please stop ruining my countries name.

Isaac Kemboi Chelimo, Edwin Chebii Kimurer and Gladys Cherotich. do these names ring a bell? They shouldn't, these are the names of 3 young keyan Junior athletes that were recently given the Bahraini citizenship to run for Bahrain, and the Kenyans are not happy about it.

At the beginning of the month, the junior runners said to have been plucked out of school to compete for their adopted nation saw AK accuse BAA of ‘modern slavery,’ berating the Gulf State for taking advantage of loopholes in regulations governing change of citizenship to ship out young athletes to their country.said Mutwiri Mutuota of the standard

why? why are we doing this? if these boys were plucked out of school this means we are actually training them, this money should be spent on local talent and we have so much of it doing nothing here, and I wish it stops there, 3 more runners from ethiopia are runing for Bahrain (Alemu Bekele,Tejitu Daba and Shitaye Eshete).

what are you doing to my country, why are we always associated with the worst actions towards humanity?

I wish one day, someone will answer my questions.

way to go BAA.

Here is more bad news from Zimbabwe

Why I’m against the web-filter.

I wrote about rebranding Bahrain in 2007 after a debate in one of the bloggers gatherings, the Idea’s as presented to the pick of the crop of Bahraini thinkers and doers was a collective effort to Brand Bahrain and its future and that was around the time someone not collectively choose “Business Friendly Bahrain” to be the Brand.

Today in 2009 I can’t help but think, why did they stop there? Why wouldn’t anyone who is in the process of rebranding a country set a goal of anything less than The Best Country in the world that is the place I want to live in and I want it to be Bahrain.

One can’t help but wonder how policy is set in this country, what kind of research and evaluation is made before a decision is made, and most importantly, what comes first on the priority list? I mean if we want to make a friendlier Bahrain then we should look t where the Business world is heading and set target at leading those efforts to be the real best at business friendliness, but this is Bahrain and we don’t do it like that.

In February 2007, the European Parliament has passed a proposal (571 in favor, 38 against) submitted by MEP, to treat Internet censorship by national governments as a trade barrier , meanwhile in Bahrain we are moving forward and in full speed in filtering the internet and screening what people can and can’t see, as if controlling the Radio, TV and anything print was enough, I mean, is it just me or we are still stuck in the satellite TV days.

We will also be tagged with the 15 “enemies of the internet“ tag, along with Iran and communist china, that would also be very nice, spicily in a time when our name shouldn’t be associated with Iran in anything negative at all, not in a time we are getting heat from that side of the world as well.

Similarly, in the worlds worse financial crisis ever, it is a bad decision to spend money on information access control equipment and software, forcing the telecom companies to take same investment and following the same policy is also not so Business friendly, especially when Recently the US based Internet companies Yahoo!, Google, and Microsoft together with human rights groups and investment companies agreed upon a set of principles governing how they do business in countries that restrict free speech and privacy rights. This self regulatory code is called the Global Network Initiative (GNI).

We need to move forward and only a Free mind thinks forward, free our internet and free our minds to think about the future and what matters.

Please sign this petition to stop internet censorship In Bahrain: http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/stop-internet-censorship-in-bahrain.html

Petition: Stop internet censorship in Bahrain

On 14 January 2009, local newspapers disclosed a ministerial order by the new minister of culture and information addressed to all telecommunications companies and Internet service providers, calling on them to prevent access to websites that were banned by the ministry.

This is the first resolution issued by the minister this year and the first administrative resolution to give sharp and clear instructions to telecommunications companies and Internet service providers to prevent "all the customary ways to access blocked sites," whether through Internet addresses or through the use of alternative servers (proxies) or any other way.

The MOI ordered ISP’s to censor “inappropriate” content on the Internet, compulsorily, the Bahraini people will not be given a choice to view this material; it will simply become inaccessible by all Bahraini’s. These restrictions will put Bahrain on the same level as countries such as China, Cuba, Iran and North Korea and Saudi.

The issue is with “inappropriate” as a definition, the websites that are blocked at the moment include Opposition websites, Human rights, Public forums, personal blog journals, some google services, Pornographic material and Gambling. Many websites that promote sectarian hatred on the other hand are still accessible from any computer on the island. Inappropriate content will be defined and redefined by the government from time to time as they see fit depending on their Personal views and political stance. This is unacceptable and an intolerable restriction on our freedom of speech (which is the freedom to speak freely without censorship or limitation) and our freedom of information. The actions of the Bahraini authorities violate freedom of expression as stipulated in Article 19 of the ICCPR signed by Bahrain on 20 September 2006.

If this trend continues, the freedom of expression in Bahrain will take another blow and dwarf even more We should at least retain our right to choose. People who do wish to have unrestricted access to the Internet should be able to opt for this. Government should not have unfettered control over our freedom of speech, expression and freedom of information.

Sign the petition here

Hitler on Internet Censorship

I came across this clip today while I was getting my morning youtube fix, there are millions of these creative clips all over the internet but this one speaks about what we are going through right now, it is nice to see that we are not the only people fighting internet censorship and very sad to see that freedom of speech is under attack from all governments.


fight internet censorship, fight for your freedom of speech.

Interet Censorship, until when?

When Sh. May Alkhalifa Bahrain’s secretary of information ordered that some websites to be blocked from the Bahraini users it didn’t hit me by surprise, we by now got used to this kind of suppression and (for the lack of a better word) stupidity from the MoI.

Why stupidity you would ask, well, the internet is too big to be stopped or censored, china here is a very good example of trying and not succeeding, the US is just another example. You may be able to force ISP’s to block access to content but to what extent? Well, it’s just like pissing against the wind, there is always a very simple way to bypass the block and there are always decent programmers that will fight suppression with science and innovation.

What I have a problem understanding is the decision making process, who approves these decisions? Who was the economic advisor that gave the green light? What effects will this have on the market?

Let’s not look at the internet as the super highway of information but look at it as a product, the people in their homes are paying a good amount of money and on a monthly bases just to access the internet and have a good time doing so, based on that fact Telco’s are heavily investing in networks and technology to get that connection to every home and business in the country; what if people based on giving these circumstances stop subscribing to internet services or resorting to other options like subscription sharing, how can these ISP’s justify their investment and effort to improve services when the Government is not helping at all.

This issue is a lot more complicated than what it seems to be and the MOI needs to understand that Idea’s will always be passed by one medium or a 100 others, suppressing these idea’s will not make them disappear and you will never be able to control what you don't uderstand.

I will revisit this in another post or vlog and I think everyone should, and for Sh.May, please leave the internet alone and start working on our appalling TV and radio channels, we really were expecting an improvement in your term.

Iraqi reporter attacks bush with his shoes

if you didn't watch this yet please enjoy.

Kenny Rodgers can't grill chicken.

Kenny Rodgers roosters was introduced to the “food scene” in Bahrain sometime last week, just like that, out of the blue, a new chicken joint is in da house! And in this post I want to share with you my expeiriance with Mr. Rodger’s Chickens.

When I first noticed the poorly designed lamppost add I couldn’t link Kenny Rodgers with food, it just didn’t fit, I knew he was a country music star but didn’t know anything about the Malaysian food chain until the powers of google were unleashed, but why Kenny Rodgers? He is not really known in Bahrain? And why would anyone try to capitalize on his name in Bahrain? Who are you trying to approach?

Ammar, Manaf and I were experimenting with video cameras last week, then one thing led to another and we found ourselves walking into the roasters, the place was almost empty so one would expect a speedy and friendly service, but this wasn’t the case. There was a big number of staff but for some reason they were just looking at each other doing nothing, it took a long boring 10 minutes for lousy waitress to walk over to our table and literally throw 3 menus on the table and walked away, no introduction to the chain, the menu, the specials or anything. The menu is practically empty; the 2 main course dishes were the same grilled chicken with or without sauce, 2 soups and a few other things.

The food, I really don’t know where to start but everything was bad, the soup was so little it didn’t cover the spoon and it didn’t taste any better than a minute cup soup that you have in the office, the chiken tasted exactly like the ready spiced stuff from any super market but less fresh, and the side dish (mac and cheese in my case) was also your average mac in a box kind of thing, the best thing in that meal was the bottled water because it didn’t taste of anything.

Whatever you do with your life don’t ever consider the roasters, never ever in your life, this place must be blown off the map of Bahrain and the world, it is a disgrace to Chicken, food, Mankind and the universe.

