Freedom of speech is not an option

Freedom of speech is not an option in this god forsaken region of the planet ! This is obvious after having mahmood.tv blocked by the Ministry of DIS-Information ! For those out there who doesn't know about mahmood.tv, this is the number one blog in Bahrain which belongs to mahmood the Godfather of Bahraini Blogs.

I am so depressed with how things are turning out ! Why does such things happen in a country which prides itself on its newly established constitution & freedom of speech law passed by the King? I would be more understanding if this happened in Saudi but NOT in Bahrain ! (No pun intended towards our Saudi brothers)

Although things are looking quite bleak, I've got a feeling that the block wouldn't stand for long ! Fingers crossed guys

Mahmood if you are reading this, you have my support mate !

Garden of Eden

"The land of Dilmun is holy, the land of Dilmun is pure. In Dilmun no cry the raven utters, nor does the bird of ill-omen foretell calamity. The lion kills not, nor does the ravening wolf snatch away the defenseless lamb. Unknown is the wild dog who tears the kid. The dove does not conceal its head. No one here says, ''My eyes are sick,'' No one here says, ''My head is sick,'' No one here says, ''I am an old woman,'' No one here says, ''I am an old man.'' The maiden walks here in innocence. No lustrations need to be poured. The somber death priest walks not here. By Dilmun's walls he has no cause for lamentations. "

Words from a 4000+ year old poem written in the Sumerian city of Nippur talking about the doings of the gods at the dawn of time in a sacred island where death and sickness did not exist and sweet waters flowed. An island paradise called Dilmun, a place closely resembling the Garden of Eden. Dilmun, described as the “place where the sun rises” and the “Land of the Living” has developed such a reputation as a long lost garden of exotic perfections, which has drastically influenced the story of the Garden of Eden. Even interpreters continuously tried to establish an Edenic garden at the trading center of Dilmun.

The hero and our most famous historical figure, Gilgamesh arrives at Dilmun to obtain the the “flower of immortality” from the Ziusudra aka Atrahasis, Utnapishtim, Xisuthros, and Noah. Ziusudra is the sole survivor of the great flood among mankind, after successfully building an ark following instructions from lord of the Abyss and ruler of the sweet waters under the earth, Enki. With stones attached to his feet, Gilgamesh dives into the sea and brings up the flower. In similar fashion to the story of Adam and Eve, he allows a serpent to eat the flower, cheating mankind of its benefits.

What is really interesting about the story of Ziusudra and Gilgamesh is the fact that the Sumerian word KUR, found on the 140th line of the Gilgamesh Flood myth was interpreted to mean mountain in Akkadian, whereas in Sumeria, it didn’t mean mountain; rather a country, especially a foreign country, and Dilmun was a foreign country. This suggests that Ziusudra's boat floated down the Euphrates river into the Persian Gulf and not up onto a mountain.
I hope you (especially those who don’t know much about Bahrain) enjoyed this small piece of history about Dilmun. I’ll write more later about the rich history of this tiny island :).

Mac user @ last

First of all happy eid to you all, I didn't have enough time to post about my Macbook purchase and now that the hectic days are behind us I am able to announce that I have finally switched !

YUP ! I am a switcher :) I finally took the plunge and let me tell you it IS greener on the other side ! Everything is fast and easy to do ! Oh by the way did I mention how everything looks gorgeous ? I mean , I've been themeing my PC to look like a Mac for ages but nothing comes close to the real thing ! Anyway back to the experience, goodbye to bluescreens, sudden crashes and viruses ! Another thing I noticed in the Mac world is how the Macbook came with all what you need outta the box, this saved me almost 10 hours of installing software ! weew; good god ! I didn't know that I hated the Window$ world this much ! :D I am quite angered by the number of years I've wasted in the barren lands of Window$, I should've done this much, much, MUCH earlier ! Leaving you all with pictures of ma new baby ! ;)

New Babe Vs The useless Hag


Mac, Engineering book and a Mac Magazine is this my new life ? erm, not that I'm complaining ;)


What can I say ? JUST Beautiful !

