Fitr Mubarak for youu

عيد فطر سعيد

so you are feasting after all the tough fasting, this is happy time people

if you wanna feel something fuzzy about Eid, check this blog post entry, southern muslimah shows how people are celebrating Eid around the world

mish kulna min3ayyed zai ba3aad =P , there are different Eid cultural celebrations, and we know nothing about the Muslim nations in Asia, culture wise while there are so much in common, jameeeel

this is nice song for Eid thru the blog too




Enjoy your time

adventures of the Atlantis

Last week, lots of people from Amman were in Dubai, fortunate enough to have friends working here from Amman too, and since all of us are relatively new we were off for some discoveryyy in the city of sand-berg

Palm Jumeirah is a man made palm shaped island and looks like this;

This is an old picture before all the construction took place, so imagine it with roads and stuff, [dubai is more of like playing real monopoly,, turn your money to hotels and more and more buildings and towers, il muhim, nerja3 la solafeh ] while driving in the car, you can access the central roads of the palm, the wider downward area has buildings with apartments on both sides for those who like to rent or buy, while the palm branches require access cards and include villas with private beaches for each villa, the crescent surrounding the palm will have 28 hotels and whats amazing in these places is that you can access the sea from both sides, the crescent is not quite wide by the way.

now exactly in the middle of the crescent area opposing the palm comes the fascinating part, this is where Atlantis The Palm Hotel is, it looks awesome, I was so excited the moment I saw it from far away,really, like my eyes widening and sticking my head towards the window in disbelief, it reminded me of the Castle in Aladdin, The Castle in the Little Mermaid, it is really coool, the nearest we could get to it is the tip of the palm which has a U turn covered with high wooden walls so you can't get a full front view of the Atlantis..

the thing is we couldn't see more of it, it was in the morning time, so last week when we were getting out of the festival city (something new too) , it was around 1:00 AM we decided to go see the Atlantis at night...

ok, we drove there and we got to the U-turn and one of the wooden blocks was left open, so I asked my friend to park.. and I went down, I got a quick shot of it but the security was behind our car so I had to make it quick fa ma zabtat it sooora (down there) ,, you know the scene when Aladdin shows Jasmine the Castle from his rooftop, the exact breath-taking scene, yeah that was like it,, it looks beeautiful, its so huge, far, and the sea is infront of you..

we didn't quit, so we decided to take our chances and take the tunnel, the hotel was not open yet but we saw trucks taking under sea tunnel linking from the palm to the crescent (check upper picture and picture the tunnel), the speed limit is 50km/hour and its quite long, and the thought that water is over you is scary,, it was 1:30 AM and we didn't really know whats on the otherside,, so as we got out of the tunnel the view we saw was the profile of the Atlantis, and a road leads to the back of the Atlantis and that was the closest we could make it,

when we parked we looked towards the sea from the real wide wild sea side infront of us, it was dark, seeing the big rocks that were used for making the palm and then a big fish jumped and you hear the waves, and then you realize that its not a shore... its the sea... and probably those people ruined many things with tooo much money, its like people here have too much money they don't know where to spend it, only thinking of making more money, the opening price for villas would be around 4 millions Dhs and now its valued at 20 millions.. its crazy!

we thought today they will do the fireworks ,, since its promised to be a Beijing olympics style but it turned out that today is a soft opening and the grand opening will be on Nov 20th, the Aqua park is open but we got there past 7 when it closes, so a friend of a friend of a friend has a villa in the second branch from top, left side ( see up ) and at the last villa at the tip of this branch is Michael Shumacher villa worth 50 millions, I was standing infront of it, the Villa next door is vacant if anyone has this kind of money ;) so we accessed the shore and had a nice bare foot walk with workers fixing villas here and there,,, but its so empty and I agreed with my friend, that if we had this kind of money, we won't live on this place because is so so artificial and lifeless and its made for business and summer vacations of the richy rich, Michael Owen and David Beckham too have places in this branch

money in Dubai has no value, a JD in Jordan is worth 1 Thousand here. I am serious.

