783795297272286noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31883295.post-1578830454102000482008-02-04T16:00:00.000+03:002008-02-04T17:33:48.868+03:00Disterbia p.IIIBeen a while since I did those ... so here we go again.<br /><br /><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZQmvOv7MERw&rel=1"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZQmvOv7MERw&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br />This one made my jaws drop to the floor, not that I have never seen kids smoking before (i've seen them on the streets a bunch of times). What was totally flabbergasting about it is the fact that he is genuinely enjoying it ! I wonder what is troubling him<br /><br /><object height="355" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/cqi5F5MqqTQ&rel=1"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/cqi5F5MqqTQ&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="355" width="425"></embed></object><br /><br />If this was made for kids as it is claimed to be (even though I highly doubt it and more along the lines are all animations appropriate for kids), the that kid will definitely be damaged for life if he comprehends fully what is being portrayed here... it even made me scared just thinking about what was being said here.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD8Cx3JkusShExrL6PetwGCW5BbJTS44iohwOKrt9_yhEAP7KLSNgGgmq8yFg8GDickQCEWfPVhqqQIDH7kOAfL0F7gcWkzs65EAWf7Wh1UkO6t8UotR8ZYJdE526trl4FeJDkJA/s1600-h/christianity.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD8Cx3JkusShExrL6PetwGCW5BbJTS44iohwOKrt9_yhEAP7KLSNgGgmq8yFg8GDickQCEWfPVhqqQIDH7kOAfL0F7gcWkzs65EAWf7Wh1UkO6t8UotR8ZYJdE526trl4FeJDkJA/s320/christianity.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5163112516549985394" border="0" /></a><br /><br />This is funny and offensive at the same time, the disturbing thing is that they didn't have to go too far in their framing of it to make it that way.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie_uusugrPTTHD98aTiF0ZDlYl6amVE2-x_LA5hZhPr421PjL8akMT6lVR_oahQwXjR9NfMHu9bPuofDBwQQkuv4DYcQ_nLyJNMKQ9C0OgyMsW-rJ110TWc2iSzBcjDzTxWoTR3w/s1600-h/_1874471_schoolap_300.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie_uusugrPTTHD98aTiF0ZDlYl6amVE2-x_LA5hZhPr421PjL8akMT6lVR_oahQwXjR9NfMHu9bPuofDBwQQkuv4DYcQ_nLyJNMKQ9C0OgyMsW-rJ110TWc2iSzBcjDzTxWoTR3w/s320/_1874471_schoolap_300.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5163114251716772994" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style=";font-family:sans-serif;font-size:85%;" ></span><blockquote><span style=";font-family:sans-serif;font-size:85%;" >"Saudi Arabia's religious police stopped schoolgirls from leaving a blazing building because they were not wearing correct Islamic dress, according to Saudi newspapers. </span><p> <span style=";font-family:sans-serif;font-size:85%;" >In a rare criticism of the kingdom's powerful "mutaween" police, the Saudi media has accused them of hindering attempts to save 15 girls who died in the fire on Monday."</span></p><p><span style=";font-family:sans-serif;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">"beating young girls to prevent them from leaving the school because they were not wearing the abaya</span>".</span></p></blockquote><p><span style=";font-family:sans-serif;font-size:85%;" ></span></p><p><span style=";font-family:sans-serif;font-size:85%;" >You know public decency has priority over human lives, since you know how poeple might start humping at the first sight of female hair ...... aya caramba ! <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1874471.stm">link to the full story</a><br /></span></p><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic3ARZZaDKG8tYPTcAmxtP28T-KCKc02_3an6-hn05QAgwSu_ycC6DfwY_NUqXh97TOd0iCvSpRKtMPyrLICKpgzACmz2DhNY5oEDG6kaFUADIhowCduZznYNpnMGGcwyZfvP8Tw/s1600-h/closed_can_floor.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 100px; height: 122px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEic3ARZZaDKG8tYPTcAmxtP28T-KCKc02_3an6-hn05QAgwSu_ycC6DfwY_NUqXh97TOd0iCvSpRKtMPyrLICKpgzACmz2DhNY5oEDG6kaFUADIhowCduZznYNpnMGGcwyZfvP8Tw/s320/closed_can_floor.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5163120281850856642" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYoZEbXEzLi_IwbZFD5dTHV5FwPSzzauSCSOP8tPPJ-vcvkBEQoeQeXVXYFOcUNp0gaEGteDW6fqBRda_G0lr5LUU0LcsS2Xqc5I0HrdXqjXkV3Sen67TYm-6JVVGYBzaEPbEw6g/s1600-h/side_by_side2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 161px; height: 107px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYoZEbXEzLi_IwbZFD5dTHV5FwPSzzauSCSOP8tPPJ-vcvkBEQoeQeXVXYFOcUNp0gaEGteDW6fqBRda_G0lr5LUU0LcsS2Xqc5I0HrdXqjXkV3Sen67TYm-6JVVGYBzaEPbEw6g/s320/side_by_side2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5163120591088501970" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0RI2P-_qHcDLAaD-TG-19m6VHAXAcsRp5FpvAcOxd77CZFJqDbp8sDB9mrUNL3sZS2s5E2i_DJvvwHMG9_oAWyZtasnBA14wGVdBEaLweU6CdQVEm3Yq_QMpQetoCcy4BpCs9AA/s1600-h/full_can_branded.