Happy Eid All ! :)

It's always sad to have yet another Ramadan leaving us, hope you all had a very positive one as much as I did ! :) Anyway Happy Eid all and please help yourselfs to my Piggy Bank for Eidya ! :P ;)

The Things We Would Do To Get What We Want

Reading an article about an Italian woman who's going to tattoo the names of every person who donates money towards her Macbook fund (I should've done something similar :)) on her back, got me thinking of the crazy (or creative) things people are welling to do to get what they want !

Everyday we hear about people with similar approaches towards getting their goals achieved, now some of these people are just lazy and want a quick way out (minimal effort) while others are quite clever like the owner of this site, the site belongs to an American girl who have decided to raise a Macbook fund by laser aching adverts for businesses willing to finance her cause (to this girl I take my hat off).

I've never got these sort of ideas when it came towards achieving my goals, I've always worked hard to an extent of me getting major breakdowns (Just like what happened this week ! :P) Now with me stumbling upon these girls blogs, I've decided to think of easy way outs for me to apply at the office (delegation will be my new moto, that's as creative as I can be :D).

So what do you think ? Would you consider the Italian girl creative or just an artful dodger looking for an easy why out ?

How Smart Is Your Right Foot?

This was sent to me by a colleague in the US, it's sooo true, as much as you try to twist it around, it doesn't work. Enjoy :D.

This is so funny that it will boggle your mind. And, you will keep
trying it at least 50 more times to see if you can outsmart your
foot.

1. While sitting at your desk, lift your right foot off the floor and
make clockwise circles with it.


2. Now, while doing this, draw the number "6" in the air with your
right hand. Your foot will change direction!!!


I told you so.. And there is nothing you can do about it.
Make sure you pass this on to your friends... They won't be able to
believe it either!!!

Scottish Food

University years are the most crucial years of our lives, it plays a major role in forming ones personality and way of thinking. God how I miss Scotland, although I've been to England some 4 months ago, I didn't feel at home as much as I did at Scotland ! No offense to my English friends, is it because I consider Scotland (Edinburgh in particular) as my second home ? I am not sure really.

I was meaning for a while to do a post on Scottish food and a post on tooners blog on comfort food fueled the urge to post regarding the matter.

Anyway here is my list of foods I miss from my Uni years:

1- Haggis and Chips:

This is the most famous Scottish meal, every Scottish (British) meal has two version, the homemade which is usually dull and yuckie and the chippie (Chips Shop) version which is deliciously unhealthy ! Anyway when I first asked what a haggis was, a friend of mine replyed with a grin:

"A haggis is a small four-legged Scottish Highland creature, which has the limbs on one side shorter than the other side. Which means that it is well adapted to run around the hills at a steady altitude, without either ascending or descending? Haggises can easily be caught by running around the hill in the opposite direction."

Didn't believe a word of what he said though :D (hope you are reading this Paul) but at least it encouraged me to eat it.

While in reality haggis is made of:

Sheep's heart, liver, and lungs, minced with onion, oatmeal, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and boiled in the animal's stomach for approximately an hour.

All this is battered and deep fried later on. Add salt, vinegar and chips and you'll have one of the most heavenly junk food meals.


2-Scottish Pie:

This was my favorite late night (early morning) snack at the weekend :P;) used to go to the bakers with the lads at around 3 – 4 am just to get them fresh (Not a good idea, especially with the horrid Scottish weather) but still it was worth it ! ;)


3- Chips and Cheese:

This is the No. 1 snack/meal for students in Scotland, Go to any chippie and you'll find most of the orders set by students (Bahrainis espcially) are chips with extra cheese and salt and vinigar !


4- Chicken Tikka Masalla:

Is an Indian meal with a twist, supposed to be invented by an Indian takeaway (restaurant) in Glasgow ! So this makes it an Indo/Glaswegian Meal :P

The main ingredient of this dish are variants of a tomato gravy (using puree or even ketchup) with cream or coconut cream and various common spices.