Ramadan Kareem

1st day in Ramadan to me means " Ataaaaaayef "

when Iftar begins, exactly after Athan, I go to the street to listen to the forks and dishes, really you hear them

Ramadan is beautiful because it gathers everyone around a table at an exact time, its joyous because it brings the families together and there lots of lit living rooms and fawanees

Ramadan Kareem people , yen3ad 3alaikom :)

Jang Mi-ran: The World's Strongest Woman

Today Jang Mi-ran, 24 years old South Korean deserved the title of the world strongest woman after setting 3 world records in super heavy weight lifting in both events - snatch, clean and jerk lifting, beating the previous high mark by 7 kg (15.4 pounds)

She broke the world record total by lifting 183 kg (403.4 pounds) in her second clean and jerk when she gets three goes, but the crowd called for more and Jang responded by adding another 3 kg (6.6 pounds) in her final lift,,, that was really really awesome to watch! the silver medal winner 's total score was 50 Kg below Jang's.

first time to see women weight lifting but that was goood game

Athletes are awesome!! I'm happy for Jang, she is a Heroine =)

I'll tell you a secret, I always wished to play in the sports city stadium at night and the big four lights would be turned on and I would be part of a team of any game.. I always liked the idea that football team players practice at night, out in the field, or too early in the morning, I think its exciting to start your day with people doing sports.

Did I tell you that I have been feeling weird whenever I went to the gym lately, its like I was looking at the girls each working out on a machine, and none was excited about it, either she is really suffering or slowly peddling, either busy with the TV, the phone, the ipod and passing those minutes, it wasn't about the exercise, and those who were into it were the ones there for running, so I kept telling myself "hey you women, what are you doing here!! why did you sign up, why are you so dead, are you enjoying this!!! then asking myself, what am I doing here? " then I examine the machine feeling like a robot..

I started thinking of how we women care about looks and whether its us or the surrounding, but then again I want to feel fit, I'm not here to be thin, then I started thinking of the pain of workout and why should I go through it and thinking how my day is messed up because I spent too much time sitting and mostly infront of a computer which is a machine, then I go to the gym to balance things out which ironically means using another machine, I felt I'm not human or that my life involves lots of machines and less and less people,, that there is something terribly wrong that I am doing,, is it just me, or am I just making excuses??

back to the gym, sometimes I feel energized after the workout but sometimes its the opposite, that the next day I can't move at all and I get depressed,, so whenever I go I think I don't want to be dead and absent so I convinced myself that its a dancing class and that whatever movement Im doing, Im dancing :P

anyways, to JANG,, I salute you. Kudos to Athletes.. it this age,, what you do is tough tough tough!

The University of Jordan: A Different Overview

"Jordan University is the best University in Jordan"

i will argue against this by underlining that Jordan University is the Largest, the First but surly not the best, i will try to state my reasons;

1 - The Problem of Administration and Numbers:

some Figures from the academic year 2005/2006:

Enrolled Students: 35,546
Academic Staff: 1177
Administrative Staff: 2578
Graduates: 7325
Operating Budget: 80,808,000 Dinars
Allocated Budget for Research: 650,000 Dinars
Published Books: 7 !!!

[source]

Apparently the numbers are saying something, the question that comes to my mind is who among the 3755 staff members cares about one student's academic performance or ever asked about his/her collective academic work over the course of the study years? what i noticed is that as long as i am enrolled, paying the tuition, my GPA is above 2, whatever I'm doing is irrelevant to any worker in this place. nobody cares, which leaves me with a question that begs itself to be asked, how does the university measure its success? what are the parameters ? will the vision differ with the next university president? should we rely on the GPA distribution to tell? or should we ask future employers about the fresh grads performance? this is kept for a later post to be discussed.

Important note ; does the Administrative staff set any goals to be achieved by the Academic staff through the students? i guess each has different interests!