Atlas shrugged updated.

Link: http://mcsweeneys.net/2008/11/20tucker.html

an Interesting take on the financial crisis, it would be a lot more interesting if you read the massive 1100 page novel Atlas shrugged by the author and founder of objectivism Ayn Rands published in 1957.

Our lazy friends can skip the nice long read and watch the Angelina Jolie movie next year if they ever manage to finish it, I sure hope they do.

George Carlin dies after 40 years of comedy.

This is a sad day for Comedy, truth and most of all to me, Sipping on my first cup of coffee getting my news fix for the day and the on the first page and bold big letter on my screen I read the news of the Demise of who is the best comedian of our time Mr. George Carlin.

George Denis Patrick Carlin (1937-2008). the world will miss you.

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Carlin

why can't we think like this?

Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens has placed an the
largest ever order for wind turbines: he ordered 667 wind turbines from GE, each
costing $3 million dollars, making the total order $2 billion. Picken plans to
develop the world’s largest wind farm in the panhandle of Texas.
The $2
billion order is just one quarter of the total amount he plans to purchase. Once
built, the wind farm would have the capacity to supply power to over 1,200,000
homes in North Texas.Each turbine can produce 1.5 megawatts of electricity. The
first phase of the project will produce 1,000 megawatts, enough energy to power
300,000 homes. GE will begin delivering the turbines in 2010, and current plans
call for the project to start producing power in 2011.Ultimately, Picken’s
company, Mesa Power, plans to have enough turbines to produce 4,000 megawatts of
energy, the overall project is expected to cost $10 billion and be completed in
2014.

from: http://www.enn.com/business/article/36422


All the money these days is being invested in houses, and developments that no one can afford, no one is investing in industry, agriculture, medicine, education, information technology or research and development which are the best investments on the longer run, especially with what is going on in the world. But I understand that, we don’t have the back ground, environment or resources to do so, what we have on the other hand is Oil not much of it but we do, and with oil closing $138 last week we can build the base for those industries and insure a slightly better future for the rapidly increasing population of this Island, we need to plan for our future and start learning from others, look at the real-estate bubble bursting so bad in the states that some developments are implementing a buy one get one free scheme on houses due to the lack of finance and demand.

Any ways, one more thing that we have here and we have more than oil, by far, is sunshine, we need to use that to create Renewable Energy, this will help in fixing our everlasting power supply saga that have been going on for years after years, and it will help reduce the carbon print we are leaving, let alone the great image it will give to this country and the amount of savings on Oil that can be sold while the oil prices. Needless to say taking a step like this will force a change in the stone age infrastructure that we have.

Solar energy is one of the cleanest forms or energy, and it needs much less maintenance than any other form of Renewable Energy, with the long hours of sunshine that we have through out the year it should be a no brainer to decide on at least testing, if not for the masses we can use it to power the street lights.

I wish one of the real-estate developers put Solar systems in their plans.

Robocop Coming Back in 2010, why?

It started with the new Mustang, then they came up with the Charger and the Camaro, and that to me sucks quite bad and shows that we (mankind) were at our best in design in the 1960’s, and with today’s emission regulations and all the safety and health people running the plants we will end up with Cars that are very heavy, very slow and nothing like the old manly muscle cars, basically you can’t remake a classic.

My theory about mankind running out of Idea’s is was confirmed when they started making sequels for Classic movies that were old when I was 8, it started with Rocky, then Rambo, lately another Indiana Jones comes back from the dead and I personally thought it was the end of it as all those movies were nothing like the Classics, to my surprise last night I discovered that some one thought it was a good Idea to recharge Robocop and give him a new millennium suit then release him in the streets after being retired for 20 years (last Robocop was 1993).

Well, I’m not surprised we are running out of Idea’s, the same people who were acting and producing movies in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s are still the same people who are making movies today, so please go enjoy the few billions you made in the last 30 years and let some young guns lose with these nice big budgets of yours and make some space on your shelf for some new classic, we are sick of you bringing these movies from the dead.

I know he is talking about Bahrain.

George Carlin is the Smartest comedian, can't help but think this clip is about Bahrain for some reason.

Rap as Art - (Part 2)

Our first song is a powerful song by 2 of the most influential Hip Hop and Soul artists today , Ludacris a rapper with more Top 40, Top 25 and Top 10 Billboard Hot 100 Hits under his belt than any other rapper on earth today, even though he is known for tracks such as “Move bitch get out the way” and “I got hoe’s in deferent area codes” and the list goes on, he will surprise us with a very meaningful strong track like the one I’m presenting today.
Mary J. Blige or better known as THE Queen of hip-hop, is also an actor and an activist, but the most importantly a winner of 8 Grammy awards out of 26 nominations.


Song name: Ludacris ft Mary J Blige - Runaway Love
Page: luda: http://www.defjam.com/site/artist_home.php?artist_id=308
Page: Mary: http://www.mjblige.com/
Wiki: luda: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludacris
Wiki: mary: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_J._Blige
Clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7OSqzchdks
Lyrics: http://www.completealbumlyrics.com/lyric/131098/Ludacris+-+Runaway+Love.html


Going to a very un-usual place for rap music our next song is called “luv(sic) 3” by a Producer from Japan, yes from Japan. His name is Jun Seba (せば　じゅん, Seba Jun), Junsba is a DJ, producer, and a composer, he is one of the 2 people behind Urbanforest productions, they work with a lot of Japanese and American artist like Cyne.
Song name: Luv(sic) pt.3
Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nujabes
Clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZ4LhgngbxY&feature=related
Lyrics: http://www.e22.com/shing02/lyrics/lx_lv3_e.htm


The next song is a great example of how Americans and japs can work together to make a wonderful thing, I only hope this makes them look at making cars and computers together.
Cyne is a group of artist who have one goal, making rap songs with a message and meaning, not your usual rapper talking about huge wheels and Cadillac’s, very powerful political tracks, rather unusual beats but all in all a very good final product.
Song name: Nujabes & Cyne - 400 Years
Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CYNE_(hip_hop_group)
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/cyne
Clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB7ysBudJgY

Rap as Art - (Part 1)

A while back in our monthly bloggers meeting we had a nice conversation about music in general, when Rap came into the picture there were many deferent opinions and many of us had to agree on rap being a point less type of music and not an art, I however disagree and believe that rap is indeed art.
Rap is a like Country music in essence, every song tells a story and talks about a situation, and this is why it got this popular, rap spoke about the people and how they feel, the problems in the society of Blacks and Latinos when it begun, and what changed isn’t the soul of the music, what changed are the stars and what sells, now more people would like to hear about bitchs and wheels, this is when the likes of 50 cent and souljaboy got Rap from being art to simply a fart, time was when KRS1 was art, Run DMC was art, immortal technique was art.

this post was originally an email sent to my blogger friends and after sending the second one I decided it should be a post on my blog.

I will start with what is the song of 2008 so far to me, it’s called Constance by a rapper called Mr. J Medeiros, and the song is about child porn.
Mr. J Medeiros is one of the three founders of The Procussions.

Song name: Mr. J Medeiros - Constance
page: http://www.mrjmedeiros.com/
wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Procussions
clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqyLRpGgxRs
Lyrics: http://www.justsomelyrics.com/1017783/Mr.-J-Medeiros-Constance-Lyrics


---------

the second song is one of my all favorites, I play it almost every day, it’s called BEEF by a rapper named Mosdef (Dante Terrell Smith) the song was originally a duet called "what’s beef" By Mos def and Talib Kwali, both rappers are Muslim and both are some of the best MC's now.
Mos Def is also a very good actor, and an activist, he appeared on many shows like Real time with bill maher.
page: http://www.mosdefmusic.com/
wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mos_def
Clip: http://208.65.153.251/watch?v=fVmhZW1dDis (free style audio only)
lyrics: http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/What's-Beef-lyrics-Black-Star/40304E266B4135A448257026000FA788

Bahrain air, my experience

Last weekend I decided to surprise wifey with a visit for valentines, and I would usually take the trip to Doha with Qatar airlines, but I thought of trying something cheaper this time, and hell, its only a 20 min flight so how bad would it really be, I think I have to say that the price deference between Gulf air-Qataria and Bahrain air is Huge, the later was BD 45, while the others are anywhere between 80 and 154. So I called the call center, and asked about flight times and prices and so forth, they were very helpful, they took my details, booked me a seat and then asked me to go and pick up my ticket from the office in Yateem center which is a 5 minute walk from my office; the office experience however wasn’t as pleasant, it was packed and the guys their were as slow as a snail, but I hope this gets fixed with time.