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 163px; height: 116px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0RI2P-_qHcDLAaD-TG-19m6VHAXAcsRp5FpvAcOxd77CZFJqDbp8sDB9mrUNL3sZS2s5E2i_DJvvwHMG9_oAWyZtasnBA14wGVdBEaLweU6CdQVEm3Yq_QMpQetoCcy4BpCs9AA/s320/full_can_branded.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5163122171636466914" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Fianlly, some exotic delicacies of the world. In case you were wondering what you are looking at. the pictures above are of <i style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Cuitlacoche</i><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span>.</span> <i style="font-style: italic;">"Cuitlacoche</i><span style="font-style: italic;"> is a black fungus that </span><i style="font-style: italic;">infects</i><span style="font-style: italic;"> corn fields, making the kernels bulbous and swollen as they fill with spores." </span>a delicacy from Mexico<span style="font-style: italic;">. </span>now that is food worth indulging in wouldn't u think ? for more <a href="http://www.thesneeze.com/mt-archives/cat_steve_dont_eat_it.php">yumminess click this link</a> for some pupas and snot beans "<span style="font-style: italic;">natto</span>"<br /><br />Enjoy ! really I hope you did ...No_Angelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443783795297272286noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31883295.post-87388046031173254792008-02-04T15:42:00.000+03:002008-02-04T15:34:38.861+03:00A Knowledge Vertigo<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizB_kAtavG8WlqFgH9FVv6ieMvMITVc1tuHi0rEfmGqaElwAgAlBlTPBu4NjGAcragKqBDkKfI0yPCWln3nM3vD0nyqXUiGb8ZhsmCti_90mRGw4YQ956KGvi2KUgDN-O6DZ-V0A/s1600-h/sunset3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 206px; height: 210px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizB_kAtavG8WlqFgH9FVv6ieMvMITVc1tuHi0rEfmGqaElwAgAlBlTPBu4NjGAcragKqBDkKfI0yPCWln3nM3vD0nyqXUiGb8ZhsmCti_90mRGw4YQ956KGvi2KUgDN-O6DZ-V0A/s320/sunset3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5163097183516738594" border="0" /></a><br />It was always fascinating for me to read up on how in the past people were very observant of their nature and their surrounding. How they have been able to pin down the equinox, calculate the ages(<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epoch_%28astronomy%29">epochs</a>) map the star and a plethora of other scientific discoveries that sound almost alien influenced for the sheer complexity of achieving that level without what we consider as the basics empirical science.<br /><br /> It even boils down into a much closer perspective of how fast science has progressed in the past century to the extent that if you sit down with your parents (if they are old enough) of how life was back in the 30's and what where the normal household utilities available to them you would be shell shocked by the amount of indispensable innovation that occurred.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXF_6sNA5G_PXU5e5_osrTxoqeAD2jUta-dPKPuWRFK1vkhSLXAMwYnpbgx8wKQ_kgZzUnb9HiVCkZ6DW4k8TcC8XwrR24CwV1B7QW5f1tRYJzOp9YTxg5WqCfjPTWi2_PToyPrQ/s1600-h/evolution-white.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 158px; height: 118px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXF_6sNA5G_PXU5e5_osrTxoqeAD2jUta-dPKPuWRFK1vkhSLXAMwYnpbgx8wKQ_kgZzUnb9HiVCkZ6DW4k8TcC8XwrR24CwV1B7QW5f1tRYJzOp9YTxg5WqCfjPTWi2_PToyPrQ/s320/evolution-white.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5163097192106673218" border="0" /></a> The other day I was chatting with a friend of mine and it came down to this question "why did humans lose their hair?", I was like WTH ! Beats me if I know. Maybe metrosexuals aren't a new thing and our ape grandfathers were the first metrosexuals of all. So just like anyone that is faced with a question they can't answer they fire up their trust worthy google window and dig into the answers available there . So I reached the <a href="http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?sec=health&res=9C03E0DE1030F93AA2575BC0A9659C8B63">following article</a>, and in a matter of minutes I got the gist of what possible answers are there for that question.<br /><br />Then I moved on, but it got me thinking. One thing the people in the past had a lot of is time. Nowadays we barely have enough time to do anything. work hours are longer, leisure time is less, personal time is stretched too thin and personally speaking I found the only way to "create" more time to do the things that I want is to condition myself for less sleep time.