I am on my way to Muscat - Oman for two nights then another two nights at Manama Bahrain before i am back to Amman.
I have not been traveling lately. My last trip was a 2 day visit to Dubai on May 13th.
Business trips are no longer exciting to me at all. I try to avoid them when i can. However, they are inevitable.
what to exepct! well High temperature, high humidity, high hotel prices~
Saturday, July 05, 2008
Friday, July 04, 2008
Pollution
This time i mean INFORMATION POLLUTION. I was hit by it. I can be diagnosed with new form of Illness. I am informationally polluted. OR, as some may like to call it. I am suffering from Information Overload.
When i first thought of it, it was kind of a humerous gesture on my side. But when i searched the net, i found a lot being written on this subject.
Its toll is becoming obvious on me. Even today, when i wanted to jot a few words on this blog, i had difficulty remebering how to login. Yes, i have not been in the best of my moods to write anything lately, but it has not been that long of a time to wonder how to login.
The acceleration at which information channels are filled and refilled is nothing but amazing. Needless to say, people like me, working in the field of information technology suffer the most. Without going into details, 16 years back, ORACLE corp owned around 16 products ( i could at that time list them along with their prices). One Oracle reporesentative told me last week that, as we speak, there are about 10,000 products. I do not know how true this is, but let us assume that there are about 1000. Just thinking of this immedaitely instigates a sense of loss, distraction and frustration being a person ambitious to maintain a goold level of knowledge about them. Well this is going to be a dauting and an impossible task. Trying to abandon them is just as stressful.
To get a feel that i am not kidding, this is an extract from "http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/chinneg.html" than can shed some light
"The acceleration of change is accompanied by an increase in the information needed to keep up with all these developments. This too leads to psychological, physical and social problems. A world-wide survey (Reuters, 1996) found that two thirds of managers suffer from increased tension and one third from ill-health because of information overload. The psychologist David Lewis, who analysed the findings of this survey, proposed the term "Information Fatigue Syndrome" to describe the resulting symptoms. Other effects of too much information include anxiety, poor decision-making, difficulties in memorizing and remembering, and reduced attention span (Reuters, 1996; Shenk, 1997). These effects merely add to the stress caused by the need to constantly adapt to a changing situation"
When i first thought of it, it was kind of a humerous gesture on my side. But when i searched the net, i found a lot being written on this subject.
Its toll is becoming obvious on me. Even today, when i wanted to jot a few words on this blog, i had difficulty remebering how to login. Yes, i have not been in the best of my moods to write anything lately, but it has not been that long of a time to wonder how to login.
The acceleration at which information channels are filled and refilled is nothing but amazing. Needless to say, people like me, working in the field of information technology suffer the most. Without going into details, 16 years back, ORACLE corp owned around 16 products ( i could at that time list them along with their prices). One Oracle reporesentative told me last week that, as we speak, there are about 10,000 products. I do not know how true this is, but let us assume that there are about 1000. Just thinking of this immedaitely instigates a sense of loss, distraction and frustration being a person ambitious to maintain a goold level of knowledge about them. Well this is going to be a dauting and an impossible task. Trying to abandon them is just as stressful.
To get a feel that i am not kidding, this is an extract from "http://pespmc1.vub.ac.be/chinneg.html" than can shed some light
"The acceleration of change is accompanied by an increase in the information needed to keep up with all these developments. This too leads to psychological, physical and social problems. A world-wide survey (Reuters, 1996) found that two thirds of managers suffer from increased tension and one third from ill-health because of information overload. The psychologist David Lewis, who analysed the findings of this survey, proposed the term "Information Fatigue Syndrome" to describe the resulting symptoms. Other effects of too much information include anxiety, poor decision-making, difficulties in memorizing and remembering, and reduced attention span (Reuters, 1996; Shenk, 1997). These effects merely add to the stress caused by the need to constantly adapt to a changing situation"
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Find the Lost History
Even if you must go all the way to China, said the prophet, “Seek Knowledge”
In an era when the relationship between Islam and the West seems fraught with misunderstanding, how many of us realize that Muslim intellectual achievement was once envy of the world? In magnificent centers of learning, from Damascus to Baghdad and Cairo, mathematicians and a thousand year ago developed, algorithms, and trigonometry- the foundations upon which modern technology is build. Inventors devised the crankshaft and early versions of the torpedo and the parachute. Physicians’ techniques ranged from orthodontia to asthma care to tracheotomy. And Muslim astronomers calculated our planet’s diameter and circumference t a remarkable degree of accuracy- at a time when Europeans thought the Earth was flat
If you liked what you have just read, you shall enjoy more reading the book. It is called “Lost History, the enduring legacy of Muslim Scientists, Thinkers and Artists.
You will find the above paragraph on the leaflet.
The book is authored by Michael Hamilton Morgan, and forwarded by His majesty Kind Abdulla second of Jordan.
My mother asked me to order it for her through Amazon, and I ordered two.
It is valuable book indeed. A must have
Ammar Sajdi
In an era when the relationship between Islam and the West seems fraught with misunderstanding, how many of us realize that Muslim intellectual achievement was once envy of the world? In magnificent centers of learning, from Damascus to Baghdad and Cairo, mathematicians and a thousand year ago developed, algorithms, and trigonometry- the foundations upon which modern technology is build. Inventors devised the crankshaft and early versions of the torpedo and the parachute. Physicians’ techniques ranged from orthodontia to asthma care to tracheotomy. And Muslim astronomers calculated our planet’s diameter and circumference t a remarkable degree of accuracy- at a time when Europeans thought the Earth was flat
If you liked what you have just read, you shall enjoy more reading the book. It is called “Lost History, the enduring legacy of Muslim Scientists, Thinkers and Artists.
You will find the above paragraph on the leaflet.
The book is authored by Michael Hamilton Morgan, and forwarded by His majesty Kind Abdulla second of Jordan.
My mother asked me to order it for her through Amazon, and I ordered two.
It is valuable book indeed. A must have
Ammar Sajdi
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
When it come to this, i hate suspence
spontaneity, suspense could spice up one's life. However, when it comes to traveling, this kind of suspense really stresses me immensely. Yesterday, i received a call from Dubai summoning upon me to be present their as of this evening, and therefore, you need to make last minute cancellation to your meeting and do last minutes formidable hotel and flight booking, not knowing whether you will make it on time or not. After I made all the arrangements, I received last minute cancellations as well. Quite honestly, i was relieved. Home sweet Home
Ammar
Ammar
In your spare time
When i am not practicing work related hoppies, i am spending some of my spare time playing around with a google software product called sketchup. As its name implies, it is a productivity tool in the domain of computer sketching. You will like it, download and enjoy.
I am also falling in love with another freeware product called DotProject. This latter product shall make a grand entry to our REALSOFT enviornment pretty soon. It is a web enabled tasks oriented project management tool which will help all of us montior project management tasks as well as bug tracking via the internet. You can check this product out (www.dotproject.net). Finally, this product can integrate to our open source bug tracking system called mantis
I am also falling in love with another freeware product called DotProject. This latter product shall make a grand entry to our REALSOFT enviornment pretty soon. It is a web enabled tasks oriented project management tool which will help all of us montior project management tasks as well as bug tracking via the internet. You can check this product out (www.dotproject.net). Finally, this product can integrate to our open source bug tracking system called mantis
Global Warming
Records reveal that Britain is witnessing the warmest weather for the first two weeks of May, 2008 since 1772. Additonally, some scientists speculate that in 100 years you can kiss London good by, unless, of course, you can afford a submarine.
Ammar sajdi
Ammar sajdi
Born Again
This week i was introduced to the world of MUMPS. No it is not the epidemic that hit you when you were young (Painful swelling of the salivary glands caused by viral disease) a.k.a Abu Dhgaim. Rather it is MUMPS (Massachusetts General Hospital Utility Multi-Programming System), or alternatively M, is a programming language created in the late 1960s, originally for use in the healthcare industry. Since i spent almost every day of may career life working, reading, training and practicing Oracle and Oracle derivatives software and services, I became so overwhelmed by ORACLE to an extent that i feel that the world evolves around it. Well, and obviously, there is a lot more going around the world. There are communities, project, mission critical applications developed by the MUMPS language over MUMPS database. Such application are both in health and financial sectors. As of today, there are numerous sites that are running mumps. For example Bank of England and Barclays Bank, also it is used by Ameritrade, the largest online trading service in the US with over 12 billion transactions per day.
I know of no installation in Jordan, but something seems to be coming soon as there is a Jordanian tender calling for HIMS package called Vista (MUMPS based) http://www.rss2go.net/topic/national_healthcare (Bad news for local HIMS companies)
I came to know about MUMPS when a customer is Saudi Arabia was asking us if we can build a Data Warehouse solution for a health care system which is running MUMPS! my initial feedback was SAY WHAT? I know about a lot of things in this domain, but not this one. In the World of vista i am only three days old. I downloaded the product on Linux, built a database, and ran the Hello world example. If we take the project, i guess, my i will extend my MUMPS life and may even celebrate MUMPS birthdays, if not, my MUMPS life might as well just nostalgically evade
I know of no installation in Jordan, but something seems to be coming soon as there is a Jordanian tender calling for HIMS package called Vista (MUMPS based) http://www.rss2go.net/topic/national_healthcare (Bad news for local HIMS companies)
I came to know about MUMPS when a customer is Saudi Arabia was asking us if we can build a Data Warehouse solution for a health care system which is running MUMPS! my initial feedback was SAY WHAT? I know about a lot of things in this domain, but not this one. In the World of vista i am only three days old. I downloaded the product on Linux, built a database, and ran the Hello world example. If we take the project, i guess, my i will extend my MUMPS life and may even celebrate MUMPS birthdays, if not, my MUMPS life might as well just nostalgically evade
Friday, May 09, 2008
14 degrees at 12 pm
Since it is May and it has been feeling really cool the past two days, some people may think that weather conditions are not normal. in Reality, it is quite normal to wintess a couple of rather cloudy and cool days in May. Light rain is also normal. It did not rain in Amman, but it did in Jerusalem and Beirut during the past two days
Oracle BI Enterprise Edition
Yesterday, we finished an interesting 5 days session with Oracle, where we were introduced to Oracle's BI solution called BI EE. This suite is actually what Oracle inherited from its acquistion of Siebel. I must say that the functionalityies are not new to me, however, the user experience and look and feel are impressive. Especially, when it comes to Bi Answers and BI dashboard products. Soon, we shall also be exposed to IBM congnos after discussing IBM request to expand thier Software Operation in the area.
I have obtained a VM-WARE Oracle BI ready installation, and i am looking forward to examining the product even further this week-end. Another product that we were introduced to is Oracle Data Integrator (ODI) ,which is also a result of an acquistion from Synopsis. This product is ELT tool rather than ETL tool. When compared to OWB (Oracle Warehouse Builder), there are certain advantages especially in its capability with working with several different data sources and its capablity to do some transformation at the sources.
In the end, I have come to the conclusion to the fact that neither OWB nor Oracle discoverer superior products but at the same time , do not fall short of the other new products
I have obtained a VM-WARE Oracle BI ready installation, and i am looking forward to examining the product even further this week-end. Another product that we were introduced to is Oracle Data Integrator (ODI) ,which is also a result of an acquistion from Synopsis. This product is ELT tool rather than ETL tool. When compared to OWB (Oracle Warehouse Builder), there are certain advantages especially in its capability with working with several different data sources and its capablity to do some transformation at the sources.
In the end, I have come to the conclusion to the fact that neither OWB nor Oracle discoverer superior products but at the same time , do not fall short of the other new products
Saturday, May 03, 2008
Quran and Science
قال تعالى
والشمس تجري لمستقر لها ذلك تقدير العزيز الحكيم
سورة يس الاية 38
The Quran sura 36 verse 38
In translation: The Sun runs its course to a settled place.
Scientifically, please refer to the Book Observational Astronomy (by Scott Bireny , Guillermo Gonzalez and David Oesper, P73 which says:-
"The point on the sky towards which the sun (and therefore the solar system) moves is called the solar Apex"
Modern Science has therefore, ascertain, that there is indeed a point towards which the sun settles. This is in perfect harmony with the revelation of the holy Quran.
Actually, the inspiration of the idea came to me from a book called The Bible, the Quran and science by Maurice Bucaille that introduced me to the term solar Apex. I searched the net and found the scientific reference described above
Ammar Sajdi
والشمس تجري لمستقر لها ذلك تقدير العزيز الحكيم
سورة يس الاية 38
The Quran sura 36 verse 38
In translation: The Sun runs its course to a settled place.
Scientifically, please refer to the Book Observational Astronomy (by Scott Bireny , Guillermo Gonzalez and David Oesper, P73 which says:-
"The point on the sky towards which the sun (and therefore the solar system) moves is called the solar Apex"
Modern Science has therefore, ascertain, that there is indeed a point towards which the sun settles. This is in perfect harmony with the revelation of the holy Quran.
Actually, the inspiration of the idea came to me from a book called The Bible, the Quran and science by Maurice Bucaille that introduced me to the term solar Apex. I searched the net and found the scientific reference described above
Ammar Sajdi
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Conservation of Gravity
Mankind is constantly trying to conserver resources to sustain life. But are we doing enough
We are trying to conserve consumption of oil, and in fact scientists are keenly seeking alternative sources of energy. We are trying to conserve electricity consumption. We are trying to conserve Water consumption and trying to desalinate Sea water.
