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

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%

ولد الهدى

ولد الهدى فالكائنات ضياء وفم السماء تبسم وثناء

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

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

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

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

A step closer to joining the EU - Turkey

Of course, the pcitures below are not the real reason why Turkey cannot join the EU , however, some poeple would like to think that the images explain why. I just think these pictures are funny, and i am not sure that they are really taken in Turkey

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

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

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#