The administrative staff cares to run the process / to manage 35000 student, so a student is reduced to a number in a process that has lots of holes, while the academic staff is limited with department budgets, and overwhelmed by procedures that need to be taken in order to break the ingrained bureaucracy in the system, i believe there is a communication failure due to the overwhelming amount of paper work and official letters needed to get anything approved, i don't think that the university is understaffed but it has absurd protocols between academic faculty staff/academic administrative faculty staff/central administrative units/deanship of student affairs and the president office. i think they should get facebooked!!

I hope you drew a picture by now, now lets zoom in for a bit, here are the figures for the faculty of engineering and technology student distribution;

BSc Scholars of Fall 06/07	Civil	Architecture	Electrical	Mechanical	Chemical	Industrial	Computer	Mechatronics
1st year female	44	139	20	10	71	78	79	23
2nd year female	52	111	19	7	58	78	79	17
3rd year female	58	98	15	2	53	59	44	13
4th year female	53	88	12	3	61	54	31	13
5th year femlae	39	72	6	3	37	47	24	9
male students from all years	560	192	604	451	94	357	412	479
female total	246	508	72	25	280	316	257	75
department total	806	700	676	476	374	673	669	554
female ratio %	30.52	72.57	10.65	5.25	74.87	46.95	38.42	13.54

BSc Scholars of Fall 06/07	Chemical	Industrial	Computer	Mechatrnics
1st year female	71	78	79	23
2nd year female	58	78	79	17
3rd year female	53	59	44	13
4th year female	61	54	31	13
5th year female	37	47	24	9
male students from all years	94	357	412	479
female total	280	316	257	75
epartment total	374	673	669	554
female Ratio %	74.87	46.95	38.42	13.54

The total number of students is approximately 5000 students, distributed on 8 departments where a department is responsible for 400 - 800 students! every department has its cleaning staff, secretary, chairperson, technicians, labs, inventory, technicians and running all this is part of the faculty management and not the central management, it is overwhelming in a way!

I think that the management in the faculties need to be re examined so staff members can have more free time to spend it working with the students and not in their offices, create a less complicated protocols between units, so faculties can have "a culture", "a life" , " an academic orientation towards clear goals" , without needing this bulk of entities that need to be informed to get it moving. real content and real work.

to be continued..

I Feel Prettyyyy, Oh, So Pretty

My sister was humming this song yesterday and today after a cup of coffee, I started humming too =) it will put you in a good mood and i bet you will start humming in days =D it makes good things happen.






You know what I feel like, a theater musical play that is performed in various national Arabic Dialects, too musical and creatively unfamiliar, that i can relate to, inspiring, I want to be impressed. really, really, really I have been looking for this feeling.

when was the last time you were impressed/impressive people [ me included ]

ZAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN

You must read this: World Food Crisis

UN Secretary General in Rome - Food Crisis Conference.

You all know about the severity and scale of the global food crisis. Before this emergency, more than 854 million people in the world were short of food. The World Bank estimates that this figure could rise by a further 100 million. The poorest of the poor already spend two thirds or more of their income on food. They will be hardest hit.

I have seen this for myself. In Liberia recently, I met people who normally would buy rice by the bag. Today, they buy it by the cup. In Côte d’Ivoire, the leaders of a country recovering from conflict and trying to build a democracy told me how they feared that food riots could undo all their hard work. We fear the same in other countries that, with United Nations help, have made gains in recent years: Afghanistan, Haiti and Liberia, to name but a few. And let us not forget the millions who suffer in silence and will go hungry unnoticed

Food production needs to rise by 50 per cent by the year 2030 to meet the rising demand.

The FAO has called for $1.7 billion in new funding to provide low-income countries with seeds and other agricultural support and has initiated a programme to counter soaring food prices.

The World Food Programme has raised the additional $755 million it needs to meet existing commitments this year. We owe a great debt of thanks to 31 generous donor-nations, most notably the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It will, of course, need significant extra resources to respond to new needs arising from the impact of the food crisis.