The intersting part: Can anybody deny that Gravity is a force that keeps us tied to ground? And if we try to defy that force by climbing a mountain, we get tiered? Since it is always acting on us, we ought to be consuming it. Can we persume that eventually this force will be used up like oil, water, TIME, age etc..
Can you imagine how life will be when (or if) Gravity is consumed?
for example, when we eat, how can food then move toward our stomach?
If you feel that life without gravity would not be plausible, then wouldn't that warrent a movement for the conservation of Gravity?
The more interesting question is How can then we conserve gravity?
sample suggestion
1) Live in Ground floors
2)Park your car Down hill
3)keep you bed a close as possible to the floor, or better yet, sleep on the floor
4) Avoid using elevators
5) Actively lose weight
...
Public awareness campaign are required to alter citizens about the catastrophic consequences of using up a valuable resource such as Gravity. Public attention is geared towards Ozone layer, global warmer, while conservation of gravity is total ignored.
I just want to mention that this idea has not just poped into my mind; it has, in fact, been a concern of my for quite sometime now.
Ammar
Friday, April 25, 2008
An Apt in Aqaba - Jordan
last year on April 13, i posted a blog about an unscheduled trip to Aqaba http://oraclejo.blogspot.com/2007/04/spontaneity.html
This firday, we did the same with some difference
1) We decided to go on Thursday (one day advance notice) rathat than on the same day
2) We got the keys for our apt at Aqaba Talay Bay (www.talabay.jo), rather than watching construction
3) It was so hot (also in Amman)
4) We left at 9:30 rather than 11:30
5) We were back by 8:15 rather than 9:15
6) I bought a pair of Adidas shoes rather than Clarks
everything else, pretty the same.
Now that we have an appartment is Aqaba, are we going to go often??? Big Question
Ammar Sajdi
This firday, we did the same with some difference
1) We decided to go on Thursday (one day advance notice) rathat than on the same day
2) We got the keys for our apt at Aqaba Talay Bay (www.talabay.jo), rather than watching construction
3) It was so hot (also in Amman)
4) We left at 9:30 rather than 11:30
5) We were back by 8:15 rather than 9:15
6) I bought a pair of Adidas shoes rather than Clarks
everything else, pretty the same.
Now that we have an appartment is Aqaba, are we going to go often??? Big Question
Ammar Sajdi
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Do you really think you can "do database Design"
Software industry in Jordan is pretty progressive with, however, about 90% of of software system involving in a way or another the usage of some database system. Graduates of Jordanian Unviersities specializing in Computer Science related dept are barely exposed to database concepts. Obviously this is due to the fact that the Educational System and the Industry are completely decoupled. My personal opinion, the Jordanian computer science graduate barely knows the ABC's of Database concepts. This is catastrophic because he/she shall be spending alsmost the entirty of their office hours writing applications that heavily depend on databases.
while interviewing new employees, i tend to ask basic questions about basic database questions, like defining the second normal form, explaining what concurrency and consistency is, the basics meaning of a transaction, Types of Joins etc. To my surprise initially, but otherwise lately, very, very few understand Normal Forms, or yet, what precisely a relation means in a Relational Database Management System.
My fears and paranoia continues till after employment, becuase, I have reasons to believe that many of those graduates deliver system while still do not have clear, precise and scientific understanding about topics that they spend a large portion of their career working with.
Current, previous and future IT emplyess should read the following series of articles to ensure that they are equipped with what is necessary to carry out your job correctly. Read on and assess yourself
http://database-programmer.blogspot.com/2007/12/database-skills-complete-contents.html
Ammar Sajdi
while interviewing new employees, i tend to ask basic questions about basic database questions, like defining the second normal form, explaining what concurrency and consistency is, the basics meaning of a transaction, Types of Joins etc. To my surprise initially, but otherwise lately, very, very few understand Normal Forms, or yet, what precisely a relation means in a Relational Database Management System.
My fears and paranoia continues till after employment, becuase, I have reasons to believe that many of those graduates deliver system while still do not have clear, precise and scientific understanding about topics that they spend a large portion of their career working with.
Current, previous and future IT emplyess should read the following series of articles to ensure that they are equipped with what is necessary to carry out your job correctly. Read on and assess yourself
http://database-programmer.blogspot.com/2007/12/database-skills-complete-contents.html
Ammar Sajdi
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Towards a computerized methodology for computerization
We build software solution that run on computers to help people better run their businesses. We use computers to build these software solutions. Yet, computers help us to better run or computer enablement business (it is a vicious circle). But i am excited about some advances that will help us manage building software solutions using computers.
During testing, we find bugs, when the system becomes big and the no of developers grows, it is not easy to follow up on bugs. A couple of year ago, we started using a software tool called Mantis. It is an open source bug tracking software than runs PHP, Apache and MySQL (The LAMP combination, you know). It is a very helpful tool, where developers are assigned tasks to solve bugs. Unsurprisingly, we also use software like MS Project to follow up our project plan. There are Open Source Project planning software like DotProject. Not very exciting so far. What is more exciting however is the fact that you can integrate Mantis with DotProject. This will effectively link bug fixing task with your project plan. In other words, once a bug is fed into Mantis and assigned to a developer. The project plan shall immediately reflect this as a new task in the project plan and shall also reflect this task in terms of time plan in your project plan (Gantt Chart)
You have no clue how much joy is brought to my soul whenever an attempt is made towards reaching a Chaos free software development endeavor.
Mantis is already implemented in our office. DotProject is not, neither is the integration between both. Any volunteers?
During testing, we find bugs, when the system becomes big and the no of developers grows, it is not easy to follow up on bugs. A couple of year ago, we started using a software tool called Mantis. It is an open source bug tracking software than runs PHP, Apache and MySQL (The LAMP combination, you know). It is a very helpful tool, where developers are assigned tasks to solve bugs. Unsurprisingly, we also use software like MS Project to follow up our project plan. There are Open Source Project planning software like DotProject. Not very exciting so far. What is more exciting however is the fact that you can integrate Mantis with DotProject. This will effectively link bug fixing task with your project plan. In other words, once a bug is fed into Mantis and assigned to a developer. The project plan shall immediately reflect this as a new task in the project plan and shall also reflect this task in terms of time plan in your project plan (Gantt Chart)
You have no clue how much joy is brought to my soul whenever an attempt is made towards reaching a Chaos free software development endeavor.
Mantis is already implemented in our office. DotProject is not, neither is the integration between both. Any volunteers?
Monday, April 14, 2008
Dubai, what has changed
It has been a while since my last visit to Dubai. To be exact my last visit was some 15 months back. What has changed since?
If you looked in the skyline before, you would see hight rise. Now , you would see high rise, and more high rise
If you drove on Shiek Zaied Road, you would be stuck in traffic Jams. Now, you would be stuck in traffic jams, and more traffic jams.
If you booked in a hotel, you would spend big money. Now you spend big money and bigger money (A five star hotel is 300 USD easy - Per night + taxes)
other than that nothing has changed except of course with the high rise, traffic more people are found around.
But to be fair, i found the weather more pleasant that expected for this time of the year
I came yesterday very late at night, and leaving tomorrow morning to Bahrain. Bahrain is still more reasonable.
If you looked in the skyline before, you would see hight rise. Now , you would see high rise, and more high rise
If you drove on Shiek Zaied Road, you would be stuck in traffic Jams. Now, you would be stuck in traffic jams, and more traffic jams.
If you booked in a hotel, you would spend big money. Now you spend big money and bigger money (A five star hotel is 300 USD easy - Per night + taxes)
other than that nothing has changed except of course with the high rise, traffic more people are found around.
But to be fair, i found the weather more pleasant that expected for this time of the year
I came yesterday very late at night, and leaving tomorrow morning to Bahrain. Bahrain is still more reasonable.
Monday, April 07, 2008
Snow in London
April Snow in London is not common, neither is the fact that Jordan witnessed no Rain during the entire month of March. Year 2008 is going to be a tough year for everybody in Jordan. Oil prices jumped ridiculously (Diesel doubled and selling at around 88 cent / liter), water is scarce, rent is sky rocketing, electricity tariffs increased and I am afraid that Humous and Falafel meal shall soon become “a delicacy”
ammar
ammar
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Mohammad Rateb Nabulsi
I was at dinner party two days back where the guest of honor was Dr. Mohammad Rateb Nabulsi, a Syrian scholar. Even though i was not feeling well due to severe cold conditions, but i have to say that i enjoyed Dr. Nabulsi interpretation of many controversial issues in religion domain. He is very elaborate, yet concise with a wealth of information that is barely surpassed by the most prominent scholars of the world. Adding to pthe leasure of listening to him was his eloquent language and organized logic.
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
backup your computer data
undoubtedly, we all have important data residing on our computers. That may include emails, important documents , financial sheets, digital photos, database files etc..
data can get lost: your hard disk can break down, a virus can wipe out your files, your laptop can be stolen, let alone fire, water floods etc
having said that, backup strategy is your insurance against a tragedy.
Human tend to fall in to the following categories backup - wise
1- Do not understand the need for backup
2- Understand the need for backup, but always look at the bright side and as such can dispel any backup related obsessions or flashes
3- Understand the need but either lazy or incapable of performing it
4- Understand the need, and are taking it religiously
Well, one day a disaster will take place and you will loose what can be indispensable data. Taking regular backup can be a daunting and not to mention a very boring process. I searched the internet and found some user friendly tools that should prove very helpful in assisting you to create an effective backup strategy. Most of these tools can allow you to take incremental backup. An incremental backup only take the changes between your last backup and the current one , thus making your backup much faster
Anyway, i will name a few products, and you can search the net and by using the following search words for more tools
file duplicator, File synchronize, File mirror, Mirror Disk
you will find tools that are prices from a few bucks to several hundreds.
I tried the following two products
ViseVersa http://www.tgrmn.com
Titan Backup http://www.neobytesolutions.com/
You should not know have an excuse for loosing data. Please remeber that it is not enough to take your backup to a different hard disk within your computer, it should be taken to an external device and stored in a safe place
Happy backing-up (or backup-ing)
Ammar sajdi
data can get lost: your hard disk can break down, a virus can wipe out your files, your laptop can be stolen, let alone fire, water floods etc
having said that, backup strategy is your insurance against a tragedy.
Human tend to fall in to the following categories backup - wise
1- Do not understand the need for backup
2- Understand the need for backup, but always look at the bright side and as such can dispel any backup related obsessions or flashes
3- Understand the need but either lazy or incapable of performing it
4- Understand the need, and are taking it religiously
Well, one day a disaster will take place and you will loose what can be indispensable data. Taking regular backup can be a daunting and not to mention a very boring process. I searched the internet and found some user friendly tools that should prove very helpful in assisting you to create an effective backup strategy. Most of these tools can allow you to take incremental backup. An incremental backup only take the changes between your last backup and the current one , thus making your backup much faster
Anyway, i will name a few products, and you can search the net and by using the following search words for more tools
file duplicator, File synchronize, File mirror, Mirror Disk
you will find tools that are prices from a few bucks to several hundreds.
I tried the following two products
ViseVersa http://www.tgrmn.com
Titan Backup http://www.neobytesolutions.com/
You should not know have an excuse for loosing data. Please remeber that it is not enough to take your backup to a different hard disk within your computer, it should be taken to an external device and stored in a safe place
Happy backing-up (or backup-ing)
Ammar sajdi
Sunday, March 30, 2008
We never cease to learn - Cadre
The word كادر is a common word that is used in the Arabic language to describe a team of people to deliver a certain job. Before today, i would have sworn my life that it is a word of Arabic origin. Today i have received from a customer a request for a quotation. Within the document i came across the following
RealSoft shall p0rovide a capable technical cadre to be on call to correct any breakdowns ...
Not that i am a linguistic wiz, but it was the first time that i read this usage. Wikipedia came to the rescue with the following
"Cadre (from the French; pronounced /ˈkɑːdreɪ/) are the backbone of an organization, usually a political organization ..... The term is also commonly used in other venues to indicate an "original" or "leadership" group, i.e. the "first set" of users of a system who then will act as the seed-group who gain initial experience with a system, in order to facilitate its later use by a more general population"
Amazing!, i added a new easy work to my English vocabulary
RealSoft shall p0rovide a capable technical cadre to be on call to correct any breakdowns ...
Not that i am a linguistic wiz, but it was the first time that i read this usage. Wikipedia came to the rescue with the following
"Cadre (from the French; pronounced /ˈkɑːdreɪ/) are the backbone of an organization, usually a political organization ..... The term is also commonly used in other venues to indicate an "original" or "leadership" group, i.e. the "first set" of users of a system who then will act as the seed-group who gain initial experience with a system, in order to facilitate its later use by a more general population"
Amazing!, i added a new easy work to my English vocabulary
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Just for the Fun of It
Test your personality
visit the site http://www.kisa.ca/personality/
my results
Introverted (I) 57% Extraverted (E) 43%
Intuitive (N) 68% Sensing (S) 32%
Thinking (T) 65% Feeling (F) 35%
Judging (J) 95% Perceiving (P) 5%
visit the site http://www.kisa.ca/personality/
my results
Introverted (I) 57% Extraverted (E) 43%
Intuitive (N) 68% Sensing (S) 32%
Thinking (T) 65% Feeling (F) 35%
Judging (J) 95% Perceiving (P) 5%
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
Arab Bank and an attempt to abandon the dark ages
This is not the first time, as a company we closed most of our accounts in the Arab bank due to the fact that Arab Bank thinks that we have nothing to do in this world but spend all of our time finishing up transaction with the bank. Unfortunately, i still have a personal account.