This sounds like a meal created in a haste with no thought, still this is the best Indian dish I ever had (beats baryannis in my opinion) :D


5- Pepperoni Pizzas: not really a Scottish meal but nothing beats this while watching a DVD or even better, a Champions League (Usually involving Liverpool) match.

6- Scottish Tablet:

These are the most traditional Scottish sweeties. Used to go to the Sunday market especially for those babies, I used to love 'em and no matter how much weight I gained I just didn't dare to stop eating them ! :D


7- California Lemon Chicken with rice:

Again not exactly Scottish, but a friend of mine discovered the sauce at ASDA supermarket and I added the rice to the meal ;) We started to have this meal every time we felt like having chicken (usually 3 times a week :P)

8- Fish & Chips:

Wasn't a huge fan but while I was doing a course at the midlands last April, I had the best ever fish and chips at the Black county museum, the trick was that it was deep fried in beef lard ! :o But man oh man what a beauty :)

9- Deep Fried Mars Bars:

Yup ! This is not a typo, this was created in Edinburgh where most of the chip shops serve this strange pudding if we may call it. It's made of normal mars bars dipped into batter and then deep fried. It's amazing when you eat it right out of the fryer (in the cold weather) not everybody's cup of tea though :P


10- Doner Kebab:

Not a big fan of this. NOT as much as many of the guys who studied at Scotland, but I get cravings for this every now and then (it seems that the "you don't know what you had until it's gone" thing going on :P)

Generally a doner kebab sandwich is served with a salad made from shredded lettuce. Usually there is a choice between a hot sauce, a yoghurt sauce containing garlic and a yoghurt sauce.
The only reason for me eating this was because it made a good Shawarma substitute

Very popular with party-goers and evening revellers in the vibrant of Edinburgh and Glasgow city centres.

World's Most Unique Party!!!

This story was passed on to me by a work colleague on Thursday night while enjoying dinner in a Moroccan restaurant down at Heddon St.

Now you might be wondering what makes this party unique??? I thought I've seen/heard it all and this was just another ordinary party that is slightly twisted in one way or another. Boy was I wrong!!! I've see many themed and organized parties, but nothing comes close to this. Anyways, below is the story, emails and some of the replies. Enjoy :D.


Investment banks like to hire organized, driven Type-A personalities. But some of these folks take things a little bit far. At Citigroup in London, one young equity analyst has clearly gone over the edge, if the birthday party invitation below is any indication. Not only does she give the precise arrival times for each guest—broken down in 15 minute increments—but she tells them precisely what to wear, exactly what to say to the concierge at the hotel, and the hours during which she will accept “cards and small gifts.”

Below is an excerpt explaining precisely what her guests are to wear to her party at the Ritz.



STRICT DRESS CODE:
Gentlemen: Jacket, shirt, and please also bring a tie (no jeans,
trainers, flip-flops, polo-shirts)
Ladies: skirt/top, cocktail dress (no denim, min-skirts, flip-flips, bad
tastes)
Advice 1: It goes without saying that the more upper-class you dress,
the less likely you shall be denied entry.
Advice 2: Photos will be taken between 10pm to 10:30pm, and these will
be distributed once processed, therefore you may want to be
well-groomed!

Finally...
I will be accepting cards and small gifts between 9pm to 11pm... wink> hehehe



And, because we know you are wondering, we will be accepting cards and small forwarded emails for the rest of the day.

The full invitation, and the reactions of various readers at Citi, after the jump.

Let's start with Lucy's original invitation.

-----Original Message----- - From: Lucy [CIR] Sent: 16 August 2006 12:53 Subject: Details and instructions for Lucy's Ritz Party
Dear Friends,

Thank you for all your replies and I am glad all of you can come this
Friday to celebrate my 21st with me.
Please read ALL the following to ensure your entry into the Ritz.

Lucy's 21st Birthday Party
at The Ritz Hotel London

Friday, 18th of August
9pm Champagne Reception
10pm Photo Shoots
10:30pm Blowing Candles

Mid-night Pangaea, Mayfair


I have arranged the Ritz to host a Champagne Reception with a selection
of Ritz Champagne for all my guests, this will be on me so please come
and indulge.