Now, the important part of the flight isn’t the booking as much as it’s the flight, and punctuality of arrival and departure, and this is the part I was very happy with, we took off on time, landed on time both ways, I had the worst experience with GF and QA in that; the seating is not less than any other GCC based Airlines Economy class, its 32”, and that’s what you would expect for BD 45, the crew are nice and neat, helpful, and just do their job with a smile, nothing too special, but not BAD.

So Bahrain Air works, and exactly does what it should do, they provide a cheap and punctual flight, nothing more nothing less, it is a Discount airline and that’s what they should be doing, I actually think I will be flying with them to any GCC destination from now on and I do that a lot, I also recommend them for any one who just wants to arrive on time and travel smart rather than get pampered and be late.

Bahrain air, I Salute you and wish you the Best of Luck, this is something that you have to keep, and not lose the good service with time, it is good to see the name Bahrain associated with a product the suggests value rather thanjust a hollow image.

PS. just change those hideous leather seats.

stupid emails.

I recieved this email a million times, and see it posted in a million forums, until one of our turkish friends was kind enough to explain it.




what it actually say is the following:

that jumping man is a "T", and the sign says Kostum =costume, Cum= Ours so its Kustumcum whish means "our costume's or Costumer (i.e our maker of costume's)"

here is their website:

Now can you people please stop sending these stupid emails, your are wasting cyber space.

Cheers!

New rules. on traffic department.

The above piece talks about a new rule to be enforced on speed limit breakers, and also talks about some new “cutting edge” equipment that have been installed on traffic police patrols, the rule states that speeder will be jailed for 48 hours and will have their license and vehicles suspended/impounded for a full month.

I like rules, and I think this one is just right, speeding is the last thing any would want to do on our stupidly packed roads, I can’t understand why would any one drive as fast as 160+ going to work or leaving work, you never know when the cars ahead of you will stop, traffic jams now go as far as seef mall to BFH, there’s just too many damn cars.

But is this rule going to be enforced on every one, or is it going to be another rule that is only for the common man, just like the license plate rule, or the window tint rule (raybon), not that those are of the same scale if you have hazard in mind but rules are rules and have to be followed by every one.

The crown prince who is a big car fan drives his cars with license plates, no tint what so ever and obeys all the traffic laws, no one told me that, I’ve seen it my self 100’s of times, so why are others whom are of a much lower class of power abusing the system, who is allowing them to abuse the system?

Another point, the technology used in the devices in the picture is indeed cutting edge, and I salute the traffic department for investing in them and in training the traffic wardens to use them, but what about the other divisions in traffic department, when will we see more technology in there, lets take for example the inspection, we are told that it is not aloud to have loud exhaust systems installed on our cars, well, fare enough, but how loud are we talking about, there must be a set decibel limit like any other 21st century inspection, then we are also told that cars cant be lowered, well, to what extent, how many inches is the limit for ground clearance, and what about the environment, we still don’t see real rules enforcing the CO2 count from exhaust waste even when its become a world wide worry, in the united states it is an offence to fiddle around with any mechanism that helps reducing the harm of motorized vehicles.

It is time for traffic department to be more technical, and more efforts should be put into training all the members of this big department to keep up with the vastly growing industry and motoring scene, inspection facilities should be privatized or at least spread to more than one place to avoid all this congestion every day of the week for the sake of every one including the men that work there day and night.

Traffic officers need to also be trained on the ethics of dealing with drivers, why should any one get out of his car to talk to traffic warden that is safely and comfortably setting in his car, why do many of them shout when they talk to you, and most of all why do they issue tickets that are not valid especially for those of us who drive sports cars, this have happened to many of my friends, colleagues, and to me personally.

Once again, I salute the traffic department for the effort in making our roads a safer place.

Silence Day for Fouad Alfarhan (KSA blogger)

حتى القحاب احسن منا!!!!

I tried to write this post in Arabic but turns out it just harder than what i thought, but I will not change the title as this is exact situation.

I was recently visiting Netherlands and Belgium with my wife and an old friend (Joker), it was a great trip that I might talk about in another post, now allow me to move to what you are here for.

Prostitution is defined as a legal profession in Netherlands, and as a matter of fact, the Red Light District is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Amsterdam, so i went to see what the fuss is all about, with my wife of course, and it was exactly like what was described, Glass doors in many alleys with every race of women you can think of, and that was in the morning, here is a 9 min clib about the history of RDL that I found on youtube.




Prostitution in Netherlands is defined as a legal profession; prostitutes have access to the social security system, may join unions, have to pay income tax and are treated like any other self-employed tradesperson. Health and social services are readily available, on the other side of the world, here in my country, Government employees are Banned from joining and forming Unions, Don’t have any sort of medical care programs.

Not long before I went to the Netherlands the elected president of the "unauthorized" Postal Union (PU), one of the largest unions in Bahrain, activist Jamal Ateeq was suspended for five days without pay for expressing his views in the local media, aint that a BITCH!!

Disclamer, this post is not about prostitution being right or wrong, this is about Human rights, if you can't see that, please read the post once again.

FIA Institute Centre of Excellence trophy presented to the Bahrain International Circuit

The 2007 FIA Institute Centre of Excellence trophy was presented to the Bahrain International Circuit in a pre-awards ceremony at the FIA Gala in the Monaco Sporting Club. The BIC is the first Grand Prix circuit to receive the prestigious award, which aims to encourage and incentivise excellence in all aspects of motor sport safety.

The hand-crafted sterling silver trophy was collected by Martin Whitaker, General Manager of the BIC. The trophy’s unique shape, inspired by the FIA Institute Centre of Excellence ‘Vortex’ logo, reflects the values and technical distinction required by the FIA Institute from recipients of this award.

The Crown Prince of Bahrain, Shaikh Salman Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, said:“The FIA has always shown the Bahrain International Circuit support which has encouraged us to go beyond the expected. Honouring the circuit with such an award makes the Kingdom even more proud of our achievements. Our country continually strives to maintain one of the top Formula One circuits in the world. Everyone who works directly or indirectly with the BIC all share the significance of this prestigious acknowledgement.”

Each FIA Centre of Excellence exemplifies the high standards expected by the FIA Institute in terms of technology and the way it relates to best medical, marshalling and race control safety. The BIC has demonstrated its commitment to innovation and the development of new safety technology within motor sport – particular as the sport develops in the Middle East region.

Martin Whitaker, CEO of the BIC, said:
“The Centre of Excellence is a fantastic honour and we are very proud to receive it. The Bahrain International Circuit has strived to maintain the absolute best in standards and to set a benchmark for other circuits can follow. The ‘Think Before You Drive’ campaign has been a springboard to many other initiatives programmes for the BIC which we are beginning to implement but which would not have been possible without the full support of the FIA and the Centre of Excellence Award is the backbone of this support.”

Support Jamal Ateeq.

I dont really have time to write the whole story so I will have to quote from some where else until later on tonight, sorry this will have to be in arabic for now:

From the Bankers Union release:

يبدأ نقيب البريد جمال عتيق اليوم 8 ديسمبر 2007م إضرابه عن الطعام في مقر الاتحاد العام لنقابات عمال البحرين لمدة خمسة أيام احتجاجا على قرار إدارة البريد توقيفه عن العمل وحرمانه من الراتب بسبب نشاطه النقابي وتصريحه للصحافة حول ظروف العمال ومطالبته بتحسينها، ويأتي قرار التوقيف ضمن سلسلة من التحقيقات أجرتها إدارة البريد مع القيادات النقابية والعمال على خلفية مشاركتهم في الاعتصام الذي أقيم في 20 يوليو 2007م للمطالبة بزيادة الأجور، وسبق أن أوقفت إدارة البريد نائبة رئيس النقابة نجية عبد الغفار لذات الأسباب.تؤكد نقابة المصرفيين أن توقيف جمال عتيق عن العمل يصب في اتجاه الحملة المعادية للعمل النقابي الذي بدأته إدارة البريد منذ عام 2003م بعد صدور تعميم ديوان الخدمة المدنية رقم (1) الذي يمنع عمال الحكومة من تشكيل تنظيماتهم النقابية، وهو يستهدف
ضرب الحركة النقابية في القطاع الحكومي وتجريد العمال من أدواتهم النضالية وترك مصيرهم للمجهول خاصة مع قرب خصخصة البريد،

you can read all about it on http://jamal-ateeq.blogspot.com

it would be great if you link to the page as well.