Last week I received a call from Arab Bank telling me that they renewed my Credit Card and that i should be receiving a new credit card with Aramex. Within a couple of day, i received it. I ended up with two cards, the old card that expires at End of March, 2008 and the new Card expires 2010. Today, i went to the Swiefieh Branch at 8:30 sharp in order to cancel the old one and activate the new one. The women was helpful enough to explain that I need to call customer service center in order to activate the Credit Card. She gave me the phone no. Still i could not understand why activating the card cannot be done in person. The reason why i showed up in person was because the Arab Bank built a culture in me that I could not do business with them over the phone; in other words, you have to do the walking and you cannot make your fingers do the walking. They always ask you to come in person, present IDs, and several other documents including, but not limited to, your Electricity Bill.
It was a joyful moment to me as i thought no more parking issue, or queue up, the Arab bank finally realized that channels are open! And finally we are out of the dark ages
I called the customer service no
A lady politely answered, and as you would expect, she talks like a recorder. Nothing surprising there, since during my career, I developed a customer service management system and i know that scripts are created to dictate how the customer service agent talks
I told her that i received a new credit card and i wanted to activate it. She immediately barraged me with huge amount of question
Your name
Your birthday
Your Credit Card no
Your account no
and the killer question: what is your current balance?
I answered politely that i could not remember the balance! She said that she cannot do anything, because she needs the balance ( I suspect, the balance is needed as a means of authenticating me)
As part of my profession, we develop web solutions; some of them involve making money transaction over the net. I understand what Secure Socket Layer (SSL) is , i know what public key encryption is! I fully understand what authentication, authorization and non repudiation is!. I read about most of the available means and mechanism of establishing one's identify, but this new Arab-bank innovative what-is-your-balance identity management technology is quite new to me. I want to ask the arabbank not to bother to patent its new invention; since I seriously doubt that security sensitive institutions would be particularly keen in using this new identity technology
Fine, maybe the Arabbank has pioneered technology that i am still short of understanding, but surely, i can still understand instruction.
When i first received a call to tell me that i would be receiving my new card, the lady did not give me instructions that when i call their customer service center, i need to memorize my current balance
When i received the Card, no written instruction exists in the envelop telling me that i needed to memorize my current balance when i call the customer care center
Finally, and most annoyingly, when i walked in Face to Face to the Swiefieh Branch, the lady, who gave me the customer care phone no also did not tell me that since i was already in the bank, I might as well inquire about my balance before calling them.
I asked the lady what to do, she told me that I need to login to the internet and inquire about my balance – That was no solution as I was not connected nor did I have the password ready. The other solution she offered is for me to go to an ATM machine and inquire about my account. Back to the Dark ages!!!!
Drive your car that is coasting 1 USD/Liter, find your way in the busy streets, find an ATM machine, find a parking and inquire about your account. Then call back,, we are 24 x 7 service.
The Arab bank seems to be still living in the 60's when the streets were empty and used to take you at most 10 minutes to go from one side of Amman to the other... When parking was never an issue, when you had only one account (if any). When you could spare the entire day to visit the bank! and most importantly, when no body was constantly claiming that the investment climate in Jordan is advancing, when plans on top level are been made to encourage foreign investment.
This requires no Einstein to foresee, nor a noble prize winner to realize that, No Foreign Investment shall be seen, because as things stand, Local investment shall seize.
If Arab bank wants to dictate its regulation, this is absolutely fine with me, on one condition, not to expect us to be fortune tellers, but at least make the instructions clear
Finally, Arab bank does not really have to bother with this. Further discussion with Arab bank shall be to no avail. Arab bank has made a record 1 Billion USD in profit and can surely sustain business without the disarray that I m causing. The best solution is to close the account and cancel the Credit Card, I am sure it is an easier process that activating the damn credit card
Ammar Sajdi
Last week I received a call from Arab Bank telling me that they renewed my Credit Card and that i should be receiving a new credit card with Aramex. Within a couple of day, i received it. I ended up with two cards, the old card that expires at End of March, 2008 and the new Card expires 2010. Today, i went to the Swiefieh Branch at 8:30 sharp in order to cancel the old one and activate the new one. The women was helpful enough to explain that I need to call customer service center in order to activate the Credit Card. She gave me the phone no. Still i could not understand why activating the card cannot be done in person. The reason why i showed up in person was because the Arab Bank built a culture in me that I could not do business with them over the phone; in other words, you have to do the walking and you cannot make your fingers do the walking. They always ask you to come in person, present IDs, and several other documents including, but not limited to, your Electricity Bill.
It was a joyful moment to me as i thought no more parking issue, or queue up, the Arab bank finally realized that channels are open! And finally we are out of the dark ages
I called the customer service no
A lady politely answered, and as you would expect, she talks like a recorder. Nothing surprising there, since during my career, I developed a customer service management system and i know that scripts are created to dictate how the customer service agent talks
I told her that i received a new credit card and i wanted to activate it. She immediately barraged me with huge amount of question
Your name
Your birthday
Your Credit Card no
Your account no
and the killer question: what is your current balance?
I answered politely that i could not remember the balance! She said that she cannot do anything, because she needs the balance ( I suspect, the balance is needed as a means of authenticating me)
As part of my profession, we develop web solutions; some of them involve making money transaction over the net. I understand what Secure Socket Layer (SSL) is , i know what public key encryption is! I fully understand what authentication, authorization and non repudiation is!. I read about most of the available means and mechanism of establishing one's identify, but this new Arab-bank innovative what-is-your-balance identity management technology is quite new to me. I want to ask the arabbank not to bother to patent its new invention; since I seriously doubt that security sensitive institutions would be particularly keen in using this new identity technology
Fine, maybe the Arabbank has pioneered technology that i am still short of understanding, but surely, i can still understand instruction.
When i first received a call to tell me that i would be receiving my new card, the lady did not give me instructions that when i call their customer service center, i need to memorize my current balance
When i received the Card, no written instruction exists in the envelop telling me that i needed to memorize my current balance when i call the customer care center
Finally, and most annoyingly, when i walked in Face to Face to the Swiefieh Branch, the lady, who gave me the customer care phone no also did not tell me that since i was already in the bank, I might as well inquire about my balance before calling them.
I asked the lady what to do, she told me that I need to login to the internet and inquire about my balance – That was no solution as I was not connected nor did I have the password ready. The other solution she offered is for me to go to an ATM machine and inquire about my account. Back to the Dark ages!!!!
Drive your car that is coasting 1 USD/Liter, find your way in the busy streets, find an ATM machine, find a parking and inquire about your account. Then call back,, we are 24 x 7 service.
The Arab bank seems to be still living in the 60's when the streets were empty and used to take you at most 10 minutes to go from one side of Amman to the other... When parking was never an issue, when you had only one account (if any). When you could spare the entire day to visit the bank! and most importantly, when no body was constantly claiming that the investment climate in Jordan is advancing, when plans on top level are been made to encourage foreign investment.
This requires no Einstein to foresee, nor a noble prize winner to realize that, No Foreign Investment shall be seen, because as things stand, Local investment shall seize.
If Arab bank wants to dictate its regulation, this is absolutely fine with me, on one condition, not to expect us to be fortune tellers, but at least make the instructions clear
Finally, Arab bank does not really have to bother with this. Further discussion with Arab bank shall be to no avail. Arab bank has made a record 1 Billion USD in profit and can surely sustain business without the disarray that I m causing. The best solution is to close the account and cancel the Credit Card, I am sure it is an easier process that activating the damn credit card
Ammar Sajdi
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Disconnected
this year, and in order to limit errands that i miss during traveling, i prepared a check list! when i pack, i just check it to make sure I put an end for the habbit of leaving things behind.
Well, It seems that i forgot to add my mobile on this list.
I came back from bahrain yesterday without my mobile. Where exactly it is, is something that remians to be found.
It feels good to be mobileless,, at least you get some privacy.. which makes me pose the following question
Were mobiles invented for the convenience of the mobile owner or for the convenience of others? In my case, i feel my mobile serves the others more than it serves me
Well, It seems that i forgot to add my mobile on this list.
I came back from bahrain yesterday without my mobile. Where exactly it is, is something that remians to be found.
It feels good to be mobileless,, at least you get some privacy.. which makes me pose the following question
Were mobiles invented for the convenience of the mobile owner or for the convenience of others? In my case, i feel my mobile serves the others more than it serves me
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Electronic mailing is Archiac indeed
The hosting service that i user for e-ammar also offer email hosting.
I have never used it nor given the email to anybody nor opened the inbox.
I came to know that fact that i have this email by pure accident when the hosting service sent me an alert saying that i am running out of disk space.
Well there is about 13000 emails , and not only that, but some of these were sent back in 1969
I have never used it nor given the email to anybody nor opened the inbox.
I came to know that fact that i have this email by pure accident when the hosting service sent me an alert saying that i am running out of disk space.
Well there is about 13000 emails , and not only that, but some of these were sent back in 1969
Friday, February 29, 2008
Barack Hussien Obama fatwa
Two interesting things
First:After gaining grounds in US elections, US media and Obama's competitors are over stressing Obama's middle name (Hussien). What does the middle name of black american person in the allegedly free America signify. I mean in the land of equal oppurtunities and the land of no discrimination (or is not). If obama's middle name was William, would this give less issues to worry about towards his chances of winning the US election in the Land of Human Rights. My advice to parents in the US comeing from non-William or non-Jeffersson ethnic background is to think twice before giving names to their kids. (in a nutshell avoid , Mohammad, Ali, etc, you never know, one day you might be deprived from attending school based on your name or middle name)
Obama was born in Hawaii, from a Kynian father (Foreign student father) and a snow white American woman from Kansan. His parents were divorced and his father, Hussien, returned to his home town and died in a car accident in 1982. His mother re-married to another foreign student, but this time from Indonessia. Barack therefore, spent a few years in Jakarta during his early childhood before returning back to the land of equal oppurtunities. Obamas mother died of Cancer in 1995.
Second: Time magazine uses the term fatwa as if this word is now adopted as an official english word. (http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1718255,00.html?xid=rss-topstories)
"The pundits were quick to applaud McCain's fatwa against the use of Hussein, and broadcasters began trying to report on the controversy without actually saying the name too much, dancing around the offending word as if they were doing a segment on The Vagina Monologues. In both cases, the word comes off as not quite illicit, but certainly a little taboo. "
I search the net and found an entry for fatwa in Webster (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fatwa)
fatwa
One entry found.
fatwa
Main Entry: fat·wa
Pronunciation: \ˈfət-wə, ˈfät-wä\
Function: noun
Etymology: Arabic fatwā
Date: circa 1889
: a legal opinion or decree handed down by an Islamic religious leader
First:After gaining grounds in US elections, US media and Obama's competitors are over stressing Obama's middle name (Hussien). What does the middle name of black american person in the allegedly free America signify. I mean in the land of equal oppurtunities and the land of no discrimination (or is not). If obama's middle name was William, would this give less issues to worry about towards his chances of winning the US election in the Land of Human Rights. My advice to parents in the US comeing from non-William or non-Jeffersson ethnic background is to think twice before giving names to their kids. (in a nutshell avoid , Mohammad, Ali, etc, you never know, one day you might be deprived from attending school based on your name or middle name)
Obama was born in Hawaii, from a Kynian father (Foreign student father) and a snow white American woman from Kansan. His parents were divorced and his father, Hussien, returned to his home town and died in a car accident in 1982. His mother re-married to another foreign student, but this time from Indonessia. Barack therefore, spent a few years in Jakarta during his early childhood before returning back to the land of equal oppurtunities. Obamas mother died of Cancer in 1995.
Second: Time magazine uses the term fatwa as if this word is now adopted as an official english word. (http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1718255,00.html?xid=rss-topstories)
"The pundits were quick to applaud McCain's fatwa against the use of Hussein, and broadcasters began trying to report on the controversy without actually saying the name too much, dancing around the offending word as if they were doing a segment on The Vagina Monologues. In both cases, the word comes off as not quite illicit, but certainly a little taboo. "
I search the net and found an entry for fatwa in Webster (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fatwa)
fatwa
One entry found.
fatwa
Main Entry: fat·wa
Pronunciation: \ˈfət-wə, ˈfät-wä\
Function: noun
Etymology: Arabic fatwā
Date: circa 1889
: a legal opinion or decree handed down by an Islamic religious leader
Thursday, February 28, 2008
A step closer to joining the EU - Turkey
Monday, February 18, 2008
My new toy
My new toy is a weather station called WMR100 A from Oregon Scientific.
What is a weather station? Simply it is a collection of sensors that can give precise reading about weather conditions. I installed the weather station at the roof of the building. It can give accurate reading for the following measures
Temperature
Atmospheric Pressure
Humidity
Wind Direction
Wind Speed
UV
Heat Index
Wind Chill
Precipitation
The reading are send to a digital base station where you can read the measurment. No cables are needed, because it is all wireless. You just kick back ,relax and get the reading from the comform of your sitting room. If you dont like the base station, well, you can hook the base station to your laptop via a USB connection, design you Dash Board and there you go
As you can see, above, you get instantenous live readings, for example, as i write, the outside temperature is Amman is 0.5 C, the wind chill is -4.5, the wind speed is 20 Km/hr gusting to 50 Km/hr. What the dash board does not tell is the fact that it is snowing right now (2:10 AM)
Ammar
Saturday, February 16, 2008
After shocks
A 5.2 earthquake hit southern Lebanon yesterday at 12:36 and was felt in Amman.