The International Fund for Agricultural Development is giving an additional $200 million to poor farmers in the most affected countries and will want to do more as further resources become available.

The World Bank has established a new $1.2 billion rapid financing facility to address immediate needs and boost food production, including $200 million in grants targeted at the world’s poorest nations.

I have set aside a reserve of $100 million from the UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund to help fund new humanitarian needs arising from soaring food prices.

The Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement, non-governmental organizations and various civil society groups have mobilized as well. They are sponsoring new feeding programmes to combat hunger and malnutrition, paying for medicine and sending children to school. Private-sector groups are engaged, too.

We will work together to scale up these efforts and to ensure that national authorities are able to coordinate their implementation.

Let me conclude by noting that the world’s population will reach 7.2 billion by 2015. (checking it for April 6th, its something like 6.67 billion) Today’s problems will only grow larger tomorrow unless we act now.

Ban Ki Moon on June 3rd On the Question of Palestine Conference

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message to the International Meeting on the Question of Palestine, delivered by Max Gaylard, Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, in Malta, 3 June:

It gives me pleasure to convey my greetings to all the participants in this International Meeting on the Question of Palestine, which has been organized by the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People.

You meet at a time when the international community has intensified its efforts to help Israelis and Palestinians reach a peace treaty. The goal, as agreed in Annapolis, is to resolve all permanent status issues before the end of the year. The parameters of this agreement are clear -- an end of the occupation that began in 1967, an end to conflict, and the establishment of a sovereign, viable and independent Palestinian State living side by side in peace with a secure Israel.

The willingness of Israeli and Palestinian leaders to continue their regular discussions on the major issues is another welcome development. I particularly commend President [Mahmoud] Abbas and Prime Minister [Ehud] Olmert for their commitment to resolving the decades-old conflict, and for persisting with negotiations despite the difficulties. I urge them not be deterred by any obstacles and to see this effort through.

To succeed, current efforts to achieve a peace deal need to be underpinned by visible progress on the ground. Last December’s Donors’ Conference in Paris already raised nearly $8 billion in assistance for the Palestinian Authority. The recent London meetings of the Quartet principals and the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee also demonstrated the need for a robust follow-up by the international community, so as to build up political and economic support.

These meetings and pledges must now be translated into real results. Quartet Representative Tony Blair’s announcement of a package of measures is a welcome start. His proposals seek, initially, to increase the movement of people and goods in the West Bank, while accommodating Israel’s legitimate security needs. If implemented, these steps can bolster the Palestinian economy and lead to renewed confidence among the Palestinian people in the peace process.
Both sides must seize the current window of opportunity to push the peace process forward, especially by acting on their obligations under the Road Map.

Some actions have already been taken. The Palestinian Authority under Prime Minister [Salam] Fayyad has acted to improve its security capabilities and to implement fiscal reform. Israel has agreed to remove some of the obstacles that hinder Palestinian movement in the West Bank. It has also consented to the issuance of entry permits to Israel for thousands of Palestinian workers.
These are welcome steps. But much more remains needs to be done. Continuing settlement activity contravenes both international law and Israel’s obligations under the Road Map. Also, the construction of the barrier in the Occupied Palestinian Territory contravenes the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice. These activities must cease at once.

On the Palestinian side, efforts to improve capacity and performance on security and the rule of law should continue. Next month at a conference in Berlin, donors will also have an opportunity to extend much needed support to this process.

There is particularly urgent need to develop a different and more positive strategy for Gaza. The Palestinian people, especially the 1.5 million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip, endure punishing humanitarian conditions. UNRWA’s aid operation in the area is drastically impeded. Low and inconsistent supplies of fuel hamper transport, water and sanitation. Two thirds of Gaza’s residents subsist in poverty, and economic growth stood at zero last year.