35th Bloggers Gathering tomorrow (Sat 1-12-2007)

This is just a reminder for all those interested in a good breakfast/Brunch chat, would love to see more new faces.

Time: 10:00 am
Place: Dulce Cafe - Zinj, next to Nasser Farmecy


See you there.

Me the addict 1/8

I managed to collect as many as 8 addictions in the past 8 or 9 years, and when I say addictions, I mean addictions; sometimes I even think these habits are driven by OCD, but it doesn’t make it an addiction.

My first addiction was long before High school, it started with reading, I was three or four years old when my parents started feeding me with books, I didn’t read about politics and rocket science when I was 4 but I had tons and tons of the baby books, then when I started to read properly my father begun to surprise me with new books every month, until the day came and discovered my aunts stash of every issue of “Majalat Majed” Majed Magazine , at the time I didn’t start going to formal school, I use to go to Al-Bahrain Day time Nursery, and had a goal set of reading all the magazines before I go to school, I wasn’t that ambitious as a kid for the record, I was just a stubborn child who wants to proof to his youngest aunt who was 5 years older than me, that I can read as many magazines as she did in 2 years, hahah I think it was the best challenge I ever had.

I had daily access to the wooden shack in the back yard where the dusty boxes of Majalt Majed were stored, in the beginning it took me a whole day to read the magazine, and my day was from 1 am until the sun sets, in a few weeks I was eating those pages like an African wood worm, and I decided to read the weekly magazine every Wednesday so she doesn’t get an edge on me, it was a very informative year, Majalat Majed back in the day was amazing, it had topics ranging from coloring, short stories, series stories, history, 101 politics to Islam and general information, and for a kid, it looked like a game, the more I did it, the better I got.

I used to keep reading and reading, even when it was really hot, the hot days were better to me because the days were longer and could cover more issues and it was fun, then my aunt came up with the idea of introducing me to Mujaldat Majed, she used to hide these in the house, and they were great, one was about naqeeb Khalfan and Areef Fahman, the police pffocers, and one about mooza al habooba and he silly brother, and many others, I did nothing that summer but reading, I didn’t go out, didn’t bother learning how to ride a bike, only thing I wanted was to pull my hand out of the empty last box.

When that day came, I had to replace the magazines with something, I the first place I searched was my grandpas room, and it wasn’t long until I found stacks of Akhbar Al-Khaleej, a daily news paper that my grandfather refuses to change, and that was a big jump from my magazines, but was fun, the news paper had many new words, words that make people go quite and listen when a 6 year old talk, I loved that, my game was growing with me.

Then I had to read in school and the teachers loved it, I was always the first to volunteer to read in class, not because I loved to read, but because I was the best as it, and I wanted to always be the best in class, so I had to read more than any one else (I wish I took math the same way) and started reading from my fathers library, now we are talking about real books, and to be honest there was nothing there that I understood before the age of 8.

I started going to regular trips to the bookshop with my mom, when I got back home, I used to read those books like I had to take them back the next day, only to finish them as before the next Wednesday so I can get more, and every Wednesday like a train, always the same bookshop always the same time, it was twice the fun when Dad wasn’t working and came out with us, he used to buy me twice the number of books my mom buy, not only I was good at reading, I was the worst nagger the world seen and he hated it.

This is getting long and boring, and will try to write about my other addictions every now and then.

Changed the Looks!!

Yes its that time of the year, I would usually go get my hair bleached or high lighted, but I can't, not this year at least, and when I read how many people hated the blackness of Ammar's Blog, i knew it was time to change.

I hope this is easier on your eyes people, I thought black was hip, oh well, I still think the 70's rock so yeah, enjoy.

The Sound of Pain.

Since last Tuesday and every waking hour of my life have been a nightmare, or at least thats what I thought, you see I had the have 3 wisdom teeth pulled out of my mouth, which means they had to be removed from my scull as well.

the pain have been quite stable thanks to a high dose of pain killers givin to me by my dentist of course, there was pain, but the kind that you can distract your self from, and be normal, but yesterday morning I couldn't help but think that I have been practically living on pain killers and antibiotics the past 4 days and the last real meal I've had was lunch last Monday!!

for the fear of side effects I decided to stop the pain killers yesterday morning, and I think I recognized when ever milligram of those painkillers lost effect, by noon I was unable to talk or even think, I looked my room's door and wasted some time on youtube, it started to get much hard to distract my self from the pain and gradually I couldn't even think of anything else until I'm not sure if I fainted or went to sleep.

I woke up at around 7 defend by the sound of a beet, the beat was coming from my jaw, exactly where my teeth were, it keeps beating and beating in the same very painful rhythm, and it never stopped for a second or even skipped one beat, until right around midnight, I really thought I was cured and thats it, no more pain and its only a matter of days and my face will return to the last shape it was, but I was wrong, I think my body failed to recognize how much in pain I was for about ten minutes, and then I started to hear a very high pitch whistle in my ears, the pain transformed from my mouth to m face, but its didn't bother me as much as that annoying whistle in my ears, 9 am today I decided I'd rather die and took the damn pills.

Super V8's arrive to Bahrain (up side down)

I only hope there was no damage.

MP's retirement plan.

this is Just an Idea for my angry Bahraini people, lets start a campaign to stop the retirement plan of the MP's all of them, even those who are no longer MP's, I think this should be a nice wake up call for those asshats, I mean, how can they have a good solid, guaranteed plan while every other Bahraini suffers from the current situation, isn't this the voters money they should be protecting!!

shouldn't they at least achieve something before they deserve to be treated differently, and this is the last thing they need, I think the 5 digit annual income, the 20k+ car, and what ever else they get just for being the voice of the people.

I believe that one should get payed for doing his job, not for the embarrassing performance on all levels.

your thoughts.


Disclamer:

AssHat means:"A general term for someone who carries out actions with such stupidity that they might as well wear their ass as a hat.

Pete begins looking for his sunglasses, unknowing to the fact that they are on his head. He asks Ed where his glasses are. Ed takes them off his head saying, "You are such a fucking ass-hat."

Let’s brand Bahrain.

We have debated about this in the last Bloggers Gathering, and it came up again with the guys, and I thought I would right more about what I have in mind on the blog since it’s a very rich subject.

I first heard about this on Branding Bahrain and I couldn’t help but think about the real meaning of this, what do we need from it, what use would it be to US the average Bahraini Moe, got into many arguments with people that flame the Idea, unfortunately those who flame it, are those who want a better life one the small Island that they were raised on.

The most important questions here are, How do we Brand/Rebrand Bahrain? What is the Brand we are labeling this country? I personally believe that going about spending millions on marketing and media studies will be nothing but a waste of effort and time, what we need here is many specialized independent entities should be assigned to do real SWOT analysis to all the fields in Bahrain and then form solid plans to improve the quality of the public services, infrastructure, commercial and legal systems in Bahrain.

We need to look at all aspects that will make a Modern Bahrain and improve the quality of life, I don’t mean higher salaries and more benefits, but a better future for the country and those who live in it, we need to improve the education and Brand Bahrain as a well qualified work force source, improve the Legal system and Brand Bahrain is a Land of Law and an investment friendly environment, many things need to be restructured and rebuilt to have a Bahrain worth Branding, we don’t need to call Bahrain names that we don’t live up to, just like calling Bahrain the Mother of motorsports in the region and forgetting to do the work behind it.

The Bahraini youth have proved to be creative, will educated and eager to learn, with proper education and training Bahrain can be a destination for research and development, but no one is investing in industry not technology, we need to bench mark with countries like Finland that is now supplying the whole world with advanced electronics and technology, Switzerland the financial destination of the world.

Bahrain can be a capital for arts and culture, a media station that shines on the world from the tele, radio, galleries and Internet but we decided that all that is not important and we need to be all involved in politics and get drowned in the superficial city life, our people have proved there Media capabilities with most primitive of equipment by covering major events like F1, Moharam, and many others through forums and blogs, why don’t they get the chance to revive the dying National TV and Radio stations.