Several shocks were registered in the past few months.
If fact, i read a couple of times, reports by Israeli spokesmen that they are expecting a major earth quack to hit the region similar to the one that affected Palestine and Jordan back in 1927.
I have also read reports by Jordanian officials denying these statement based on the assumption that science has not yet reached a way to predict earth quacks. Having said that, this morning newspapers warned that citizens of Jordan are to expect a series of earth quakes this coming month. Does this mean that now we can predict earth quacks, and then, what about what the Israelis are predicting!
While still taking about prediction, it is worth while mentioning that snow is expected in Amman starting Monday afternoon. It seems to me that we will have a white Tuesday
Ammar
Several shocks were registered in the past few months.
If fact, i read a couple of times, reports by Israeli spokesmen that they are expecting a major earth quack to hit the region similar to the one that affected Palestine and Jordan back in 1927.
I have also read reports by Jordanian officials denying these statement based on the assumption that science has not yet reached a way to predict earth quacks. Having said that, this morning newspapers warned that citizens of Jordan are to expect a series of earth quakes this coming month. Does this mean that now we can predict earth quacks, and then, what about what the Israelis are predicting!
While still taking about prediction, it is worth while mentioning that snow is expected in Amman starting Monday afternoon. It seems to me that we will have a white Tuesday
Ammar
The Witch of Portobello
I started reading this Novel on my way back from Muscat 2 weeks back.
It was an interesting novel and presented subtle ideas through the mysterious personality of Athena (A Romanian Gypsy adopted by a Lebanese family) Athena was given the name Sherine Khalil by her family.
The rather unusual personality and attitude of Athena (Sherine) coupled with profound philosophy by the author makes the novel attractive (at the beginning). Later on, things do not sustain the excitement level, as i felt that the events become mundane with some redundancy to an extent that i am no longer attracted to the novel, but yet determined to finish it.
Some excerpts from the novel
"Everyone is looking for the perfect teacher, but although their teachings might be divine, teachers are all too human, and that's something people find hard to accept. Don't confuse the teacher with the lesson, the ritual with the ecstasy, the transmitter of the symbol with the symbol itself. Tradition is linked to our encounter with the forces of life and not with the people who bring this about. But we are weak: we ask the Mother to send us guides, and all she sends are signs to the road we need to follow.
Pity those who seek for shepherds, instead of longing for freedom! An encounter with the superior energy is open to anyone but remains far from those who shift responsibility onto others. Our time on this earth is sacred, and we should celebrate every moment"
It is paragraphs like these that really made me enjoy the novel. However, the style started strong at the beginning, but starting fading away as you flip on pages
Another nicely depicted dramatic situation is clear in page 41, when Sherine Ex-husbands asked her shy she reacted so calmly when he told her that he wanted a divorce, she said
“Because all my life, I ‘ve learned to suffer in silence”. This might not what really what people do in reality, but this philosophy is shared with other writers, for example, The Syrian poet Nizar Qabani expressed something within the same lines explaining to his beloved that his silence does not necessarily convey a message of carelessness. The poem is called إلى تلميذة قُلْ لي- و لو كَذباً- كلاماً ناعماً قد كاد َ يقتلني بكَ التمثالُ...
الى ان يقول
إن الحروفَ تموت حينَ تقالُ
ومن ثم
لا تجرحي التمثالَ في إحساسه فلكم بكى في صمته... تمثالُ
Below is the entire poem
الى تلميذه........ رائعة..لشاعر نزار قباني
قُل لي –ولو كذباً – كلما ناعماً قد كادَ يقتلني بكَ التمثالُ
مازلتِ في فن المحبّة .. طفلةً بيني وبينكِ أبحرٌ وجبالُ
لم تستطيعي – بعدُ – أن تتفهمي أن الرجال جميعهم .. أطفالُ
إني لأرفض أن اكون مهرجاً قزماً .. على كلماتة يحتالُ
فإذا وقفت أمام حسنك صامتاً فالصمتُ في حرم الجمال.. جمال
كلماتنا في الحب .. تقتل حبنا إن الحروف تموت حين تقالُ
قصص الهوى قد أفسدتك فكلها غيبوبةٌ .. وخرافةٌ .. وخيالُ
الحب ليس روايةً شرقيةً بختامها يتزوج الأبطالُ
لكنةُ الإبحارُ دون سفينة وشعورنا أن الوصول محالُ
هو أن تظل على الأصابع رعشةٌ وعلى الشفاة المطبقات سؤالُ
هو جدولُ الأحزان في أعماقنا تنمو كروم حولة وغلالُ
هو هذه الأزمات تسحقنا معاً فنموت نحنُ .. وتزهر الآمالُ
أن نثور لأيّ شيءٍ تافةٍ هو يأسُنا .. هو شكنا القتالُ
هو هذه الكف التي تغتالنا ونقبل الكفَّ التي تغتال
لاتجرحي التمثالَ في إحساسة فلكم بكى في صمته .. تمثال
قد يطلع الحجر الصغير براعماً وتسيل منه جدالٌ وظلالُ
إني أُحبكِ.. من خلال كابتي حسبي وحسبك
.. أن تظلّي دائماً سرّاً يمزقني .. وليس يقالُ..
Anyway, i still have another 100 pages to go#
It was an interesting novel and presented subtle ideas through the mysterious personality of Athena (A Romanian Gypsy adopted by a Lebanese family) Athena was given the name Sherine Khalil by her family.
The rather unusual personality and attitude of Athena (Sherine) coupled with profound philosophy by the author makes the novel attractive (at the beginning). Later on, things do not sustain the excitement level, as i felt that the events become mundane with some redundancy to an extent that i am no longer attracted to the novel, but yet determined to finish it.
Some excerpts from the novel
"Everyone is looking for the perfect teacher, but although their teachings might be divine, teachers are all too human, and that's something people find hard to accept. Don't confuse the teacher with the lesson, the ritual with the ecstasy, the transmitter of the symbol with the symbol itself. Tradition is linked to our encounter with the forces of life and not with the people who bring this about. But we are weak: we ask the Mother to send us guides, and all she sends are signs to the road we need to follow.
Pity those who seek for shepherds, instead of longing for freedom! An encounter with the superior energy is open to anyone but remains far from those who shift responsibility onto others. Our time on this earth is sacred, and we should celebrate every moment"
It is paragraphs like these that really made me enjoy the novel. However, the style started strong at the beginning, but starting fading away as you flip on pages
Another nicely depicted dramatic situation is clear in page 41, when Sherine Ex-husbands asked her shy she reacted so calmly when he told her that he wanted a divorce, she said
“Because all my life, I ‘ve learned to suffer in silence”. This might not what really what people do in reality, but this philosophy is shared with other writers, for example, The Syrian poet Nizar Qabani expressed something within the same lines explaining to his beloved that his silence does not necessarily convey a message of carelessness. The poem is called إلى تلميذة قُلْ لي- و لو كَذباً- كلاماً ناعماً قد كاد َ يقتلني بكَ التمثالُ...
الى ان يقول
إن الحروفَ تموت حينَ تقالُ
ومن ثم
لا تجرحي التمثالَ في إحساسه فلكم بكى في صمته... تمثالُ
Below is the entire poem
الى تلميذه........ رائعة..لشاعر نزار قباني
قُل لي –ولو كذباً – كلما ناعماً قد كادَ يقتلني بكَ التمثالُ
مازلتِ في فن المحبّة .. طفلةً بيني وبينكِ أبحرٌ وجبالُ
لم تستطيعي – بعدُ – أن تتفهمي أن الرجال جميعهم .. أطفالُ
إني لأرفض أن اكون مهرجاً قزماً .. على كلماتة يحتالُ
فإذا وقفت أمام حسنك صامتاً فالصمتُ في حرم الجمال.. جمال
كلماتنا في الحب .. تقتل حبنا إن الحروف تموت حين تقالُ
قصص الهوى قد أفسدتك فكلها غيبوبةٌ .. وخرافةٌ .. وخيالُ
الحب ليس روايةً شرقيةً بختامها يتزوج الأبطالُ
لكنةُ الإبحارُ دون سفينة وشعورنا أن الوصول محالُ
هو أن تظل على الأصابع رعشةٌ وعلى الشفاة المطبقات سؤالُ
هو جدولُ الأحزان في أعماقنا تنمو كروم حولة وغلالُ
هو هذه الأزمات تسحقنا معاً فنموت نحنُ .. وتزهر الآمالُ
أن نثور لأيّ شيءٍ تافةٍ هو يأسُنا .. هو شكنا القتالُ
هو هذه الكف التي تغتالنا ونقبل الكفَّ التي تغتال
لاتجرحي التمثالَ في إحساسة فلكم بكى في صمته .. تمثال
قد يطلع الحجر الصغير براعماً وتسيل منه جدالٌ وظلالُ
إني أُحبكِ.. من خلال كابتي حسبي وحسبك
.. أن تظلّي دائماً سرّاً يمزقني .. وليس يقالُ..
Anyway, i still have another 100 pages to go#
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
watch out -- bad weather conditions next week
next week shall witness cold, real cold weather condition (just to say the least). Even though it is too early to confirm, but it seems like snow shall previal as well.
Saudi Arabia bans all things red ahead of Valentine's Day
(CNN) -- Saudi Arabia has asked florists and gift shops to remove all red items until after Valentine's Day, calling the celebration of such a holiday a sin, local media reported Monday.
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Hijab (Vail) in Turkey, what is the fuss all about
whilst the American are busy with their 2008 presidential elections, the Lebanese are still working out a way to fill the Lebanese state president post, the Palestinians and the Iraqis are mourning their fatalities, the Turks are spending an awful lot of time disputing whether or not Hijab is allowed at their universities. There is always something that i do not get about Turkey. It is a predominantly Muslim country (>98%) with around 60% of its population wearing the Vail. Cannot we just assume that it all boils down to personal freedom of choice,? or at least personal preference? There ought to be some more important for the turks to worry about!
Thursday, January 31, 2008
The Aftermath
Of course, the Aftermath of the snow storm. However, you may like to know the origins of the word "Aftermath"; originally meant "the grass that grows after the first crop of hay has been taken", from an old word "math", meaning to mow
Commonly, on the other hand, it is used to descirbe what happens after
-Queen Alia Amman international Airport was closed all night and was reopened this morning at 9:30 (so my wife can arrive from Dubai today)
-Wide spread freezing after the temperature dropped to below zero during the night
-36 hours of now caused at least 40cm of accumulation in areas like west Shemisani (around 940 M above sea level)
- temperature now At 11 am IS 2.1 degrees.
- bitter cold tonight (-4) with more freezing and hazardous driving conditions
- All businesses , government etc are closed for the second day in a row
- The low pressure system has moved to to the east and we are under the remaining front. Skies will become partly cloudy, some snow flurries every now and then.
-Temperature on the rise tomorrow and Saturday to reach again seasonal average
-Humidity is still high (90%)
-Atmospheric presure is on the rise,, actually has risen by 10 mb since last night confirming the end of the storm
-This storm was marked by high winds all through due to the low value of the atmospheric pressure the prevailed during the storm
-Main roads are open, but one should exercise extreme caution, inner roads are almost close and I do not recommend driving at inner roads without 4x4, as you are bound to get stuck and hamper the efforts of others who have emergencies.
The following are pictures that i took this morning from the window of my home
Note the frozen water drops on the left bottom side of the picture indicating the sub zero temperatures
Commonly, on the other hand, it is used to descirbe what happens after
-Queen Alia Amman international Airport was closed all night and was reopened this morning at 9:30 (so my wife can arrive from Dubai today)
-Wide spread freezing after the temperature dropped to below zero during the night
-36 hours of now caused at least 40cm of accumulation in areas like west Shemisani (around 940 M above sea level)
- temperature now At 11 am IS 2.1 degrees.
- bitter cold tonight (-4) with more freezing and hazardous driving conditions
- All businesses , government etc are closed for the second day in a row
- The low pressure system has moved to to the east and we are under the remaining front. Skies will become partly cloudy, some snow flurries every now and then.
-Temperature on the rise tomorrow and Saturday to reach again seasonal average
-Humidity is still high (90%)
-Atmospheric presure is on the rise,, actually has risen by 10 mb since last night confirming the end of the storm
-This storm was marked by high winds all through due to the low value of the atmospheric pressure the prevailed during the storm
-Main roads are open, but one should exercise extreme caution, inner roads are almost close and I do not recommend driving at inner roads without 4x4, as you are bound to get stuck and hamper the efforts of others who have emergencies.
- Have not heard of major accidents, power loss, except on the personal level, i am running out of food supplies! But i will resolve the issue this afternoon
- The fun part is over, the ugly part of melting snow, slippery conditions, cold evening and depressing scenery of dirty snow remians.The following are pictures that i took this morning from the window of my home
Note the frozen water drops on the left bottom side of the picture indicating the sub zero temperatures
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Snow and More snow
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Big weather system -- watch out
(picture on the left is taken last Tuesday)It seems like a big weather system is coming to the Eastern Med. Deep low pressure system accompanied with really high winds (in excess of 90Km/hour).