A specially made birthday cake has also been ordered and the Ritz
waiters will kindly serve you each a generous slice with Ritz cutleries,
etc...also on me .

INSTRUCTIONS FOR ENTRY:
* When you arrive, take the Hotel entry on the opposite side of
the Green Park tube station [Please refer to your arrival time at the
end of this email]
* When asked "how can I help you Sir/Madame?", you reply "I am
here for Lucy's Birthday Party at the Rivoli Bar"
* You will be escorted to the lounge area next to the Rivoli bar,
where you will hopefully see a gorgeous group of ladies.

If you experience any issues getting in or getting to the Ritz, please
call my mobile on xxx xxx xxx and my PA Ms XXXX will kindly deal with
your queries between 8:30pm to 10pm.

STRICT DRESS CODE:
Gentlemen: Jacket, shirt, and please also bring a tie (no jeans,
trainers, flip-flops, polo-shirts)
Ladies: skirt/top, cocktail dress (no denim, min-skirts, flip-flips, bad
tastes)
Advice 1: It goes without saying that the more upper-class you dress,
the less likely you shall be denied entry.
Advice 2: Photos will be taken between 10pm to 10:30pm, and these will
be distributed once processed, therefore you may want to be
well-groomed!

Finally...
I will be accepting cards and small gifts between 9pm to 11pm... wink> hehehe

I very much look forward to seeing you all at the Ritz this Friday.

Lucy

ARRIVAL TIMES: [Please stick to these as best as you can, thank you]
9:00pm: [names nine friends].
9:15pm: [next nine friends].
9:30pm: [eleven friends; clearly the most vulgar arrival slot].
9:45pm: [four more friends; most exclusive arrival time].
10:00pm: [five friends]


Lucy XXX
Citigroup | Real Estate Equity Research
4th Floor, Citigroup Centre (CGC1)
25 Canada Square, London E14 5LB
Direct Line: xx xxx xxx xxxx
Fax: +xx xxx xxx xxxx
Mobile: +xx xxx xxx xxxx
Email: xxx@citigroup.com



Of course, this got forwarded far and wide. Below are the comments of readers, with the names redacted to protect the mirthful.

-----Original Message----- From: XXX [CIB-HR] Sent: 24 August 2006 09:15 To: XXX Subject: FW:
Oh my god! Read from the bottom! Its gone not only to EVERYONE in citi
but i've just been told by my boss its gone all over the banks and
they're all laughing about it.


-----Original Message-----
From: XXX
Sent: Thursday, August 24, 2006 8:56 AM
To: *HR UK Capital Markets
Subject: FW:


Hi all, for your reading pleasure...please start at the bottom, it's
hilarious!!

-----Original Message-----
From: XXX [CIB-HR]
Sent: 23 August 2006 18:13
To: xxx [CIB-HR]; xxx [CIB-HR]; xxx
[CIB-HR]; xxx [CIB-HR]
Subject: FW:


As previously discussed.... maybe we need to revisit the intern
selection criteria, I think the emphasis on control may be too high!


-----Original Message-----
From: XXX [CIR]
To: XXX [CIR]; XXX [CIB-EQTY]; XXX
[CIR]
Sent: Mon Aug 21 18:17:42 2006
Subject: FW:

Please read below when you get 5 mins


______________________________________________
From: XXX [CIR]
Sent: 21 August 2006 18:07
To: XXX [CIR] XXX [CIR]; XXX [CIR];
XXX [CIR]; XXX [CIR]; XXX [CIR]
Subject: RE:

"It goes without saying that the more upper-class you dress, the less
likely you shall be denied entry."...!!

it also goes without saying that the more i read of that, the less
likely i am to contain my mirth


______________________________________________
From: xxx [CIR]
Sent: 21 August 2006 17:51
To: xxx [CIR]; xxx [CIR]
Subject: FW: Details and instructions for Lucy's Ritz Party


______________________________________________
From: xxx [CIR]
Sent: 18 August 2006 11:52
To: xxx [CIR]; xxx [CIR]
Subject: FW: Details and instructions for Lucy's Ritz Party

You have to read this.....from the intern working on the property team -
I can hardly contain myself!