Continuing Israeli air and ground operations only aggravate this situation, resulting in unacceptable casualties among Palestinian civilians in both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Equally unacceptable and deeply irresponsible are the rocket and other attacks by militants against Israeli civilians and at crossings points. I reiterate my call for the cessation of all such condemnable acts of violence and for all parties to comply with international humanitarian law. In particular, measures of collective punishment should cease immediately.

In this context, I commend Egypt for its efforts to achieve calm in the Gaza Strip; these measures should lead to a reopening of the crossings and achieve greater security at the border. This is a first and vital step if Israeli-Palestinian negotiations are to be given the chance to succeed, and also for creating conditions to pursue the reunification of Gaza and the West Bank within the framework of the legitimate Palestinian Authority. This reunification is essential, because a Palestinian State must necessarily encompass both Gaza and the West Bank, as well as East Jerusalem.

I also welcome the reaffirmation of the Arab Peace Initiative, which is a central element in the quest for peace in the region. And I urge strong Arab support for the Palestinian Authority’s efforts to negotiate a peace agreement, to build its institutions and to advance Palestinian unity.

The coming months will be critical to our collective efforts to restore hope to the Palestinians. For my part, I will remain closely involved in the peace process both personally as well as through the Quartet and the efforts of the United Nations Special Coordinator. Together, we must do everything possible to help ensure a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East, based on full implementation of relevant United Nations resolutions and the requirements under the Road Map.

In that spirit, please accept my best wishes for a productive meeting.

[source]

people's issues with weight

3 scenarios, two in the same day and one earlier that left me wondering about people [mainly women] in this part of the world.

#1
today on my way out of the registration office at the university of Jordan, busy with the papers in my hand and actually not seeing anything from the surrounding except the thoughts in my head and how screwed this place is (this is another story) .. a girl comes from a distance saying:


her: Talaaaaaaaaaaaaaa,, Hiiii,, [hugs and kisses]
me: what a nice coincidence, loong time x, how have you been girl??? [ have not seen her in a year or so, IT graduate, we were members of voluntary work during my second year]
her: im good, leish heik nas7aneh , you were thinner !! [$$!!##@@]
me: ooh yea, i know, i have been busy with my school project, stressed a bit, i dont know really
her: aah heik intu il handaseh, something happens to your heads past 3rd year! is there a hope that you will lose the weight after graduation (with a laughter)?!! [ the unpredictable million dollar question..]
me: !!!! yeah, i guess. what have you been doing now? working? [ changing the subject ]
her: no, im not working.
me: been working and quit?
her: no. i didnt [me having weird thoughts..]
me: did you get engaged?
her: YEAH [she puts on the widest smile ever]
me: congrats, thats awesome.. who is the lucky guy?
her: he is mom's relative and we still have sometime before getting married, we are building a house, you know, living preparations. [why doesnt she wanna work then, didnt ask her ofcourse..]
me: im happy for you, hope all goes well with you, good to see you. [we exchanged phone numbers and said goodbye]

my point is its the people who have issues with how you look like. ITS NOT YOU..


#2
1:30 pm, Dakhleeieh circle

took a cab to get back home.

cab driver: where you are heading to?
me: jabal amman, 2nd circle. [ yallah tell me its not where you wanna go to so i find another cab]
cab driver: fine, (after the car moves) but i wont drop you past the second circle, "Allah bi3eenek w btemshi shwai"
me: why is that !!!
cab driver: i will get stuck in the traffic jam if i get to where you want..
me: !!!!! [ if im not wrong its your job to drive me home, right? i didnt say anything]
cab driver: there are many reasons to walk, the weather is fine and you will get to burn some cholesterol
me: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [ screw you ]
cab driver: if there was no jam, i will see if i would drop you in.
me: fine.


he didnt drop me home. if i took public transportation, it would have been more decent.


what i think. people in Jordan do not mind their own business, they dont think before speaking. they are not considerate. and above all, why on earth they think that a chubby girl needs pity or by any chance needs to be patted for gaining weight. people are sick.

if it makes them feel good about themselves, let it be. i call this 3oqad nafsieh.

i love myself. mind you.