The effect of this system shall start tomorrow evening and intensify on Tue, where snow is expected in all Areas. I will not miss it inshalla, as i m leaving oman tomorrow morning to Amman skipping a 48 scheduled stop over in Dubai.
Last time i was in Oman was early this year, the only noticeble change is more Traffic , as every where else in this world.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Is it logical to turn on A/C in Jan
Yes, if you are in muscat.
I left Amman, and it was bitter cold, i arrived at Muscat at around 3 AM, and the outside temperature in the Airport was 20 C. I arrived at the hotel, it was kind of discomfortably warm. Tried to sleep, but to no avail , until the AC unit was turned on.
I left Amman, and it was bitter cold, i arrived at Muscat at around 3 AM, and the outside temperature in the Airport was 20 C. I arrived at the hotel, it was kind of discomfortably warm. Tried to sleep, but to no avail , until the AC unit was turned on.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
above freezing snow! is it a myth or reality
It is a reality, and it happened Yesterday!! Yesterday morning, It was snowing like crazy, when my thermometer was well above freezing (around 4 degrees C).
This seems against everything we learned in science classes when we were taught that snow melts when the temperature rises above Zero C (or 32 F). How then did we witness snow?
The naive answer is that snow start melting indeed but it did not have enough time to completely melt before it reached the ground. That is partially true, but this is not what happened yesterday!! Yesterday the upper atmosphere was cold and wet, so snow formed. The lower layers were dry with temperature above freezing. The catch here is DRY, while snow is following, it started melting. Now water of course, has a good tendency to evaporate, The evaporation is falling snow took place at higher rates than normal due to the dryness of the lower levels of the atmosphere. To transfer melting snow from liquid state to vapor state, energy is required. This energy is taken from snow crystals themselves, so the energy within the snow flake becomes less, and henceforth, its temperature goes down. What are we having here:-
The atmosphere is warm enough to cause snow to melt; the atmosphere is dry enough to cause evaporation of melting snow; energy is required for evaporation,. This energy is taken from snow crystals causing them to cool down. If the evaporation rate is just right, the temperature of the snow crystal drops back to zero and the crystal maintains its freezing state. The crystal is at Zero temperature, and the atmosphere is above zero, therefore, snow keeps falling because it is still at zero temperature regardless of the fact that its surrounding is really above zero.
Summary, when the atmosphere is above freezing and the wind is dry, snow flake can keep falling. There is a formula that tells you for at what temperature snow can still fall at what humidity level. In fact, and based on such formula, snow can still fall at temperature of as high as 8 degrees when the humidity is 20% . Interesting, isn't
This seems against everything we learned in science classes when we were taught that snow melts when the temperature rises above Zero C (or 32 F). How then did we witness snow?
The naive answer is that snow start melting indeed but it did not have enough time to completely melt before it reached the ground. That is partially true, but this is not what happened yesterday!! Yesterday the upper atmosphere was cold and wet, so snow formed. The lower layers were dry with temperature above freezing. The catch here is DRY, while snow is following, it started melting. Now water of course, has a good tendency to evaporate, The evaporation is falling snow took place at higher rates than normal due to the dryness of the lower levels of the atmosphere. To transfer melting snow from liquid state to vapor state, energy is required. This energy is taken from snow crystals themselves, so the energy within the snow flake becomes less, and henceforth, its temperature goes down. What are we having here:-
The atmosphere is warm enough to cause snow to melt; the atmosphere is dry enough to cause evaporation of melting snow; energy is required for evaporation,. This energy is taken from snow crystals causing them to cool down. If the evaporation rate is just right, the temperature of the snow crystal drops back to zero and the crystal maintains its freezing state. The crystal is at Zero temperature, and the atmosphere is above zero, therefore, snow keeps falling because it is still at zero temperature regardless of the fact that its surrounding is really above zero.
Summary, when the atmosphere is above freezing and the wind is dry, snow flake can keep falling. There is a formula that tells you for at what temperature snow can still fall at what humidity level. In fact, and based on such formula, snow can still fall at temperature of as high as 8 degrees when the humidity is 20% . Interesting, isn't
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Fairy Tale wedding ends before it started
"We decided to remain friends", fairly common statement and it was the statement that Eddie Murphy and Tracey Edmonds made two weeks after they got wed at Bora Bora Island in French Polynesia on Jan. 1, 2008. If this incident took place in conservative countries like the middle east, i could imagine what reasons are entailed, but knowing Eddie, no, i do not believe that this is what he was expecting from a 40 year movie star. Otherwise, he would have chosen the virgin islands for the ceremony and not Bora Bora!
Friday, January 18, 2008
9/11, the truth
A truely informative web site http://www.ae911truth.org/ Architects and Engineer give scientific evidents that the 3 buildings that collapsed in 9/11 could not be due the Airplane crash. Rather these engineers believe that it was rather controlled demolition!!!!!!!!
ammar sajdi
ammar sajdi
Thursday, January 17, 2008
So you think you can shoot
a couple of month ago, i went with friends to Sahab, a small town in the eastern outskirts of Amman to demonstrate our shooting capabilities.We were accompanied by first class instructor, a friend of our called mahmoud maharmeh.
We drove around 20 Km into the desert to reach Al-Mahrameh 1000 Dunum ranch.
We used a 9 mm Gun
There are three steps:
Hold the Gun
Aim
Shoot
If you ignore the instructions as to how to hold the gun, this is what may happen
me injured, and it took around 6 weeks and it has not completely cured.
The first lesson: Adhere to the instructions completely
This happened to me and my friend Maen, but Amjad escaped the injurey
Amjad Shooting
Maen Shooting
Aiming instructions is what you expect them to be, however, shooting experience is a bit difficult because of the bang sound and the reflex that one experiences. What makes you loose you concentration during aiming, is that while you are triggering and expecting the bullet to go out, your are in a wait state and you body and mind starts to react to the bullet explosion and its noise before it actually happens. If you can control this refelx, you shall score well.
Friday, January 11, 2008
Cold
I have been dorment for a while, something i seem to enjoy these days. for some reasons, nothing outside the domain of my direct (and inactive) life seems to matter. my wife is in Australia and coming back tomorrow. I spend the past 3 week all alone. That was cold! Moreover today was one of the coldest days this winter in Amman; the temperature reached a max of only 3 Degrees during the day, and it is below zero now at 10 PM. It will remain cold at least till next wednesday; unfortunately, it will also be very dry as well. These conditions are due to a high pressure system centered in Syberia and causing cold north weasterly winds to blow on middle eastern countries. No effective weather system is expected till Jan 20th where a low pressure system is expected to approach us. Still , however, it is too early to decide.
Monday, December 24, 2007
down under
tomorrow i am supposed to be traveling to Perth Australia with Jumana on a two week trip to visit friends living over there. A vacation, in other words. Due to thoughts beyond my control, Juaman will end up going to visit and I guess i will be staying right here in Amman
coming up in a trip to Angola, a country with extremely poor population, and yet one of the most expensive African countries where Malaria and Yellow fever can be found in abundance. Not only that, but if you are driving in the Capital, keep all cars locked and do not stop to anybody. Avoid being alone, avoid traveling, avoid leaving the hotel and you will be safe.
coming up in a trip to Angola, a country with extremely poor population, and yet one of the most expensive African countries where Malaria and Yellow fever can be found in abundance. Not only that, but if you are driving in the Capital, keep all cars locked and do not stop to anybody. Avoid being alone, avoid traveling, avoid leaving the hotel and you will be safe.
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Sunday, December 02, 2007
رأيت نابلس
An article my mother worte after visiting Nablus last month (NOV 2007)
بعد عدة سنين وفجأة قررت والعائلة زيارة بلدنا المحتلة نابلس، لمشاركة أهلنا هناك بمناسبة فرح يعنينا أمره. تلك المدينة التي ولد فيها والدي وأولادي إلا إياي ....، كنا ننتظر على أحر من الجمر، رغم الحذر والمخاوف .. أن نصل مدينتنا الرابضة الراسخة بين جبلين، راسخة بما تحوي بين جبليها من ثراء عتيق وخضرة نامية وانسان ذي جذور تمتد وتمتد....
طريقنا إلى نابلس لم تكن صعبة، ولكنها طريق غريبة .. بعيدة بعض الشيء، مقفرة في بعض أجزائها وجديدة كالشرق الأوسط الجديد، تاركة العارضة والبادان اللتين هما الأجمل والأخضر والأكثر ثراء.
وعندما أشرفنا على الوصول، ظهرت أمامنا .. وكأنها تسد سماءنا وهواءنا فلا نكاد نتنفس، مستوطنة ضخمة جاثمة على أعلى الجبل، مرعبة منذرة تطل بعنف وسيطرة على المنطقة، تحول دون خفقان قلب الحنين والحب إلى حزن وانكماش وخوف.
دخلت البلد وأنا خائفة أن أرى ما رأيت في الطريق .. وكان توقعي في محله.. المدينة أكبر وأكثر عمراناً .. إلا أن نابلس الصغيرة الخضراء العتيقة التي يضمها الجبلين .. ويجعل أهلها أكثر التصاقاً وتلاحماً .. تغيرت .. نعم أنا مقتنعة أن التغيير أمر عادي وطبيعي ولازم للحداثة.
وصلنا الفندق وبلدنا لم يكن فيها فنادق إلا حديثاً .. فكل البيوت هي بيوتنا، فنحن نحل إذا أردنا حيث شئنا .. فنحن ضيوف البلدة كلها .. هذا ما نشعر به .. ألم أحدثكم عن طبيعة العلاقات الإنسانية الحميمة قبل قليل ...
الفندق صغير ومتواضع ولكنه مفعم بالمحبة والقبول ... خرجت إلى الشوارع أجوبها يمنة ويسرة .. والذكريات تتدفق كالفيلم السينمائي، هناك حنين وشوق وفرح باللقاء .. وكان الناس جميعاً تطل من النوافذ تقول "أهلين"، هذا الجو أغفلني بعض الشيء عن اتساخ البلد المؤسف وعمرانها الممتد عشوائياً لا يروق للناظر.
في الليلة الأولى استمتعنا بحفل فرح مرح ضم الأحباب والأصدقاء .. خاصة الشباب منهم الذي تركتهم أطفالاً ويافعين مجتمعين في الحاكورة .. والآن هم يشقون طريقهم بقوة وعزم في أرضهم الطيبة التي حددت وسرقت وضاقت عليهم إلا أنها عزيزة .
الليلة الأولى حفل ممتع ثلاث ساعات ضم الأهل والأحباب .
والليلة الثانية معركة ضارية استمرت من الساعة الثانية ليلاً إلى التاسعة مساءاً في اليوم الثاني، استشهد فيها شاب مقاوم، وأما الكهل والطفلة رانية البالغة من العمر ثلاث سنوات فقتلا خطأ كالعادة !! مع الاعتذار بعد القتل طبعاً !!، وجرح خمسة وعشرون شخصاً مختلفي الاصابات، كما أعتقل كثيرون .. وانتهت المعركة بنسف منزل آل الهواش واعتقال ابنيهم ... آل الهواش المعروفون بشرف المقاومة ضد الاحتلال.
لم تكد زغاريد الفرح تملأ الأجواء وتصل إلى أعلى السماء، حتى خنقتها زغاريد الحزن العميق تتخللها نواح وولوله .. على فقدان الأحبة، هذا الفقدان الوحشي والقصري المتحدي والخارق للشريعة الإلهية والإنسانية.
بعدها يختفون وتختفي كل الآثار وكأن هناك حجاب يحجب كل الأخبار عن العالم الخارجي، صمت رهيب يلف الأحداث .. وكان المخلقات من انسان وبنيان تختفي عن وجه الخليقة هكذا دون أن يلمسها أحد..يا إلهي ما هذا الأسلوب الشيطاني القمعي الدقيق التخطيط, في وجه أسلوب عفوي فوضوي مختلف التبعات والعدوات، يضل الطريق يجهل كل شيء عن المستقبل .. كل شيء إلى أين .. ومتى . وإيان
بعد عدة سنين وفجأة قررت والعائلة زيارة بلدنا المحتلة نابلس، لمشاركة أهلنا هناك بمناسبة فرح يعنينا أمره. تلك المدينة التي ولد فيها والدي وأولادي إلا إياي ....، كنا ننتظر على أحر من الجمر، رغم الحذر والمخاوف .. أن نصل مدينتنا الرابضة الراسخة بين جبلين، راسخة بما تحوي بين جبليها من ثراء عتيق وخضرة نامية وانسان ذي جذور تمتد وتمتد....
طريقنا إلى نابلس لم تكن صعبة، ولكنها طريق غريبة .. بعيدة بعض الشيء، مقفرة في بعض أجزائها وجديدة كالشرق الأوسط الجديد، تاركة العارضة والبادان اللتين هما الأجمل والأخضر والأكثر ثراء.
وعندما أشرفنا على الوصول، ظهرت أمامنا .. وكأنها تسد سماءنا وهواءنا فلا نكاد نتنفس، مستوطنة ضخمة جاثمة على أعلى الجبل، مرعبة منذرة تطل بعنف وسيطرة على المنطقة، تحول دون خفقان قلب الحنين والحب إلى حزن وانكماش وخوف.