For many years Bahrain has been a destination for tourism, but the wrong one, a tourism based on cheesy bars and easy women for east Europe and Asia, while every one is calling for a clean tourism the only 2 real projects are the Bahrain International Circuit and the Lost Paradise , we need to discover how encourage new types of tourism like creating real facilities for Moharam to accommodate for more visitors from the region and the world, specially that the scene is now very developed and includes very informative activities like the Hussaini Galleries and Plays.

Bahrain and its people have the potential and all what’s missing is the initiative, the workshop was a good sign and now is the time for work, lets wait and see what the EDB have up its sleeves.

Interlagos - F1 Armagadon.

Juan Pablo Montoya, a name you cant help but remember every time you hear Interlagos, He is one of the best Characters in Formula One, and also the fastest man around this notorious track, won it twice just like Alan prost and Ayrton Senna, Shummie won it 4 times, twice with Benetton and twice for Ferrari.

the Brazil race is going to be the best race in Ages, a simple fight between three drivers, none of them ever won this race, they have more or less the same points and all three don’t have to finish the race for their teams since the construction championship is already out of the picture.

If all three retire they will still be on the podium of the over all championship, if Hamilton retires Alonso needs to be 5th or better, Kimi will still need to be second or better.

All what Hamilton needs is to finish the race third or better, not an easy job but when you read what’s after it will sound like ordering a Big Mac.

Kimi has to finish second or first in any case winning the title, but that means that Alonso is lower than second and Hamilton lower than fifth.

Alonso on the other hand might have what seems to be an easier job, maybe, if Hamilton doesn’t score any points Alonso needs to be forth or better but only if Kimi finishes third or more, if Hamilton scored as little as one points Alonso Must finish third and Kimi finishes third or more, and there are many other scenarios that can be explained by numbers:

Hamilton 107 -108 -109 -110 -111 -112 -113 -115 – 117
Alonso 103 -104 -105 -106 -107 -108 -109 -111 -113
Kimi 100 -101 -102 -103 -104 -105 -106 -108 -110

The race will air 9pm Manama time, I can’t wait to watch and scream my lungs out.

Say it with me Hami, Hami, Hami, Hami,

شارع الخارطة, بلا خارطة

ودعت البحرين اليوم احد الرموز المشهورة وهي نصب خارطة البحرين والتي يقع عند تقاطع شارع الشيخ عيسى بن سلمان مع شارع خدمات توبلي. ويوم الاثنين الموافق 17/9/2007 تم هدم هذا الرمز المشهور, وذلك استعداداً لبناء جسور وانفاق في ذلك التقاطع..

Which idiot ordered this? really, this is stupid, there are companies that can move 800 Years old castles, we didn't any one think of Removing it and then placing in a proper place where people can see it, why not take it to the Museum, why and why and why.

I think the Map have really changed and we are soon to see the a new modified one, one that includes Bahrain Bay, the Financial Harbor, and all the crimes we did to the shores and wild life.


This is really crazy, عيل شارع الخارطة شنسميه ألحين؟

عفية رمضان!! On Coffee shops and Ramdhan

So an old friend calls me last night and asks if I was interested in going to a coffee shop to see the guys and just chill, well, since it was a very slow day I decided to join, puff on some Sheesha and get into a nice chat with the guys.

So we get to the place and all you hear is wedding music, really loud wedding like music, things that go like yemeen, ysaar, wi ifter, or the sort of songs that would start by someone screaming, raywis, raywis!! Now, I'm not the least bit shocked, really, as one of guys put it, cash is King and it is a human thing to do what it takes to get it depending on your line of business, be it a coffee shop owner or your one of those Moroccan coochies shaking in it for the amusement of others, well, as long as it pays.

We were asked to go to the other side and joint the "Celebration", we were comfortable in our places and quietly chatting about Ramadan, work, and a million other issues, not the most Ramadanish thing to do but was good enough, only then this guy was like, come'on guys, join the Ramadhan Spirit, girls dancing, good music, what else what else do you want, this is the best thing in Ramadhan, the Ramadhan spirit he said, and this is when my blood started to boil and couldn’t stand the place, what have we done to Ramadhan!!!

What have we done to Ramadhan, Ramadhan used to mean Hide and seek to kids, a colorful Gergaoon, family gatherings, a ridiculous increase in the number of people attending prayer in mosques, but look at it now, tons of wasted food, girls dancing on the tables of a very dim coffee shop

Talk about Bad TV.

this is supposed to be a professional TV program about the automotive performance and modification, in this part they compare a Stock Lumina SS they had modified earlier in the show, with a C6 Corvette.

I don't consider my self an expert in cars or in modifying them, but it has been my only Hobby for over 10 years, and I'm the kind of person that likes to get the facts right and would spend a couple hours a day reading about it and about the latest in the market and specifically in the development of the racing scene, and I understand how much simple mods would effect a car and another.

Why would any one try to tell the whole world that he is an idiot on international TV, how would a boat like the lumina sporting a de-tuner version of the LS2 the same motor that powers the very light very aerodynamics Corvette, Pass the corvette with a simple Cat Back exhaust replacement and an ECU upgrade, I mean if a tuner in the middle east can do that for giggles on TV, can make millions in the United states working for GM or FORD or maybe NASA, and why didn't this Genues think of proving his skills in abetter place than the public roads, someplace Like the Autodrom perhaps?

I respect Gear One for the Guts they have, and for the Great Efforts they are putting in covering the motor sports in the middle east from any venue they could possibly reach, but this is disgraceful.

The United Arab Emirates is the home of some of the Greatest Car performance base in the region, and they proved how capable they are in many events, even some that take place in Bahrain like Drag racing, why wouldn't one of these young guys gets the opportunity, to host a show of this caliber, and also get a better Director that can be creative, but we keep seeing the same faces from Lebanese TV that have been there since the old days of satellite and now followed by the new wave of young guys.

why is it always Arabic TV that is against Numbers and physics!!

HAPPY RAMADHAN

I wish you all a happy Ramadhan

1 Ramdhan, no, 2 Ramadhans!!

When will this stop, why do we have a Sunni Ramadhan, and 1, 2, sometimes even 3 days Later there is a Shia Ramadhan!!

Same thing Goes for Eid, and Eid Al-Ath'ha, and so on, why is it that the only thing we agree on is Moharam!!


Why do we follow Iran and Saudi, while we can Have a Bahrain Committee from all sects, that forms every end of the month on Jabal Al-Dakhan, start some puff puff give on a sheesha, chill, then decide if its the beginning of the month or not, and for once, we can have one Eid or one ramadhan.

the only good thing about this is the low traffic jams on the first of eid.


I know its silly, I just Had to vent shway.

For Porsche Lovers.

Mahmood, I know you'll love this :D









Do you Hate me now?

On Marriage and stupidity.

This post started life as a reply to a comment on ammar's post I heard of cheap, but this is ridiculous , since it turned out to be Quite a long reply I decided to make a post out of it.


So Ms. happy Days, this is for you.

You think that every body should lestin to their parents about marriage, and you would want a Honey moon to the Maldives, and you want the Man to be able to do so and so, I really didn't understand half of your post, but I hope you understand mine.

the parents aren't always right, I'm sorry, many marriages were torn apart due to the stupidity of parents,its not a general rule, but it happens, just like anything else, I believe you said it your self, sometimes women are forced by parents to get into a marriage that they would pass on in normal circumstances.

our main problem with marriage is the stone aged traditions that were magnified and overs sized by the materialistic life style we live or let me say many of us live.

Mohoor are just crazy, I mean, for a guy that is just starting his life or at least trying to, to be asked for the impossible is just crazy.
here is a little calculation.

Fresh grad average salary= BD 500monthly savings = 150Car loan = 100Phone expense = 30other expenses = 220.

150 x 24 = 3600

after 2 years his salary might reach 650 if he is good and works in a good company.
So monthly savings could go up to 250.
250 x 24 = 6000

after 4 years of savings the poor fellow, manages to save 9600 Dinars.

Now lets see what a reasonable Milcha/Expenses would be.
Shabka = Between 1500 - 3000 Dinars.
wedding ring= BD 500-700
Mahar = 1000
Dress Milcha = 400
Party = 1500-2500
total = 4900 - 7600

this is assuming there will be no Hinna, only a mixed Party.
that is a very conservative calculation really, some do go extreme on both sides lower or higher.

after that they would want to go to a honey moon, or do a 3irs after milcha and start their own life which includes house/apartment, furniture and so forth.