#3
my second cousin's birthday, 2 years old. my cousin's mother in law comes up to me


CMiL: tsk tsk tsk.. leish heik 3amleh bi 7alek ... 7aram 3aleiki.
me: [smiling, i dont see her except on birthdays and holidays.. hi]
CMiL: after you have gained weight, you proved that all the females in your family are easily pro getting fat.. [cruella got her moment of victory]
me: ma3lesh auntie, barja3 ban7af.

i call these kind of people, Rude & Waqe7een. may God give them something worthy to obsess with. Amen.

Entrepreneurship and Research as Applied Concepts

There are lots of organisations promoting and offering start up grants for small businesses upon providing good and implementable business plans and having a reliable and needed end product, some get to 15-30 thousand JOD.

private companies who have been established long time ago already know that they need to invest in the added value to their products in order to compete and survive in the new unshielded market, so there will be some coupling between academic institutions [experienced professors who have been neglected and underpaid for long] with active research masters students and the private sector for percentage of profit but its for selective few and governed by the needs of the current chamber of commerce, mainly they are selecting the best professors and students according to GPAs. some professors are leaving the academia to the market.

i was thinking of the higher coucil for the science and technology which is investing something like 450,000 JOD in research and startup grants in addition another 300,000 donated from the EU to buisnesses to be on their feet by 2010, somehow this money invested will be given back to the EU for machinary and facilities needed so i hope it gets spent wisely. i think software companies have more chances to succeed than companies that have to do with mass production though i would go for the need of the latter.

I'm wondering what the industrial future will be like here. like, what kind of workers will they hire and what will happen with the overall social condition given the reality we live now, what will the minimum wage be, what about the taxing system and cost of living, will more foreign working force start flowing in, what is the model we are following, what are we gambling on when it comes to the country's resources. what will drive all this and what are the safety factors here, what are the heads to get the end product, what controls it in the future....

If you secured some capital will you take the risk to join the new craze ?!

The First Annual National Technology Parade Opening Today

The University of Jordan, the United Nations Development Fund for Women, IEEE in Jordan, and Leading Jordanian Universities are proud to invite you to attend the First Annual Technology Parade opening today May 13th, 2008

The Technology Parade came in response to a global drive towards capitalizing on the innovative potential of students to provide technological solutions to challenges facing businesses, governments, civil society, and local communities. it aims at motivating the innovative thinking and practical skills of university students especially students of engineering and information technology disciplines, this is attained through providing proper academic steer, financial support and guidance to connect undergraduates’ projects outputs with the market and local community needs and establish interactive communication channels between various market parties, educational institutions and undergraduate students in addition to encouraging healthy and ethical habits of work among students and to emphasize the role of female students in the fields of technology and engineering technology as well.

Over the course of two academic semesters, students from 14 Jordanian universities worked on designing and implementing innovative, technology – driven projects that will be showcased during the Parade. These projects addressed real life challenges from Jordan such as alternative energy solutions, educational outreach, and preservation of natural resources, automation of public services, and a number of other issues where technology can provide cost–effective, efficient, and innovative solutions and alternatives.

According to Dr. Gheith Abandah, Computer Engineering Department Chair at the University of Jordan, Organizing Committee Chair; 79 student teams registered and carried out projects that solve problems which fall under 6 themes drawn from the above challenges and these teams were distributed as follows: JU 28, JUST 10, Al Hussein University 8, Hashemite University 8, PSUT 5, Yarmouk 5, BAU 4, 2 teams from each Al Ahliah Amman, Applied Science University , Al Zarqa Private University and Philadelphia University, one team from each Petra University, Isra University and Muta University.

61 student teams successfully made it and submitted their projects to the parade in due time while 9 project ideas were specific problems suggested by organizations in the local community such as UNIFEM, MoICT, Jordan Electric Power Company and leading Jordanian and regional engineering and IT companies such as Sedco, Optimiza, and Estarta.