______________________________________________
From: xxx [CIR]
Sent: 18 August 2006 11:48
To: xxx [CIR]
Subject: FW: Details and instructions for Lucy's Ritz Party

.. I don't like to spread things... I feel quite bad really - but you
just HAVE to read this....

______________________________________________
From: xxx [CIB-EQTY]
Sent: 18 August 2006 11:28
To: xxx [CIR]
Subject: FW: Details and instructions for Lucy's Ritz Party

XXX, do you know this girl below...Lucy? Think she is in research.
This is outrageous, read the invite!!!!!!!!!

-----Original Message-----
From: xxx [CIB-EQTY]
Sent: 18 August 2006 11:25
To: xxx [CIB-EQTY]
Subject: FW: Details and instructions for Lucy's Ritz Party


-----Original Message-----
From: XXX [CIB-EQTY]
Sent: 18 August 2006 11:23
To: xxx [CIB-EQTY]
Subject: FW: Details and instructions for Lucy's Ritz Party


-----Original Message-----
From: xxx [CIB-EQTY]
Sent: 18 August 2006 08:42
To: xxx [CIB-EQTY]; xxx, xxx
[CIB-EQTY]; xxx [CIB-EQTY]; xxx
[CIB-EQTY]; xxx [CIB-EQTY]; xxx
[CIB-EQTY]; xxx [CIB-EQTY]; xxx [CIB-EQTY]; xxx
[CIB-EQTY]; xxx [CIB-EQTY]; xxx [CIB-EQTY]; xxx [CIB-EQTY]
Subject: FW: Details and instructions for Lucy's Ritz Party

her best yet...........enjoy

-----Original Message-----
From: xxx [CIB-FI]
Sent: 18 August 2006 08:16
To: xxx [CIB-EQTY]
Subject: FW: Details and instructions for Lucy's Ritz Party

Enjoy

Regardless of the fact that we haven't been invited, pangea still seems
to be the plan for tonight though.

xxx




That's it folks :D.

To Mac or NOT Mac !

Lately I have been looking at replacements for my deceased Fujitsu Siemens laptop, with the disaster of an experience in mind; I decided to be VERY careful this time.

During the past 10 days, I've had a thorough look at all the famous brands; none of them tickled my fancy (either too low in specs or NO warranty extension option, the last seems to piss salesmen off "I wonder why ?! :x").

Having bought my old laptop from the Apple Center I've decided to pop in to the showroom to have a look at what they have to offer (not interested in Fujitsu Siemens though :x). And the instance I had my eyes on the new Mackbook range I couldn't help but fall in love with the ultra portable sturdy machines.

The specs were quite impressive as well and I have always wanted to have a Mac, went through a phase (Uni years) where I emulated the Mac look (on my DELL) thanks to aqua-soft.org ! Don't worry those days are long gone though :P

Anyway back to the subject, now that I can afford a Mac (Finally sorted out my finances :P) should I go for a Mac? It seems that who ever I ask comes up with the a negative response ! For example all the computer geeks I know were like do NOT do it, my mates (engineers:P) were like what about our beloved engineering software (Especially you Mohammed Alhamar :P) and finally my family were just reminding me of what everyday joes think of Macs (Image and newspaper publishing machines).

All this left me with a dilemma on top of a splitting headache, plus a question that keeps ringing in my head no matter what I do "To Mac or NOT to Mac ?" :p :D

iWant this :P

The REAL reason for blocking Google Earth

OK things are going real slow on the posting front this week, this is due to me being depressed :((I am still mourning my dead laptop) :P :D So what better way to beat "writer's block" and depression ? hmm have a look at this youtube:

Big brother is watching ! Now you know why Google Earth was Blocked ! :P