If some one can achieve that by the age of 26, thats good enough to make him a good husband I guess, BUT, some would ask for 5000+ Mahar, 4000+ Shabka, New car, Milcha Party for 500 ppl and wedding party for 500, another party for men, a new car, and the list go own.

I thank god day in and day out that My fiancé and her family are smart and reasonable enough to understand that we can use our money else where.

Ramadhan, My 30 days of Misery.

Ramadan, a month that I hate, a month that to me means nothing but a load of pending paper work, unanswered emails, abandoned desks, and a total lack of professionalism by many, all of which have the same boring excuse, I’m fasting!!!

When we were in school they used to teach us that Ramadan is about patience, good will, and remembering what god blessed us with everything we have and how hard we have to work for it, but in reality that is only practiced rarely, and even though some try to achieve that, the carelessness of others makes it close to impossible.

We live in a time where doing things quickly is of the essence and if we fail to accomplish our jobs in time, somebody else is going to rip it apart from us and keep it to him self, the amount of wasted business hours in Ramadan is big as it is, especially that we lose 2 hours or more of every working day and the plus Friday we don’t deal with the west, and right after that we have the Eid holiday for 3 days or more if it falls in a weekend.

Some day we will be healed I hope, and our people start to see things for them self, and enjoy the bless our religion is giving to them, and start appreciating it by using it as god wished we have.

I wish you all a happy month, and as we say, Min 3wadah inshallah

بـدأت وإن بـدأت فلـن أطيـلا

بـدأت وإن بـدأت فلـن أطيـلا "
"--- وهل تخشى السنافر شرشبيلا

سنـانٌ مــا رأى زعـبـور إلا "
" --- رأى شـرا بمقلتـه وبيـلا

وبشارٌ مضى في البحـث دهـراً "
"--- لقـاء الأم يبـدو مستحيـلا

ولوسـي صادفـت عـزاً وفقـراً "
" --- فهل ترضى لأسرتها بديـلا

فلونـه عندمـا بحـثـت بـجـدٍ "
" --- عن الانقاذ قد عانت طويلا

إذا مـا السندبـاد نـوى مكوثـاً "
" --- تجدد عزمه فنوى الرحيـلا

وحوش الارض ان هجمت وهاجت "
" --- ترى رجل الحديد لهم مقيلا

وأمـا سوسـنٌ تعبـت وقاسـت "
" --- فهل تلقى لزهرتهـا سبيـلا

ولينـا لازمـت عدنـان حـتـى "
" --- زعيم الظلـم أردوه قتيـلا

ونعـمـان بشهـرتـه غـبــيٌ "
" --- فقد رسم المثلث مستطيـلا

جريندايزر متى انطلقـت حـروبٌ "
" --- سيرجع ظافراً يقصى الذليلا

وبباي اللـذي يضحـي ويمسـي "
" --- على أكل السبانخ قد أحيـلا

وملعقـةٌ إذا قـصـرت تــأذت "
" --- وإن طالت فلا تشفى الغليلا

وأبطـال الفضـاء لهـم جـهـازٌ "
" --- يزيل التلوث جيـلاً فجيـلا

وجورجـي طفلـة أخفـت فتـاةً "
" --- وأبدت للعيان فتـى جميـلا

وساسوكـي يدافـع فـي ثبـاتٍ "
" --- وكان يحب بلدتـه أصيـلا

وماجـد ذلـك الـهـداف حـقـاً "
" --- فريق المجد ما وجد المثيلا

وزينـة عـن خليتهـا تـولـت "
" --- ونحولٌ لها يبـدي العويـلا

ومازنجـر يحـارب فـي دهـاءٍ "
" --- أبا غضب ويسقيه الجليـلا

وريـمـي تـائــهٌ بـاعــوهُ "
" --- وفيتالس كـان لـه كفيـلا

هـنـا رحـالــةٌ ومـذنـبـاتٌ "
" --- تقله إن يسائلهـا الرحيـلا

أتـى فصـل الشتـاء فكـل طفـلٍ"
" --- يسقى لكي يدفـى زنجبيـلا

ومن شرب الحليـب بـه تقـوى"
" --- وأصبح كالجبال فلن يميـلا

رسـوم تبعـث البسمـات لكـن "
" --- أدى آثارها فرحـاً ضئيـلا

وتسـرق أكثـر الاوقـات مـنـا "
" --- ولا يبقـى لنـا إلا القليـلا

فهبوا إلى الهدى ودعوا التوانـي "
" --- فما كالدين ينتشـل العليـلا

فطوبـى للـذي تـرك المعاصـي "
" --- يسقى حب أحمد سلسبيـلا

ومن رام العـلا وجنـات عـدنٍ "
" --- سيسقط ظهره حملاً ثقيـلا

وإن تبع الرسـول وأهـل بيـتٍ "
" --- مصابيحاً رأى ظـلاً ظليـلا

فـإن الله قـد صـلـى عليـهـم "
" --- فصلوا واطلبوا صبراً جميلا

Disclaimer: I saw this somewhere and copy paste it, it didn’t have any indication of who wrote it or any details, I thought it was funny yet written nicely.

Cradle of Humanity, Moodz, I hope you are enjoying this.

George W. Bush Medical News Flash

If this Doesn't speak the truth, I really Don't Know what Does.

haha.

Ramadhan, Vimto and the land of madness

I got these pictures in an Email 2 days back or so.

Why would anyone on gods green earth need more than 2 bottles of vimto, really, why do you see lines and lines of people and with 2 or even three full trolleys in any supermarket every year before ramadhan, I thought the major thing was to not eat if so, why do you need all that food.

Only if we go back and look at the big picture and the true meaning of ramadhan.

Alaah y3oodna inshallah.

Death to all turbans and beards.

Death to turbans and beards, yes I said it, death to all turbans and beards.

Before any of you Jump and scream Kafir, and Before you toggle the Big red X on the corner, read and you will say with me; Death to those who made this country split into half’s and quarters from the microphone of a mosque or maatam, death to all those who fill the young minds with hatred to Mankind and hide behind the a turban or a beard, death to those who hide the truth a mosque should be revealing, death to an Islam you created and the Prophet didn’t preach, Death to all who claimed religious knowledge for political gains, death to who vote for religious figures just so they are from the same sect.

What is this country going through, where will it stop, do people have to die, or do we have to go through the 90’s again, why do we keep waving a big red flag pointing out our deference’s when the similarities are as clear as day light, why do we fear the other and why do we hate the other.

And we wonder why the real Islam isn’t found where the Muslims live, we wonder why did the nation of Peace and Education become the same nation that hates its self and its own people.

I hope our Beards and turbans learn that you can’t win a war fighting your own brother.

Bahrain Circuit Racing Club announces new series.

Bahrain Circuit Racing Club announces new series.

The Bahrain Circuit Racing Club (CRC) Announced today, the addition of a new series to the 07/08 Season on there website/forum www.crcbahrain.com

CRC's 2.0 Series (From CRCBahrain.com)
The Circuit Racing Club is proud to announce the addition of a new series to the 07/08 Season.
The“2.0L Championship” will be a national championship catered for front or rear wheel drive vehicles of the form of hatchbacks, saloons, coupés, and T-Tops/Targas with engine capacity up to 2000cc and restricted to front mounted engines. Roadsters, convertibles, homologation specials, open-wheelers, monocoque shell vehicles, space frame chassis, and kit cars not permitted. All vehicles must be of sound construction and mechanical condition and be well maintained.
There is no requirement for traffic dept registration (road legal), or insurance. Cars will run in with
weight limits as per series regulations. We will soon post the full technical regulations, in addition to the format of the series..

Further information will be released by the CRC at a later stage.
For more information you can always contact the Circuit Racing Club (CRC) by leaving comments on the forum for general information.

For questions and discussion about the new series:
Follow this link: http://forums.crcbahrain.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=25
or email: 2.0@crcbahrain.com

For questions and discussion about the CRC’s other events:
Follow this link: http://forums.crcbahrain.com/
or email: sprint@crcbahrain.com

a circle of frustration and wasted efforts.

You see them late at night in coffee shops, or in food courts in shopping malls, always holding a folder or a cheap briefcase, they never have the look of a proper sales person, and always speaking to people of a lower class in the career chain, preaching them about the future and a the importance of good income, some might talk down on the current jobs and some might chose another route to reach the very soft and damaged financial side of the "potential millionaires".