دخلت البلد وأنا خائفة أن أرى ما رأيت في الطريق .. وكان توقعي في محله.. المدينة أكبر وأكثر عمراناً .. إلا أن نابلس الصغيرة الخضراء العتيقة التي يضمها الجبلين .. ويجعل أهلها أكثر التصاقاً وتلاحماً .. تغيرت .. نعم أنا مقتنعة أن التغيير أمر عادي وطبيعي ولازم للحداثة.
وصلنا الفندق وبلدنا لم يكن فيها فنادق إلا حديثاً .. فكل البيوت هي بيوتنا، فنحن نحل إذا أردنا حيث شئنا .. فنحن ضيوف البلدة كلها .. هذا ما نشعر به .. ألم أحدثكم عن طبيعة العلاقات الإنسانية الحميمة قبل قليل ...
الفندق صغير ومتواضع ولكنه مفعم بالمحبة والقبول ... خرجت إلى الشوارع أجوبها يمنة ويسرة .. والذكريات تتدفق كالفيلم السينمائي، هناك حنين وشوق وفرح باللقاء .. وكان الناس جميعاً تطل من النوافذ تقول "أهلين"، هذا الجو أغفلني بعض الشيء عن اتساخ البلد المؤسف وعمرانها الممتد عشوائياً لا يروق للناظر.
في الليلة الأولى استمتعنا بحفل فرح مرح ضم الأحباب والأصدقاء .. خاصة الشباب منهم الذي تركتهم أطفالاً ويافعين مجتمعين في الحاكورة .. والآن هم يشقون طريقهم بقوة وعزم في أرضهم الطيبة التي حددت وسرقت وضاقت عليهم إلا أنها عزيزة .
الليلة الأولى حفل ممتع ثلاث ساعات ضم الأهل والأحباب .
والليلة الثانية معركة ضارية استمرت من الساعة الثانية ليلاً إلى التاسعة مساءاً في اليوم الثاني، استشهد فيها شاب مقاوم، وأما الكهل والطفلة رانية البالغة من العمر ثلاث سنوات فقتلا خطأ كالعادة !! مع الاعتذار بعد القتل طبعاً !!، وجرح خمسة وعشرون شخصاً مختلفي الاصابات، كما أعتقل كثيرون .. وانتهت المعركة بنسف منزل آل الهواش واعتقال ابنيهم ... آل الهواش المعروفون بشرف المقاومة ضد الاحتلال.
لم تكد زغاريد الفرح تملأ الأجواء وتصل إلى أعلى السماء، حتى خنقتها زغاريد الحزن العميق تتخللها نواح وولوله .. على فقدان الأحبة، هذا الفقدان الوحشي والقصري المتحدي والخارق للشريعة الإلهية والإنسانية.
بعدها يختفون وتختفي كل الآثار وكأن هناك حجاب يحجب كل الأخبار عن العالم الخارجي، صمت رهيب يلف الأحداث .. وكان المخلقات من انسان وبنيان تختفي عن وجه الخليقة هكذا دون أن يلمسها أحد..يا إلهي ما هذا الأسلوب الشيطاني القمعي الدقيق التخطيط, في وجه أسلوب عفوي فوضوي مختلف التبعات والعدوات، يضل الطريق يجهل كل شيء عن المستقبل .. كل شيء إلى أين .. ومتى . وإيان
امل جردانة سجدي
Ammar Sajdi
www.realsoft-me.com
www.e-ammar.net
Friday, November 30, 2007
The world's TOP 100 Engineering and computer universities
I was not surprised not to find any Arab or Islamic university among the leading universities in the world. Also not surprised to find two Israeli universities, which tells you what?
And that the top 15 Universities are all American with Cambridge (UK) coming 16th??
Tohoku (Japan) at 17th???
Are the high rise building and mega malls in Dubai getting us anywhere?
Or the tones of IT graduate from our 22 jordanian unversities contribute anything to the world?
Or the massively luxurious car, unprecedented in other parts of the world taking us anywhere?
How about the near $100 Per barrel OIL prices that our neigbouring countries are charging now a days?
Isn't the quran that started with the word 'IQRA2' ? (read- a clear indicator for the important of education)
Let me NOT imagine what prophet mohammad would react to all of that
(source: http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/ARWU-FIELD2007/ENG.htm)
1 Massachusetts Inst Tech (MIT)
2 Stanford Univ
3 Univ Illinois - Urbana Champaign
3 Univ Michigan - Ann Arbor
5 Univ California - Berkeley
6 Pennsylvania State Univ - Univ Park
7 Georgia Inst Tech
8 Univ Texas - Austin
9 Univ California - San Diego
10 Purdue Univ - West Lafayette
11Univ California - Santa Barbara
12Univ Southern California
13Univ Maryland - Coll Park
14Carnegie Mellon Univ
15Cornell Univ
16Univ Cambridge
17Tohoku Univ
18California Inst Tech
19Univ Toronto
20Northwestern Univ
21Univ Wisconsin - Madison
22North Carolina State Univ - Raleigh
22Univ Washington - Seattle
24Princeton Univ
25Kyoto Univ
26Ohio State Univ - Columbus
27Imperial Coll London
28Swiss Fed Inst Tech - Lausanne
28Tokyo Inst Tech
30Univ Florida
31Texas A&M Univ - Coll Station
32Natl Univ Singapore
33Univ California - Los Angeles
34Univ Minnesota - Twin Cities
35Harvard Univ
36Univ Pennsylvania
37Hong Kong Univ Sci & Tech
38Technion Israel Inst Tech
39Osaka Univ
40Univ Massachusetts - Amherst
41Univ Oxford
42Univ Colorado - Boulder
43Univ California - Davis
44Univ Manchester
45McGill Univ
46Univ Waterloo
47Virginia Tech
48Univ California - Irvine
49Natl Chiao Tung Univ
50Duke Univ
RANK from 50-75
Arizona State Univ - Tempe
Case Western Reserve Univ
Chalmers Univ Tech
City Univ Hong Kong
Kyushu Univ
Michigan State Univ
Nanyang Tech Univ
Polytechnic Inst Turin
Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst
Rice Univ
Seoul Natl Univ
Swiss Fed Inst Tech - Zurich
Tech Univ Denmark
Tokyo Univ
Tsing Hua Univ
Univ Bordeaux 1
Univ Bristol
Univ British Columbia
Univ Delaware
Univ Leuven
Univ Melbourne
Univ New South Wales
Univ Sheffield
Univ Sydney
Univ Twente
Univ Virginia
Rank 76 - 100
Boston Univ
Chinese Univ Hong Kong
Delft Univ Tech
Hokkaido Univ
Indian Inst Sci
Iowa State Univ
Johns Hopkins Univ
Korea Advanced Inst Sci & Tech
Lund Univ
Natl Taiwan Univ
Natl Tsing Hua Univ
Pohang Univ Sci & Tech
Shanghai Jiao Tong Univ
Tech Univ Munich
Tel Aviv Univ
Univ Alberta
Univ California - Riverside
Univ Central Florida
Univ Leeds
Univ Louvain
Univ Montreal
Univ Naples Federico II
Univ Newcastle
Univ Paris 06
Univ Southampton
Univ Utah
Univ Utrecht
Uppsala Univ
Washington Univ - St. Louis
Zhejiang Univ
And that the top 15 Universities are all American with Cambridge (UK) coming 16th??
Tohoku (Japan) at 17th???
Are the high rise building and mega malls in Dubai getting us anywhere?
Or the tones of IT graduate from our 22 jordanian unversities contribute anything to the world?
Or the massively luxurious car, unprecedented in other parts of the world taking us anywhere?
How about the near $100 Per barrel OIL prices that our neigbouring countries are charging now a days?
Isn't the quran that started with the word 'IQRA2' ? (read- a clear indicator for the important of education)
Let me NOT imagine what prophet mohammad would react to all of that
(source: http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/ARWU-FIELD2007/ENG.htm)
1 Massachusetts Inst Tech (MIT)
2 Stanford Univ
3 Univ Illinois - Urbana Champaign
3 Univ Michigan - Ann Arbor
5 Univ California - Berkeley
6 Pennsylvania State Univ - Univ Park
7 Georgia Inst Tech
8 Univ Texas - Austin
9 Univ California - San Diego
10 Purdue Univ - West Lafayette
11Univ California - Santa Barbara
12Univ Southern California
13Univ Maryland - Coll Park
14Carnegie Mellon Univ
15Cornell Univ
16Univ Cambridge
17Tohoku Univ
18California Inst Tech
19Univ Toronto
20Northwestern Univ
21Univ Wisconsin - Madison
22North Carolina State Univ - Raleigh
22Univ Washington - Seattle
24Princeton Univ
25Kyoto Univ
26Ohio State Univ - Columbus
27Imperial Coll London
28Swiss Fed Inst Tech - Lausanne
28Tokyo Inst Tech
30Univ Florida
31Texas A&M Univ - Coll Station
32Natl Univ Singapore
33Univ California - Los Angeles
34Univ Minnesota - Twin Cities
35Harvard Univ
36Univ Pennsylvania
37Hong Kong Univ Sci & Tech
38Technion Israel Inst Tech
39Osaka Univ
40Univ Massachusetts - Amherst
41Univ Oxford
42Univ Colorado - Boulder
43Univ California - Davis
44Univ Manchester
45McGill Univ
46Univ Waterloo
47Virginia Tech
48Univ California - Irvine
49Natl Chiao Tung Univ
50Duke Univ
RANK from 50-75
Arizona State Univ - Tempe
Case Western Reserve Univ
Chalmers Univ Tech
City Univ Hong Kong
Kyushu Univ
Michigan State Univ
Nanyang Tech Univ
Polytechnic Inst Turin
Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst
Rice Univ
Seoul Natl Univ
Swiss Fed Inst Tech - Zurich
Tech Univ Denmark
Tokyo Univ
Tsing Hua Univ
Univ Bordeaux 1
Univ Bristol
Univ British Columbia
Univ Delaware
Univ Leuven
Univ Melbourne
Univ New South Wales
Univ Sheffield
Univ Sydney
Univ Twente
Univ Virginia
Rank 76 - 100
Boston Univ
Chinese Univ Hong Kong
Delft Univ Tech
Hokkaido Univ
Indian Inst Sci
Iowa State Univ
Johns Hopkins Univ
Korea Advanced Inst Sci & Tech
Lund Univ
Natl Taiwan Univ
Natl Tsing Hua Univ
Pohang Univ Sci & Tech
Shanghai Jiao Tong Univ
Tech Univ Munich
Tel Aviv Univ
Univ Alberta
Univ California - Riverside
Univ Central Florida
Univ Leeds
Univ Louvain
Univ Montreal
Univ Naples Federico II
Univ Newcastle
Univ Paris 06
Univ Southampton
Univ Utah
Univ Utrecht
Uppsala Univ
Washington Univ - St. Louis
Zhejiang Univ
Kunafeh Sunday
Our engagement for the E-government project in Syria is officially over (and practically 98% over). It was rather a Chaotic entropy, not a particularly easy engagement, however partially ejoyable, and therefore, Kunafeh is served in the company on Sunday! I am not fond of kunafeh at all, neither my genetic belonging to Nablus had any influence towards improving my affinity to Kunafeh. Neverthetheless, i observed that Kunafeh is one way people of this region exhibit their ceremonial inclinations.
weather matters
looks like we are going to have a rainy week this coming week.
we are going to have some rain tomorrow evening, but this is not the reason why i am writing!
If things in the atmosphere remain the same, we are expecting a real wintery storm next Wed, Thursday. I mean Strong winds, cold temperature and lots of rain.
It is not easy to confirm things at this moment, because Atmospheric science is so complex of a science and our atmosphere is a fairly complex system. Weather forcasts stem from computerized model that require super computers to simulate including data mining techniques. (follow this link to a what data mining is)http://www.e-ammar.com/introduction_to_data_mining.htm
Business intelligence (BI)and to a less extent is picking us also in government sector here in Jordan. Yesterday, I had a demo to the Customs department in Jordan in which we showed them techniques and technology we currently used to create BI solution for them.
We are also building our skills to satisfy IBM demand for consultant capable of using IBM DataStage (One of the leading ETL tools).
The interesting thing to observe here is that my personal interest in weather system and atmospheric science is not immensely decoupled from what i do for living.
Next blog, i will post an article that my mother wrote after visiting Nablus after so many years of absance
we are going to have some rain tomorrow evening, but this is not the reason why i am writing!
If things in the atmosphere remain the same, we are expecting a real wintery storm next Wed, Thursday. I mean Strong winds, cold temperature and lots of rain.
It is not easy to confirm things at this moment, because Atmospheric science is so complex of a science and our atmosphere is a fairly complex system. Weather forcasts stem from computerized model that require super computers to simulate including data mining techniques. (follow this link to a what data mining is)http://www.e-ammar.com/introduction_to_data_mining.htm
Business intelligence (BI)and to a less extent is picking us also in government sector here in Jordan. Yesterday, I had a demo to the Customs department in Jordan in which we showed them techniques and technology we currently used to create BI solution for them.
We are also building our skills to satisfy IBM demand for consultant capable of using IBM DataStage (One of the leading ETL tools).
The interesting thing to observe here is that my personal interest in weather system and atmospheric science is not immensely decoupled from what i do for living.
