The Astonishing Hypothesis

"You," your joys and your sorrows, your memories and your ambitions, your sense of personal identity and free will, are in fact no more than the behavior of a vast assembly of nerve cells and their associated molecules.

The Astonishing Hypothesis: The Scientific Search For The Soul is a book written by no ordinary person. It was written by Francis Crick, the co-discoverer of the DNA double Helix structure in 1953 and a Nobel laureate - in 1963. Died in 2004 due to Colon Cancer.

My attention was caught in the DNA world after watching a TV interview with James Watson, who was Francis's Colleague and the other co-discoverer of the Double Helix. I have finished reading two of Watson's books and was intrigued by his "DNA - The Secret of Life" Book.

Understanding how things inside your cells work opens up a new dimension of arts and science to the frontiers of your thinking. Moreover, a great sense of appreciation for a breathtaking process that bewilders your mind and leaves you totally seized by its beauty.

Ammar Sajdi

www.realsoft-me.com

www.e-ammar.net

Bikes

For about 8 months, and together with Mohammad Abu Gharbieh, I had been cycling.

A couple of months back, we purchased mountain bikes. We take the bikes and ride for some distance averaging 50Km +

Ammar Sajdi

www.realsoft-me.com

www.e-ammar.net

ما رميت اذ رميت ولكن اللة رمى

I am in Muscat oman know for the inauguration of the 2010 Oman Census Project (which is by large the largstd software project REALSOFT has executed during its history). I came last Friday on GulfAir.

I have made hotel reservation through booking.com on Thursday and of course, used me Credit Card as a guarantee. Before I left, I called our office in Muscat to confirm my arrival date and time and they informed me that they have managed to get good rates in another hotel where other members of the company are also staying including those arriving with me on the same flight. Naturally, i tried to cancel my Hotel reservation through booking.com website, but they informed me that they will charge me fully if i cancel because i am doing it less than 24 hours prior to arrival. Ok, I thought i would try to cancel it upon arrival in order to stay with my colleagues in the other hotel. We arrived in Muscat and went directly to the Hotel trying to play dumb, and assume that we can cancel the reservation. All attempts failed!!! The Cancelling could not possible be done, and things seem to be moving against my will

Soon after the my colleagues left to their hotel, they called me back informing me that they did not have a place to stay because the other hotel cancelled their reservation and all other hotel in Muscat were fully booked due to some Athletic tournament.

The flow of events made me think; it is as though things are really pre-arranged.

If I did not make the reservation in the first place, or succeeded to cancel it, I would have been forced to wander around in the middle of the night finding myself a place to stay. I thought things were really going against my well, where in reality things were going for my benefit.

Subhan allah

Standup comedy

Today

Google Again

If Google Earth knocked your mind out, check out street view.

And while you are at it, why dont you check out Tashkeel http://tashkeel.googlelabs.com/

look at how google will let you write Arabic Chat language and display it in Arabic writing with Tashkeel. Amazing!

By the way, if you just want to use chat language and get it transformed to Arabic, you can use Microsoft Free software called Maren http://www.microsoft.com/middleeast/egypt/cmic/maren/

It will allow you to write 3ammar and while writing it will transform to عمار on the fly (but without tashkeel)

enjoy and keep you eye open to what Google is planning, me think it is going to be the next Microsoft

Finally

I have been yearning for this Eid Vacation so intensely, not only because it a global feast, but mainly because it also marked the end of the Jordan Parliamentary elections. Like the situation of electoral candidates, the last period was exasperating, But for me, it was for a different reason. I was not a candidates, but i was responsible for running the software infrastructure for the entire election process. It was a nightmarish experience! the logistics, the scale, the criticality, the performance etc , Just about 4000 users are connecedt directly to the central server and to the software we have created. But thank God, it is now part of the past and it went well.

for a whole month we worked real hard, days and night preparing for that one day 9/11/2010.

as part of demonstrating relief, we are going to our apartment at Tala Bay in Aqaba tomorrow morning, a step that will definitely annoy El-sha3shabonat that i am sure are enjoying the apartment that we paid for.

Dinner for Schmucks

A movie that will make you laugh.

note that the word Schmuck means something that i dont dare to dwell upon (in the Yiddish language)

lunch time

I was in the mood for Humos today during the lunch hour.

The above statement conveys two pieces of information;the first is the trivial fact that I was craving Humos, and the other is the fact that there is a lunch hour in my life. Not interesting, nor important. In fact, nothing to write about! (btw, after all these years, I still have to think when I use the word "write", cuz frequently I get it mixed up with "right"). More relevant to the post is the fact that our lunch hour is from 2 to 3 pm.

At around 2:13 we were passing through Gardens Str. and thought that we might as well indulge in a lavish portion of humos topped with hot sauce soaked in olive oil with a round of falafel and mint tea at Kalha. After the ordinary challenge, we found parking and headed into the restaurant, only to find Kalhas do not serve between 2 and 3 pm; you can take sandwiches (safari style). I was stunt, immobilized, and for a moment, almost speechless, then felt stupid. For the longest time, we must have picked the wrong time slot for the lunch hour. How can it be right when it does not coincide with the time set by those whose main business activity is to offer lunch for us.

Things must have changed around me, while I was left in total stagnation. When do Jordanians have their lunch?

P.S. After the moment of astonishment and anguish passed by, I was able to ask the question of whether the situation was just an intermittent and temporally loss of service, but the answer was that every day during this time slot, they cleaned up the place

www.realsoft-me.com

www.e-ammar.net

What is the appropriate lunch time

I was in the mood for Humos today during the lunch hour.

The above statement

On the Road again

I have been on the road lately and pretty actively. What I mean here is traveling and not bike riding. Just before Eid, I had to spend a couple of days a Kuwait for the Kuwait University Admission software, then during Eid Vacation, we spent a splendid five days vacation in Istanbul (during which the Turkish people turned out to cast their votes in a referendum for constitutional changes which went in favor of the Current PM Erdogan,, who incidentally, currently sees his country's interest leaning towards amicable relationships with the Islamic world). Then Today I am in a very short trip to Tripoli, Libya. I have arrived this afternoon, will have a meeting, and will be heading back to Amman tomorrow. The story does not end here, I have other planned trips to both KSA and Yemen soon. The short-term outlook seems to include moderate on-the-road activities.

ammar

www.realsoft-me.com

www.e-ammar.net

Eid Saeed

I wish every body a warm Eid holiday and many happy returns
Me and other family will spend the Eid holiday in Istanbul

ammar