If you haven’t got it yet I am talking about the "Representatives" of gold quest, businass, Quest.net and the likes, these scams that promise a pink future to the unfortunate few that follow the fairytale, selling them products that don’t add nothing to anything, nor have any tangible value; just take a quick glance at quest.net’s website and you’ll be greeted with products like, “Amezcua Chi Pendant” ,a piece of glass that is said to heal anything form a simple headache to stress and list goes on, however there is always a return policy for those who are unsatisfied.
What got me to write about this wasn’t the method of the scam or even the back grounds of these ghost companies, it is really the people involved in that concern me.

I once was asked by an old friend to see attend a presentation about a new business, and a good opportunity to generate some income, due to the fact I knew the guy years before, I had a strong suspicion this was going to be a complete waste of time, but had to accept the offer to avoid all the nag.
I was surprised that the presentation took place in his living room, and that I was the only one present, but the most s desterbing thing to me was the copy paste presentation that I’ve avoided a million times before, I had to stop him half way through and asked him to stop wasting his time as well.
I knew the guy from high school days so that counts for a decade or more of years, never in my have I seen him this determine and even desperate, it really had me thinking for a while after that, why do people fall for such a scam, its not like its too easy, and gives direct cash to the main company, It really consumes much time and requires a considerable amount of effort, actually in some cases more effort than the peoples day jobs.
The group I’ve seen tonight were a few students, a fast food burger flipper, and guy that looked like solder, we were very close to their table so we were sort of forced to hear them, and I had a glance at the few white papers and the good ol’ plastic folder.

“Don’t you want a brand new Camry like the other guys in the fereej”, that’s how the “representative” started his wonder land show, I was shocked by the silly things he was promising the other guys, I mean, when you promise a guy that he will be able to get married ONLY in 3 years of extra hard work, means nothing but the business is bad and we have no customers!
One cant help but think, when did we became this disparate, why do most of our young guys search for the short way out, why do they have such low expectations, and the scary thing is the majority of the educated young talents are having serious plans of migrating to other countries.
what is driving this, is it the bad education that we have that makes the Bahraini citizen not qualified to fulfill the needs of many technical positions, or is it the meth of the foreign manager who loves the Asian “Arbab” culture, it could also be the migrating work force from all over the world, or maybe it is the unplanned naturalization.

A fast comparison between us and neighboring countries will show that Bahraini’s are the lowest paid, even in government sector, I haven’t yet understood the reason behind that yet, but the effects of it can clearly be seen on the frustration amongst the young working Bahraini, and even bigger amongst the un-employed.

I’m not sure how to end this, but I don’t think it’s more than a rant that will never end, I would just hope that these young men use their rather good sales skills in making real money instead of dragging those who are even poorer into a never ending circle of frustration and wasted efforts.

One United Bahrain in My office!!

Yes you haven't read wrong, I mean it.

The most amazing thing about my colleagues is how we all mix nicely regardless of our believes, and that we have an almost equal number of sunny and shi’ite, a few none believers, and of course the un avoidable in Bahrain, the usual mix of India’s practices.

I tried so hard from day one to get every one to talk about anything and Have them bond, not on the so industrial automatic relations, but in an old moharaq neighborhood sort of way.

Back in the day and still, Moharaq the most symbolic city of Bahrain, had the greatest bond between all the ethnic diversities and so was the religious side of the things, sunna used to go the maatam in Islamic spiritual nights, shiiat used to attend the sunna Majleses and vice versa, even the foreigners like Iranian people, Omani's, Bulloch, Asians and also some of the American’s from Araif; that was also before the days when the Bahraini nationality was created and issued.

Back to the office, Me and my colleague Majed, pray together every day as long as we are in the office, I joked about it once when I asked one of our colleagues (Alawi) to join us in our prayer, but after I was done, the only thing that I could've thought about was why didn't we do it, and why can't this happen later if it didn't today or tomorrow.

I occasionally asked others to join us, including the first guy whom I've asked the most, due to the fact that he is the closer to me, but for almost 2 years it never happened, and with the way things around Bahrain have been going I kinda lost hope.

its been very stressful in the past few weeks, and the temper around the office have been off the roof, until this morning, for some very odd reason specially that Thursdays are known in our office to be unbearably fast.

today when I was washing up before noon prayer, a new member of the staff Mohamed from accounts, who also happens to be a shiie from Moharaq, due to the Moharaqi tongue that we both share, you tend to forget or get lost between what the other is, so I asked him if he would like to pray with my self and Majed, only then I remembered that he was shiei and apologized, but he said come on man its going to god any ways, "Khal neka3a" he said in the way moharaqi youth always said it.

they many of us left the office today was very deferent, and I really hope, that I haven’t been dehydrated the whole day and I will wake up to very unpleasant surprise Sunday morning.

Bahrain to host the first race of the 2008 F1 season

According to a spokesman for the Melbourne Grand Prix organizers, Bahrain will stage the first race of the F1 2008 season after the Australian GP has lost its place. this comes after the organizers of the Melbourne GrandPrix refused to host the Next races at night in the coming years.



From F1-Live.com:

http://www.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlines/news/detail/070723102102.shtml

From BBC.co.uk
href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/6911269.stm


(Hyper links are not working for some reason, so copy and paste)

Isn't this weird?

From Today's Al-Wasat:

الإفراج عن عمال أجانب بعد استجوابهم بشأن اختفائه
«تمشيط» سماهيج من جديد بحثاً عن «بدر»

واصل الفريق الأمني المكلف بالبحث عن الطفل المفقود «بدر» أمس عملية البحث، إذ أعاد مجدداً تمشيط قرية سماهيج بالكامل واستمر العمل حتى مساء أمس.

.................

وكان رجال الأمن استجوبوا عدداً من العمالة الآسيوية ضمن حملة البحث كما جرى تفتيش المنزل الذي يعيش فيه الطفل زاوية زاوية للتأكد من عدم تعرضه لسوء في مكان ما في المنزل الآيل للسقوط أساساً.

And the Next Link in the same Page of the same News paper says:

انتحار آسيوي في سماهيج أمس
أقدم آسيوي صباح أمس (الأحد) على الانتحار بربط عنقه في حبل، وذلك في سكنه في إحدى المزارع في منطقة سماهيج. وتشير تفاصيل الحادث إلى أن الآسيوي ربط عنقه بحبل وفارق الحياة خنقاً بعد أن قام بشد الحبل.

Is it just me or this is weird?

and why on earth would the search be strictly to a small village Like smaheej only?
If the kid was Kidnapped, specially in a small country like Bahrain, he might be anywhere.

I am just wondering, we have a large number of documented cases of child abuse, it is not as strict in Bahrain and most of the offenders are let go months or in the best cases few years after, was there a check on those?

cases of this sort have been increasing in the past few years, a few girls disappeared and were found a few days back, a few kids, I don't really remember any details and I didn't do a proper investigation/research, but there was nothing done to prevent such cases from happening again.

I hope Bader is safe and wish his family finds him safe.

Free Internet Testing. (2Connect)

2Connect's Free Internet (testing) in Manama and Riffa have started today 16th July 2007, this is not an official announcement or anything, I am just sharing information so people can test the service provided by 2Connect.

From what I know, you will be able to use this service in:

-Manama, Hoora, Gudaibia, Exhibition Road, Adlia.

-Seef Area, Sanabis, Daih.

-East Riffa.

I believe More Areas will be covered in the next few weeks/months.


To use and access this Free Internet (testing) you will require the following:

1- A Client Bridge (CPE) with IEEE 802.11g standards operating at 2.4Ghz Frequency band. Preferred CPE brands/vendors are as following:

Brand - Vendor.
- Pheenet -Artes.
- Airlink - Muntazah Computers.
- Linksys - Microtech.
- Senao - Artech.
- ExcelAir - BCS
- SmartAnt - Nabeel Information technology.

The CPE should have at least 8 to 12dbi (or more) directional patch antenna.

2- The SSID is for the Free Wireless network is " 2ConnectWiNet"

3- Please note that this is OPEN access and there is no encryption.


This service is in its testing phase right now, so please send your comments to Info@2connectbahrain.com

I also recommend that you send your Full name and your Email address to info@2connectbahrain.com for when the testing is over, you'll be contacted by the company or something.

Enjoy, I know I will.

This Post will be updated with any other information I get so keep checking.

Transparent Scholarships..