Next blog, i will post an article that my mother wrote after visiting Nablus after so many years of absance
Thursday, November 22, 2007
shelfari now in Beta
Shaelfari is a special purpose facebook alike. it specializeس in sharing your favorite books titles by creating your own shelfbook. It is always intresting to know what interests other. you can learn or at least assume things about people by knowing what they like to read (if at all , of course)
http://www.shelfari.com/
اعز مكان في الدنا سرج سابح وخير جليس في الزمان كتاب
عمار
http://www.shelfari.com/
اعز مكان في الدنا سرج سابح وخير جليس في الزمان كتاب
عمار
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
khusara a great loss
I felt so sorry to read in the newspaper and on the first page news about the loss of Younis Shalaby; a great comedian with unprecedented talents. He shined in Madraset Al-Mushgebeen and later in il3eyal kibret. It is a great loss, reinforced by the fact that now a days there are hardly any substitutes for the stars that we lost in the past 12 months. Namely, Fuad Il-muhandes, Abdul ilme3em ilmadbouli and now Shalabi. He was 66.
May his soul rest in peace
May his soul rest in peace
Monday, November 12, 2007
Kiss your ADSL router good bye
In a ceremonial event at Four Seasons hotel, Omnia has announced the launch of its new WiMax Internet Access the day before yesterday. By the way, the Steak that was served was exceptionally delicious.
The steps are easy
Get Rid of your ADSL line
subscribe with Omnia
Get your wireless Wimax router, no land lines or anything!!
bring the wimax router home
get your pc connected
you feel like sitting in a public place (for example Al-Alfieh Garden). No problem, bring on your WiMax router and your are connected (i assume you still need power).
I hope that you get the idea.
Later on , buy a USB WiMax router
Hook it to your laptop
and you are connected everywhere there is coverage
I still need to verify the reliability of the line!!
The cost ! Around 465 JD / Year for a 2Mb line
The steps are easy
Get Rid of your ADSL line
subscribe with Omnia
Get your wireless Wimax router, no land lines or anything!!
bring the wimax router home
get your pc connected
you feel like sitting in a public place (for example Al-Alfieh Garden). No problem, bring on your WiMax router and your are connected (i assume you still need power).
I hope that you get the idea.
Later on , buy a USB WiMax router
Hook it to your laptop
and you are connected everywhere there is coverage
I still need to verify the reliability of the line!!
The cost ! Around 465 JD / Year for a 2Mb line
Do you want to make money in BI
IBM today announced that it is buying Cognos
Oracle had already acquired Hyperion
SAP amicably acquired Business Object
There isn't much left in the Business Intelligence software sector. Except, that is, for Informetica. This is the last man standing, and therefore, a potential candidate for acquisition.
Informetica share is trading at 16 USD, a potential price is 21 USD,,, If this prophecy proves to be true ,, a deal with 25% profit stands up in the horizon.
Ammar Sajdi
Oracle had already acquired Hyperion
SAP amicably acquired Business Object
There isn't much left in the Business Intelligence software sector. Except, that is, for Informetica. This is the last man standing, and therefore, a potential candidate for acquisition.
Informetica share is trading at 16 USD, a potential price is 21 USD,,, If this prophecy proves to be true ,, a deal with 25% profit stands up in the horizon.
Ammar Sajdi
Friday, November 09, 2007
Greater Amman Municipality
The Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) is now blogging at
www.ammancityblog.com
This is a real chance to convey our ideas and critiques to make Amman a better place!
Back in the 80's, Amman was such a beautiful, clean, seren and majestic city. At these years, i was not easy for me to travel and not miss it.
Unfortunately, i am missing these feelings these days. All I see is traffic jams, no parking space, black smoke, angry drivers, people innocently getting rid of Pepsi cans and coffee cups out of the car windows, Chaotic steets and alleys. I will personally blog to write about the dirts that restaurents leave out, Fakher Elddin is an example, where the leftovers are trashed just opposite to the back door of Astra building.
Every morning, there is probably more that 2000 GAM employees that start cleaning the street from the early morning hours. There are ,on the other hand, some 2.5 million making sure that they get these streets dirty. Why not spread awareness and teach the 2.5 million not to litter rather than cleaning after them. There is a pedistrian passway connecting Dastour Newspaper to Abu-Elhajj commercial center and you just cannot imagine the amout of dirts that compiles there!!
www.ammancityblog.com
This is a real chance to convey our ideas and critiques to make Amman a better place!
Back in the 80's, Amman was such a beautiful, clean, seren and majestic city. At these years, i was not easy for me to travel and not miss it.
Unfortunately, i am missing these feelings these days. All I see is traffic jams, no parking space, black smoke, angry drivers, people innocently getting rid of Pepsi cans and coffee cups out of the car windows, Chaotic steets and alleys. I will personally blog to write about the dirts that restaurents leave out, Fakher Elddin is an example, where the leftovers are trashed just opposite to the back door of Astra building.
Every morning, there is probably more that 2000 GAM employees that start cleaning the street from the early morning hours. There are ,on the other hand, some 2.5 million making sure that they get these streets dirty. Why not spread awareness and teach the 2.5 million not to litter rather than cleaning after them. There is a pedistrian passway connecting Dastour Newspaper to Abu-Elhajj commercial center and you just cannot imagine the amout of dirts that compiles there!!
Status Quo!
Today we have bigger houses and smaller families;
more conveniences, but less time;
we have more degrees, but less common sense;
more knowledge, but less judgment;
We have more experts, but more problems;
more medicine, but less wellness.
We spend too recklessly, laugh too little,
drive too fast, get to angry too quickly,
stay up too late, get up too tired,
read too little, watch TV too often,
and pray too seldom
We have multiplied our possessions,
but reduced our values.
We talk too much, love too little
and lie too often.
We have taller buildings, but shorter tempers;
wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints.
We spend more, but have less;
we buy more, but enjoy it less.
we write more, but learn less;
plan more, but accomplish less.
We've been all the way to the moon but
fail to visit next door neigbour.
We've learned to rush, but not to wait;
we have higher incomes, but lower morals
We are long on quantity, but short on quality.
These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion;
tall men and short character;
steep profits and shallow relationships.
More leisure and less fun; more kinds of food, but less nutrition;
two incomes, but more divorce;
fancier houses, but broken homes.
As of today, you do not keep anything for a special occasion,
because every day that you live is a special occasion.
Search for knowledge, read more,
sit on your front porch and admire the view .
Spend more time with your family and friends, eat your favorite foods,
and visit the places you love
Life is a chain of moment of enjoyment, not only about survival.
Use your crystal goblets. Do not save your best perfume,
and use it every time you feel you want it
Let’s tell our families and friends how much we love them. Do not delay anything that adds laughter and joy to your life.
Every day, every hour, and every minute is special. And you don’t know if it will be your last If you’re too busy to take the time to convey this message to someone you love, and you tell yourself you will send it “one of these days “. Just think…”One of these days “, you may not be here to do it
Well, I received this from a cousin! Why specifically it was sent to me!! a Good Question?
Every Week starts, and by the time it ends, I try to evaluate that; It passed so quick and was full of things, but it is still like any other week. Still However, I enjoy Thursday the most. Why? Because, it is almost always the end of a wild and chaotic week and that has got to stop!
Ammar
more conveniences, but less time;
we have more degrees, but less common sense;
more knowledge, but less judgment;
We have more experts, but more problems;
more medicine, but less wellness.
We spend too recklessly, laugh too little,
drive too fast, get to angry too quickly,
stay up too late, get up too tired,
read too little, watch TV too often,
and pray too seldom
We have multiplied our possessions,
but reduced our values.
We talk too much, love too little
and lie too often.
We have taller buildings, but shorter tempers;
wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints.
We spend more, but have less;
we buy more, but enjoy it less.
we write more, but learn less;
plan more, but accomplish less.
We've been all the way to the moon but
fail to visit next door neigbour.
We've learned to rush, but not to wait;
we have higher incomes, but lower morals
We are long on quantity, but short on quality.
These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion;
tall men and short character;
steep profits and shallow relationships.
More leisure and less fun; more kinds of food, but less nutrition;
two incomes, but more divorce;
fancier houses, but broken homes.
As of today, you do not keep anything for a special occasion,
because every day that you live is a special occasion.
Search for knowledge, read more,
sit on your front porch and admire the view .
Spend more time with your family and friends, eat your favorite foods,
and visit the places you love
Life is a chain of moment of enjoyment, not only about survival.
Use your crystal goblets. Do not save your best perfume,
and use it every time you feel you want it
Let’s tell our families and friends how much we love them. Do not delay anything that adds laughter and joy to your life.
Every day, every hour, and every minute is special. And you don’t know if it will be your last If you’re too busy to take the time to convey this message to someone you love, and you tell yourself you will send it “one of these days “. Just think…”One of these days “, you may not be here to do it
Well, I received this from a cousin! Why specifically it was sent to me!! a Good Question?
Every Week starts, and by the time it ends, I try to evaluate that; It passed so quick and was full of things, but it is still like any other week. Still However, I enjoy Thursday the most. Why? Because, it is almost always the end of a wild and chaotic week and that has got to stop!
Ammar
Friday, November 02, 2007
Simplexity
by Ammar Sajdi
my time is Bahrain was almost full. I ended up spending at our company apartment, which turned out to be much better than I initially imagined but of course, not a five-star standard. It is a 2 bedroom apt with 2 bathrooms, a small kitchen and reasonably sized sitting room and a big TV and free internet access. The building contains good facilities for the tenants like an indoor swimming pool, Gem, and a recreation room. Just opposite the building, there is a small shopping area with a nice supermarket and a nice coffee shop with wireless internet. Fortunately, the apt was cleaned before my arrival
Ammar Sajdi, Amman
www.realsoft-me.com
www.e-ammar.net
Monday, October 29, 2007
no rooms in bahrain
it is a must to go to Bahrain tomorrow. There seems to be a sports events in Bahrain, and since it is such a samll country, not a single room is available. Well, i guess i will take bed covers with me and see where my fate drops me off tomorrow. pary for me :)
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Marriage Season for every species
out of observation, i know that there seems to be marriage season form most animal species. I know for example that cats marriage season is enriched in February.
Human however, seem to enjoy marriage all year round! making no specific marriage season!
For REALSOFT/INFORMOBILITY, there seems to be an exception. 2 female REALSOFTers ar getting married to 2 Males Informobilitees. One is today (congratulation goes to Hayat and Eyad) who worked for REALSOFT/INFORMOBILITY before they even graduated, and the other couple (Ahmad and Luma) is next week. Also Mohd Mansour and Lama diverged and decided to get their partners from outside the REALSOFT/INFO domain. Lama is scheduled to get married on Dec!
Human however, seem to enjoy marriage all year round! making no specific marriage season!
For REALSOFT/INFORMOBILITY, there seems to be an exception. 2 female REALSOFTers ar getting married to 2 Males Informobilitees. One is today (congratulation goes to Hayat and Eyad) who worked for REALSOFT/INFORMOBILITY before they even graduated, and the other couple (Ahmad and Luma) is next week. Also Mohd Mansour and Lama diverged and decided to get their partners from outside the REALSOFT/INFO domain. Lama is scheduled to get married on Dec!
Friday, October 26, 2007
Good Bye Business Objects
The German giant SAP, the world’s leading provider of business software, plans to acquire Business Objects, the frensh BI industry leader, in a friendly take over. The value of this acquistion is something like 4.8 Billion Euros.
Oracle, SAP rival, has been very active in the acquisition process. Oracle aquired many large firms like JD Edwards, Poeple Soft, Sieble, Hyperion, Stellent and many more. Currrently, Oracle is bidding to acquire BEA, the Application Servers market leader. Oracle proposed an offer of 17$ per share. BEA management is likely to turn down the offer and ask for 21$. Oracle offer of 17$ per share when the share was trading for 13$ at NASDAQ.
Suffice it to say,Oracle acquired People Soft in a hostile take over!!!
I would be very interested in this story, as Application Server domain of business is something we deal with on daily basis
Oracle, SAP rival, has been very active in the acquisition process. Oracle aquired many large firms like JD Edwards, Poeple Soft, Sieble, Hyperion, Stellent and many more. Currrently, Oracle is bidding to acquire BEA, the Application Servers market leader. Oracle proposed an offer of 17$ per share. BEA management is likely to turn down the offer and ask for 21$. Oracle offer of 17$ per share when the share was trading for 13$ at NASDAQ.
Suffice it to say,Oracle acquired People Soft in a hostile take over!!!
I would be very interested in this story, as Application Server domain of business is something we deal with on daily basis
Monday, October 22, 2007
Mars starts using animal products
Some of the UK's best-selling chocolate bars, such as Mars and Twix, will no longer be suitable for vegetarians.
Also affecting brands such as Snickers and Maltesers, owner Masterfoods said it had started to use animal product rennet to make its chocolate products.
check the entire article
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6653175.stm
Ammar Sajdi
www.palco-me.com
Also affecting brands such as Snickers and Maltesers, owner Masterfoods said it had started to use animal product rennet to make its chocolate products.
check the entire article
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6653175.stm
Ammar Sajdi
www.palco-me.com
Saturday, October 20, 2007
questioning Darwinism
During recent decades, it is claimed that scientific evidence from many disciplines including cosmology, physics, biology, etc . .. have caused scientists to begin questioning Darwinism evolution
"We are skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life. Careful examination of the evidence for Darwinian theory should be encouraged."