A 500 JOD prize will be rewarded for one winning project in each of the six categories, another 500 JOD prize will be rewarded for best project voted to by the audience using a student developed E-voting system, a best project supervisor prize will be rewarded to the teams' choice of best supervisor and it would cover the expenses for attending any academic conference valued at 1500 JOD, results will be announced in the opening ceremony of the Parade.

Moreover, a two-day program was selectively prepared to include a collection of activities by students, presentations and panel discussions delivered from high profile academia and ICT speakers to prepare students for the Job market in addition to 3 exhibitions for student projects, robotic works, companies & sponsors.

"The design process itself, as we've advanced through the projects pros and cons, the reasoning behind every little feature and how one can understand the nature of the developed project by theory. Of course teamwork was also a great privilege to experiment with my partner" – Team 3

"The challenge; at moments when everything seemed impossible, a simple idea revealed a lot of hope." - Team 55

Those were some answers we received from students upon asking them about the most enjoyable part in developing their projects.

For more details visit: http://fetweb.ju.edu.jo/tp

Place:
Saeed Al Mufti Auditorium
Faculty of Engineering and Technology
The University of Jordan

Date and Time:
May 13th-14th: 9:00 - 17:00

Entrance Fees: Free

Reminder: Educational Systems in the Face of Globalization

From Tunisia , the Director General of the Arab League Educational Cultural and Scientific Organization ( ALECSO) Dr. Munji Bousneinah , will be giving a lecture entitled “ Educational Systems in the Face of Globalization “

6:30 pm @ Shoman Library - 2nd Circle

Le Freak, C'est Chic

Our Economist of Vision!

i say, sing along people:
Aaahh Freak out!
Le Freak, C'est Chic
Freak out!

Have you heard about the new dance craze?
Listen to us, I'm sure you'll be amazed
Big fun to be had by everyone
It's up to you, It surely can be done
Young and old are doing it, I'm told
Just one try, and you too will be sold
It's called Le Freak! They're doing it night and day
Allow us, we'll show you the way

Aaahh Freak out!

Now Freak!
I said Freak!
Now Freak!

whats with people with two or more family names?

Keep Talking

For millions of years mankind lived just like the animals
Then something happenend which unleashed the power of our imagination
We learned to talk

where do we go from here?

Jordan Strike 4/5/2008

i am 100% with it. i don't hate the government but its time to think a little bit about "THE PEOPLE" not the "INVESTORS" .

take a breathe gov't and chillax on business and club capitalism-ation . shwai.. bas zuut, shwai..

التشريعات الاردنية و وزارة التنمية السياسية و الاجندة الوطنية

A text message was mass sent to people from The Ministry of Political Development to participate in giving opinion on a new law @ www.mopd.gov.jo but after checking their website, its not working!! why is it when its the people who gets a chance to talk, there is always a broken link, The Queen said that communication in our time is not an obstacle so why dont we focus on communicating as people with the government, most of the time, its the government that doesnt want to listen or let me rephrase it, its not asking us for solutions rather than sheilding itself from complaints,, we can work things out together, IF YOU JUST LISTEN AND LET PEOPLE KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING!!!! but its like we have to stretch tooooo much to know what the upper legislative authorities are doing and we have to deal with the consequences, are we this much of lab rats?! why??? why is it too hard to find a decent site that connects us to the parliament and the ministries in a way that appreciates public opinin.... i think you government need to get your heads with civilians to know if what you are doing is right, not put Mukharbarat to protect you from what we think, ne7na ma min3od, bas bidna ne3raf wein Allah 7a6na ba3d your expertise !!!!! come out and see from where we stand, the view is not real from where you sit up there ... ok, enough ranting

I found this [link] from Jordan's Legislations Website and i wanted to share the link with you people so you can have a say on the coming legistalions ; Legislation and Opinon Bureau Website [Link]

Another thing i found was the National Agenda! 30 pages brief da da da daaaaaa it is set to be implemented between 2006 - 2015, it makes a little little bit of sense for what is going in Jordan based on it, but i don't think you gov't guys are taking all factors into consideration w 3am titla3 3ala rasna !!!

my current question is where can we read the reports done by the assigned follow up committee with the national agenda ?!