From Al-Wasat's Website:

«الجامعيين» تطالب بمراقبة «البعثات»... و «التربية» ترفض
 السنابس - علي طريف
طالبت الجمعية البحرينية للجامعيين في الندوة التي أقامتها مساء الخميس الماضي بمركز البحرين للمعارض بالسنابس بالرقابة على توزيع وزارة التربية والتعليم للبعثات، فيما طالب النائب عبدالجليل خليل بإشراك جميع الجمعيات التي لها علاقة في عملية مراقبة البعثات وإرشاد الطلبة وليس جمعية البحرينية للجامعيين فقط. من جهتها أعلنت الوزارة رفضها للفكرة بحجة أن هناك جهات هي المسئولة عن شفافية البعثات وهي الجهات التنفيذية والتشريعية في الحكومة




The article from (www.alwastnews.com) translates to:
The Bahraini university graduates society (not sure of the name in English) requested to monitor the allocation of Government Scholarships, on the other hand, member of the parliament requested that this issue should be monitored by more entities and didn’t support the request, however, the ministry of education didn’t approve any of that, stating that there are other entities responsible for the transparency of the allocation.
When I was a kid, my father always told me “latboog, latkhaf” which means “don’t worry about the cops if you didn’t steal anything”, if there was no abra kadabara going on, why wouldn’t the ministry allow any organization to monitor the allocation, why would they put them self under the spot lights.
I am in way shape or form indicating that the allocation isn’t fair, I might feel it is, but I don’t have physical proof to support what I think or feel, so until anything else is proved the allocation was fair, after all its been carried out by a governmental institution and should be focused only on what will benefit the country and its citizens.
What really made me write today was not the Ministry of education’s re-action, I don’t think any ministry in Bahrain today want to be monitored by any organization for many reason that I might write about in another post, the reaction of the parliament is what pissed me off, it is unbelievable how much this retarded parliament is dying for credit, the MP’s want credit for everything in the country and when ever any other organization decides that it’s a good idea to do one thing or another they will be against it or try to get their hands in it routing it into a million years of session and modawalat, I believe that part of the parliament’s duties is to monitor, but where are we from achieving that.



I know this might have come too late, I know the ideas may be put down in blender style, but it will take this rusty hand sometime to write something good, so keep checking.

Post Guno - Are we prepared?

After observing the unfortunate event, and the huge damage that happened to Oman, I couldn't help but wonder, "are we prepared"?
we all noticed that the environment is globally changing, and we all noticed how every year is totally deferent that what we have lived and seen in the past, how the winter was longer, colder and wetter than any other year we have seen, which is nothing but a clear sign of what's to come, but no we decide not to see it, mother nature thinks, no no, you have to see here comes GONU, 32 dead and 30 missing (to date) bridges collapsed, highways covered in mud and water, even worst disappeared!!

What is it that we have to get prepared to then?

Our contingency plans, our systems, Hospitals, Rescue, medicine/food/water supply, extraction teams, fire brigade, infrastructure all that and far beyond.

None of that is prepared for mass crisis such as "acts of god" as we like to call them in this part of the world, and as a simple example of how many things aren't planned well in our countries is all the Skyscrapers that are being built but no one wondered if the fire departments can actually put fire 40-50 stories above the ground, another example, August 23, 2000 Flight 072 from Cairo to Bahrain carrying 143 passengers and crew crashed in the shallow waters near the cost of Muharaq bla bla bla, every one from the flight died, leaving the MOH in a big saga, where do we keep the bodies?? Today, 7 years after the incident what did the MOH do, nothing at all we still have the same Facility.

The issue that concerns me the most, is epidemics, every picture, every line of news and everything is just showing clear signs of something about to break, its Hot, there is a wide area of open water and what possibly still unrecovered “Human body’s” I’m not try to be very pessimistic or anything, but I think all the money that governments spend on nothing can be spent on creating really emergency and contingency plans for what could happen.
I’m very sorry for the good people and Land of Oman; I hope this can as mush as it seems to hurt in opening the WIDE shut eyes of many governments.

Change of mind, going back to the roots.l

I've been attached to forums and blogs for a very long time now, I've also created or customized this ready made blog to express my ideas, share my twisted poems, or even rant some times, but it never happened as I always see forums as a more active rant space, well, specially in this part of the world, or maybe for the topics that I follow the most (no not politics, cars and customization).

well, this short post is to inform any one who's checking this Blog (If any) that i will be changing this blog and its contents starting from this week and will be spending more time into making it a better place for discussions about the daily happenings of Bahrain and my life.

wish me that I don't get board in the middle of it.


Eyad.

And it was a weekend..

I dont usually write such stuff But the past weekend was amazing and full of happinings,

Damn, the first day was just to cold due to my stupid action, it all started this way..

woke up at 9 showered and changed and hop I'm on the bike with ONLY a t-shirt on and it 15c out side, went to BIC to start preparing for the drag race TEST AND TUNE day, there along was my very best friends Faisal(the One), Mustafa (Vette4ever), and so many others. we jumped on the Quad's ( 4 wheeler Bikes) and started working on the timing system (still have T-shirt on) up to 17:15 where we started the event & it was a blast. then went out and faced some bad news and shit, (one of the guy's was chrashed into by copers, how stupid ha!!!) but thnx god the guy wasnt hert or anything just the car was a sad sceen.

the seconed day was a good blast as will , had a call from khaled (one of my friends as will) asking me if wanted to go JET SKIING, and that laidy's and gents is not a good Q to ask coz Im ready for that anytime of the year ( thou it was 17c out there) So geared up and all he passed by and we made our way to the resoret where the Jet ski's were parked and the funn started PPl.

we managed to Ride a few nice waves (that is after following the boates cos the sea was so calm) adn got to splash a few girls on there boates(that made the guy's with them mad and the stoped speeding so we dont get after waves) So back to the marina we get a call from the guys telling us there comming and we go back to the water which was really amazing and the sun was so cool out there. got to meet an old friend there who looked frozen So i asked he if she was interested in a ride but she was like HELL NO heheh i huess it was to cold for her.

While we were on our last ride befor the sunset the jet ski got mad and decided to stop in the middle of the way to the Island and refused to start (and it was really geting cold) so we gave the sea guard's a call (thnx god we had a phon with us) and we started waiting for them and waiting and waiting an waiting and waiting when they came to us they were like guys are u stuck we were like yes sir we have been waiting for u to come here and help us, So he goes like we passed by u guys like 3 times and we were waiting for u to wave but u guys didnt, So me and my friend started lughing and found out that its really stupid to go go out on jet ski's with out our glasses on. So the guys helped us and we got to the marina we showered and everything then we were thinking WHAT TO DO NOW?!?!?! , some Smart guy came with the Idea of going to Soudi (KSA) to eat some good steake and come back ( we were in bahrain by the and it an other country for those who dont know) and there we were got home, got out passport's and woop we are on the border and going to soudi..

what a crazy weekend .. had funn and thnx to all ya Guys.

waiting for next weekend ..

And there she was..

Life was Empty Back In time
Sad Like a crematory’s Gate
Rusty and Ugly with No Faith
Cold Yes It was cold
Life had No Meaning
And the sun never shined
Crawling and walking felt the same
Faces were alike and so were the days
Night were long and so was the Sword
The Sword that kills just Like the Word
The Word Was Love that I never knew

Around me she was Most of the Time
Just Like a Shadow
Just like a ghost
Here and There My eyes use to see
Never to the Front where Fate Use to Be

And there she was
Along she came with the dusk
Finally I’ve seen the Sun
And Eternally She may shine
Life have blossomed
Words Got Meanings
And How Joyful Became Life

Dedicated To who loved me when I was hate.
Yasmeen

HUMAN BRAIN..

we look at people as smart or stupid but we never think how come they r so, as i see it its about how that person use the best instroment god gave us and how do we train it to oprate.
Being creative is the same, but it does'nt work so easy u have to do alot of practise and u have to observe, look at everything and think about it what would it be and hat can you do with it.
thats why we see every one creative in hiz own feild, cos they love it and when u love somthing u think about it and about how to improove it to the better, that is how u train ur brain to be creative.. or at least thats how i think about it..

Life..

Life, Such an amazing thing, some times you like it , some times you hate or u can just love it but in the end you live it and accept it. People say it’s the greatest school but I think it’s the only school where you learn about you, teachers in this school could be a lot fathers, mothers, siblings or even lovers, but its you, its you who you teach and learn from. What you add to life either your or other is what makes you feel good about your self , live to add and develop else wise your life is pointless.