A list of 700 Ph.D have signed their name testifying their skepticism. The list is published by Discovery Instiute (http://www.discovery.org/).
Press release about the list
http://www.discovery.org/scripts/viewDB/index.php?command=view&id=2732
you can check out the list
http://www.discovery.org/scripts/viewDB/filesDB-download.php?command=download&id=660
check out this book
http://www.darwindayinamerica.com/
"We are skeptical of claims for the ability of random mutation and natural selection to account for the complexity of life. Careful examination of the evidence for Darwinian theory should be encouraged."
A list of 700 Ph.D have signed their name testifying their skepticism. The list is published by Discovery Instiute (http://www.discovery.org/).
Press release about the list
http://www.discovery.org/scripts/viewDB/index.php?command=view&id=2732
you can check out the list
http://www.discovery.org/scripts/viewDB/filesDB-download.php?command=download&id=660
check out this book
http://www.darwindayinamerica.com/
Thursday, October 18, 2007
This is how weather in Amman looked like
Driving back from Damscus to Amman at night is definitely no fun at all. It is a task to accomplish. What is exciting last night was the fact that there was a weather system crossing central Jordan. Lightening, thunder, and rain. Very localized rain, where certain areas were soaking wet, while others in close proximity were completely dry. This is a distinctive feature of weather system mostly characterized by unstable condition. Normally caused by warn wind convicting upwards and meeting cold front.
Since I am passionate about weather conditions, I am really thrilled to show you some pictures taken by people of the Jordan weather forum. I know that this might be really boring for those who have no affection towards nature. I do not blame them, I cannot explain why and how my interests in this emanates from
Imagin the thender
Radar image showing rainy clouds moving towards Jordan while crossing palestine
I guess the excitement of a new rainy system is starting
Ammar
Since I am passionate about weather conditions, I am really thrilled to show you some pictures taken by people of the Jordan weather forum. I know that this might be really boring for those who have no affection towards nature. I do not blame them, I cannot explain why and how my interests in this emanates from
Imagin the thender
Radar image showing rainy clouds moving towards Jordan while crossing palestine
I guess the excitement of a new rainy system is starting
Ammar
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Aftermath
Now that Eid is over, it is about time to assess the damage
1) First Day of Eid: I was in Damascus the day before Eid and I bought 1KG of peanuts (which smelled so tempting). The night of Eid and in the early morning hours, i kept eating peanuts until my stomach really got upset. I had to tolerate abdomenal pain from noon till night while having to skip the delicious Eid Lunch
2) First night of Eid: After the abdominal issue tapered off a little bit, i received a call from my colleague Jaffar telling me that we are supposed to deliver a propsal to a customer in Nigeria at or before Sat morning and that we still need to repond to some parts of the Request for Proposal. I went to the office at around 10 PM, He left at around 11 because he was so tiered working the day before and on Eid day. I was supposed to spend a couple of hours, I ended up leaving at 7:30. While it is not uncommon for me to leave office at 7:30. What was different this time is that, it was 7:30 AM. It was quite a long time for all-nighters! apart from traveling, i do not remeber staying up all night since college time! My biological watch is not used to sleeping at morning, i managed to sleep for two hours.
3) nothing special about the 2nd day
4) The third day was consumed totally while trying to make JMS working in Oracle JDeveloper Env. Once accomplished, i continued to couple client application with JMS provider through JMS webservice, which at the end of the day surprisingly worked.
5) Third Night, While watch TV at around 9 PM, next thing i remebered waking up at 8 AM, sleeping for 11 straight hours!!!!!!!!! I guess making up all the sleep deprivation.
6) Fourth day (not any more Eid), against all social norms, i replied bulk SMS i received and visited my sister and aunte!
7) Fourth night: we were invited over at Fakher Elddin, and since i had no lunch that day, i excersied my joyful habit of making things up that i missed, and had consumed so much food that made this meal the first real meal since the begining of Ramadan. This event did not go by unnoticed, my stomach got upset again, and therefore, i did not feel well for the reminder of the night and today.
And now, while i am writing this, i think, the aftermath of Eid is well contained, and i seems like things are returning to normal.. Tomorrow morning, i need to rise up and get going at 7 AM to the neighboring Syria. By the way the distnace from where i live in Amman to where the customer is in Damsucs is exactly 205.5 Km. Under normal cirumstances, it requires around two and half hours
1) First Day of Eid: I was in Damascus the day before Eid and I bought 1KG of peanuts (which smelled so tempting). The night of Eid and in the early morning hours, i kept eating peanuts until my stomach really got upset. I had to tolerate abdomenal pain from noon till night while having to skip the delicious Eid Lunch
2) First night of Eid: After the abdominal issue tapered off a little bit, i received a call from my colleague Jaffar telling me that we are supposed to deliver a propsal to a customer in Nigeria at or before Sat morning and that we still need to repond to some parts of the Request for Proposal. I went to the office at around 10 PM, He left at around 11 because he was so tiered working the day before and on Eid day. I was supposed to spend a couple of hours, I ended up leaving at 7:30. While it is not uncommon for me to leave office at 7:30. What was different this time is that, it was 7:30 AM. It was quite a long time for all-nighters! apart from traveling, i do not remeber staying up all night since college time! My biological watch is not used to sleeping at morning, i managed to sleep for two hours.
3) nothing special about the 2nd day
4) The third day was consumed totally while trying to make JMS working in Oracle JDeveloper Env. Once accomplished, i continued to couple client application with JMS provider through JMS webservice, which at the end of the day surprisingly worked.
5) Third Night, While watch TV at around 9 PM, next thing i remebered waking up at 8 AM, sleeping for 11 straight hours!!!!!!!!! I guess making up all the sleep deprivation.
6) Fourth day (not any more Eid), against all social norms, i replied bulk SMS i received and visited my sister and aunte!
7) Fourth night: we were invited over at Fakher Elddin, and since i had no lunch that day, i excersied my joyful habit of making things up that i missed, and had consumed so much food that made this meal the first real meal since the begining of Ramadan. This event did not go by unnoticed, my stomach got upset again, and therefore, i did not feel well for the reminder of the night and today.
And now, while i am writing this, i think, the aftermath of Eid is well contained, and i seems like things are returning to normal.. Tomorrow morning, i need to rise up and get going at 7 AM to the neighboring Syria. By the way the distnace from where i live in Amman to where the customer is in Damsucs is exactly 205.5 Km. Under normal cirumstances, it requires around two and half hours
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Eid Tomorrow غلط , It is only politically correct, Real Eid is on Sat
الافطار بكرة غلط غلط
According to astronomists here in Jordan and every where else, Sighting the crescent (hilal) this evening scientific impossibility. Hear me loud and clear; it is impossible to have spotted the Hilal with naked eyes or telescopes this evening. I was following up very closely the stream of news emanating from the press room headed by Dr Ahmad Heliel of Jordan. Jordanian astronomists were also present, who, not only made their calculation, but also set up 5 sites to try to sight the invisible crescent just to prove their point and make everybody happy. Their prophecy came true, and obviously, nothing was found only because the baby crescent sets 7 minutes before sun set. The situation became immensely complicated, when all of a sudden, a breaking news announcing the end of Ramadan Came from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and all Gulf countries except Oman. Moments afterwards, Egypt announced that tomorrow is the 30th day of Ramadan and henceforth, Eid is on Saturday. The announcement of Eid in Jordan was not, therefore, based on sighting the Hilal but was announced in solidarity with other Muslim countries. (الاسلام دين جماعة)
On what basis was Eid declared to be tomorrow in KSA? Sighting had to be made by one or more trustworthy men testifying before a committee of Muslim leaders! Spokesmen in the press room said that they contacted their Saudi counterparts who also confirmed the sheer impossibility of sighting the hilal then evening.
How then can Saudi Muslim leaders accept the testimony of anybody when in the 21 century scientists over emphasized the fact that seeing the moon is impossible
Personally, i cannot go against an official announcement and take an odd direction tomorrow by completing the fasting of the month, but i will have to definitely make the day up by fasting an extra day after Eid.
عمار السجدي
According to astronomists here in Jordan and every where else, Sighting the crescent (hilal) this evening scientific impossibility. Hear me loud and clear; it is impossible to have spotted the Hilal with naked eyes or telescopes this evening. I was following up very closely the stream of news emanating from the press room headed by Dr Ahmad Heliel of Jordan. Jordanian astronomists were also present, who, not only made their calculation, but also set up 5 sites to try to sight the invisible crescent just to prove their point and make everybody happy. Their prophecy came true, and obviously, nothing was found only because the baby crescent sets 7 minutes before sun set. The situation became immensely complicated, when all of a sudden, a breaking news announcing the end of Ramadan Came from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and all Gulf countries except Oman. Moments afterwards, Egypt announced that tomorrow is the 30th day of Ramadan and henceforth, Eid is on Saturday. The announcement of Eid in Jordan was not, therefore, based on sighting the Hilal but was announced in solidarity with other Muslim countries. (الاسلام دين جماعة)
On what basis was Eid declared to be tomorrow in KSA? Sighting had to be made by one or more trustworthy men testifying before a committee of Muslim leaders! Spokesmen in the press room said that they contacted their Saudi counterparts who also confirmed the sheer impossibility of sighting the hilal then evening.
How then can Saudi Muslim leaders accept the testimony of anybody when in the 21 century scientists over emphasized the fact that seeing the moon is impossible
Personally, i cannot go against an official announcement and take an odd direction tomorrow by completing the fasting of the month, but i will have to definitely make the day up by fasting an extra day after Eid.
عمار السجدي
Sunday, October 07, 2007
What is so special about OCT 4th, try peter answers soul engine
I will try to demonstrate why this Question is an interesting one
In order to illustrate the peculiarity of OCT 4th, I shall use Oracle database and SQL Langugae to demonstrate my point
Ammar>select to_date('27/1/2007','dd/mm/yyyy') SHOW_DATE from dual;
SHOW_DATE
--------------
27/1/2007
The above merely displays a date in dd/mm/yyyy format. Now let us see what happends if I try to display the result of the expression ('27/1/2007') after adding 1 to it
Ammar>select to_date('27/1/2007','dd/mm/yyyy') + 1 SHOW_DATE from dual;
SHOW_DATE
--------------
28/1/2007
Barely an surprises, the day after 27/1/2007 is 28/1/2007
Now, let me repeat the exercise for another date, namely for 4/10/1582
Ammar> select to_date('4/10/1582','dd/mm/yyyy') SHOW_DATE from dual
SHOW_DATE
--------------
04/10/1582
Let us see what the day after 04/10/1582 would be?
Tarrraaaaaaaaaaaaa
Ammar> select to_date('4/10/1582','dd/mm/yyyy') + 1 SHOW_DATE from dual
SHOW_DATE
--------------
15/10/1582
Say What? the date after 4/10/1582 is 15/10/1582.
This is against any logical, empirical, or interpretational result a human mind can go through, but it is TRUE, and this is not a bug in the software!!!
You may think that you need the help of extraterrestrial power, like the interactive soul engine called peter answers that i talked about before
http://oraclejo.blogspot.com/2007/01/peter-answers-interactive-soul-engine.html
but once you know why 15/4/1582 is the day directly after 4/10/1582, you will come to realize one important issue in our universe; If there is something that is beyond the frontiers of your comprehension, it , in no way, implies that this thing does not exist!!
afterall, there is a reason why 15/10 if after the 4th of Oct 1852
Ammar Sajdi
www.e-ammar.com
PALCO/REALSOFT/INFORMOBILITY
JORDAN, Amman
In order to illustrate the peculiarity of OCT 4th, I shall use Oracle database and SQL Langugae to demonstrate my point
Ammar>select to_date('27/1/2007','dd/mm/yyyy') SHOW_DATE from dual;
SHOW_DATE
--------------
27/1/2007
The above merely displays a date in dd/mm/yyyy format. Now let us see what happends if I try to display the result of the expression ('27/1/2007') after adding 1 to it
Ammar>select to_date('27/1/2007','dd/mm/yyyy') + 1 SHOW_DATE from dual;
SHOW_DATE
--------------
28/1/2007
Barely an surprises, the day after 27/1/2007 is 28/1/2007
Now, let me repeat the exercise for another date, namely for 4/10/1582
Ammar> select to_date('4/10/1582','dd/mm/yyyy') SHOW_DATE from dual
SHOW_DATE
--------------
04/10/1582
Let us see what the day after 04/10/1582 would be?
Tarrraaaaaaaaaaaaa
Ammar> select to_date('4/10/1582','dd/mm/yyyy') + 1 SHOW_DATE from dual
SHOW_DATE
--------------
15/10/1582
Say What? the date after 4/10/1582 is 15/10/1582.
This is against any logical, empirical, or interpretational result a human mind can go through, but it is TRUE, and this is not a bug in the software!!!
You may think that you need the help of extraterrestrial power, like the interactive soul engine called peter answers that i talked about before
http://oraclejo.blogspot.com/2007/01/peter-answers-interactive-soul-engine.html
but once you know why 15/4/1582 is the day directly after 4/10/1582, you will come to realize one important issue in our universe; If there is something that is beyond the frontiers of your comprehension, it , in no way, implies that this thing does not exist!!
afterall, there is a reason why 15/10 if after the 4th of Oct 1852
Ammar Sajdi
www.e-ammar.com
PALCO/REALSOFT/INFORMOBILITY
JORDAN, Amman
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