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXAC60Q9yWGu6eZMR1hkyeQut1Wz0iqtb87F-8cIBuNRIEcyyi2IjjKVViQUFbHo2Cs2l3rUsc8WxMZ9Dnb9w5pWZLz1gCzZVw9d1QP-TMd8EtdsDMwiSnmYsUncwBX4aYNkC4fA/s1600-h/HEY_Got_brain__by_thedarkcloak.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 128px; height: 159px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXAC60Q9yWGu6eZMR1hkyeQut1Wz0iqtb87F-8cIBuNRIEcyyi2IjjKVViQUFbHo2Cs2l3rUsc8WxMZ9Dnb9w5pWZLz1gCzZVw9d1QP-TMd8EtdsDMwiSnmYsUncwBX4aYNkC4fA/s320/HEY_Got_brain__by_thedarkcloak.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5163097192106673202" border="0" /></a> Never before have it even crossed my mind that nowadays more than ever before it seems that we don't even have the time for independent thought. A seemingly complex idea like why would be loose our hair through evolution was resolved in a matter of minutes rather than the life time it would have taken in the past.<br /><br />The fact that the cost of acquiring an answer to a question became so cheap made the information more valuable than the journey and prerequisites that were classically required to obtain it. In a way our whole education system has been structured on the answer and providing answers rather than encouraging critical thinking and independent thought regardless of the result reached.<br /><br /><br />In that manner a fairly infantile technology such as the internet(late 90's is when it started having a global impact) that is only a decade old had such a profound impact on our chain of thought that it offered a limitation to the amount of time we are willing to spend pondering an answer. At least we knew a time before the internet so we didn't lose all our abilities to let our creative energies loose.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLMtDTcNRatwcIrFFNTwFcOic52A5Gl6IiJX7BYRNSExF4TdZP-QUfpOjxGnB1kfwHWdXlA5Yrx5FkiO7XGMiwnCybBRlG0BUCdTC6EklSQ5JkQDKuEZpOoNofu5FnF_mVHYODnw/s1600-h/laughing_man_elmex.png"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 146px; height: 131px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLMtDTcNRatwcIrFFNTwFcOic52A5Gl6IiJX7BYRNSExF4TdZP-QUfpOjxGnB1kfwHWdXlA5Yrx5FkiO7XGMiwnCybBRlG0BUCdTC6EklSQ5JkQDKuEZpOoNofu5FnF_mVHYODnw/s320/laughing_man_elmex.png" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5163097196401640530" border="0" /></a> The current generation who never knew the world before google or the internet, they will be less willing to sit down and ponder on an issue and more time trying to find the quickest and shortest path to the solution. That would mean that the whole process of innovation will have a slow down when it is their turn to take the wheel of progression of science. It is already evident from the statistics in the developed nations that less and less people are willing to go down the scientific path, and more and more people are facing difficulties in subjects that require critical thinking.<br /><br /> All is not lost, while vertical innovations (making new things out of already available objects) seems to be slowing down. Horizontal innovation is really picking up pace, things that are fundamentally the same since their inception are becoming better at a maddening pace. So without readjusting our educational expectations and total reconstruction of the institutes to place more value on the journey rather than the "holy" truth, we will be living among a society that is gullible and crippled in their independent thought. For they see the cost of attaining knowledge rather than information as too high of a cost to pay.<br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwOmrMcO6AwgSB9onuxRJNgETYx2cyQvKxrSptk_Mc-icIDY0pPxnI-lkomjxJmd8bAdsie5gqwhm06DKxgtKmujYk3CQhZGtvrBZUKXQOjaT3tf7srhUJVbZWJsXCRX8uf6ICzQ/s1600-h/stupid_kids.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 83px; height: 139px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwOmrMcO6AwgSB9onuxRJNgETYx2cyQvKxrSptk_Mc-icIDY0pPxnI-lkomjxJmd8bAdsie5gqwhm06DKxgtKmujYk3CQhZGtvrBZUKXQOjaT3tf7srhUJVbZWJsXCRX8uf6ICzQ/s320/stupid_kids.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5163097200696607842" border="0" /></a> The funny thing is that deep down inside i didn't want to write this post, and i felt it was pointless because after all, there are definitely hundreds and hundreds of others that thought along the same lines. So why waste my time ? I wonder how many kids will rather drop down their console controllers to go outside and gaze at the stars and ponder ? I bet not many at all.<br /><br />ENJOY!No_Angelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11443783795297272286noreply@blogger.com5