How much citizens in Jordan pay over monthly bills?

today i was looking into switching to a new prepaid plan from one the mobile companies in Jordan and eventually i ended up looking into all the house bills that we pay on monthy basis. the regular must spend, i thought i want to share some rates that i got to so far, probably most of you out there know them, but when we put those together, its no longer a matter of fractions.

first puzzle was the fixed line & DSL line bill; after spending sometime at Jordan Telecom's website to find the rates, it goes like this:

subscription fees: 4.730 JD (Konnichiwa!)

local calls: (note that we used to have free minutes)
1.5 piasters/minute from 7 am - 8 pm
.99 ~ 1 piasters/minute from 8 pm - 12 am (mish fahmeh why .99?)
1 fils/minute from 12 am - 7 am ( no one would call on a land line past midnight )

National calls:
2.5 piasters for the first minute then becomes 1.5 from 7 am to 8 pm
1.7 piasters for the first minute then becomes 1 piaster from 8 pm to 7 am

Fixed to mobile calls:
8.5 piasters for the first minute and then becomes 6.5 piasters/minute from 7 am to 8 pm
8.5 piasters for the first minutes and them becomes 4.5 piasters/minute from 8 pm to 7 am

International calls:
country rate in JD 8am to 10pm /rate 10pm to 8am
KSA .238 / .1666
Syria .238 / .1666
UAE .238/.1666
Oman .2296/.16072 (inno far2at)
Israel .19 / .13
USA .12 /.09

additional fee: 1 JD for universities support per year.
supplementary services by number, for two services you pay: 1.200 JD / month
add 16% tax and voila you have a phone bill

so if you didnt make a single call from a land line you will have to pay 6.87 JD
DSL Service: lets go for the minimal package, Orange @ 128, monthly fees are 8.900 along with taxes it becomes 10.32 JD

now check on average, how much do you pay for the internet and fixed line service? iza biddak to3sorha, 30 JDs minimum ,,,, bare in mind you didnt charge your cell !

Lets now see the Electricity Bill and the rates that come with it:

Reqular Tariff
The tariff of electrical energy supplied to domestic, public buildings, houses inside farms, association offices, worship places, hospitals, manual slaughter houses, social, cultural and sport clubs and elevators in residential buildings and on the charity societies and related facilities which is operating on charity basis not commercial basis for single and three phases is:

a- First block 1 – 160 KWh / month 31 fils / KWh.
b- Second block 161 – 300 KWh / month 59 fils / KWh.
c- Third block 301 – 500 KWh / month 67 fils / KWh.
d- Fourth block over 500 KWh / month 82 fils / KWh.

Meter fee: .200 JD
Fils Al Reef Fee: i dont know how its calculated
Additional Fee: i dont know how its calculated
TV Fee: 1 JD
Public Waste Fee: 5 fils/every KW over 200 KW consumed + 20 JD annually distributed in monthly sums!

our last bill consumed 288 KW and the amount required was 17.903 w hada w ne7na ma mnosrof kahraba.

Water Bill:

i was trying to find our water bill for the last quarter or any useful info on the Lema/WAJ website or anywhere that says what are the new rates, i couldnt find them, but i found a figure that says this : 20 cubic meters cost 7.307 JD , 41 cubic meters cost 13.429, 80 cubic meters cost 60.082 JD, if i can find the bill, i would see if there are additional taxes to it and how is the rate measured by unit.

so we can conclude that in a month, you could pay for electricity, water and fixed land line / DSL around 70 JD and you are having your consumption tight.

this is where im stopping now, i am not going to start on current house costs, food, mobile and gas expenses ... think about how much you work, how much you are paid and how much of this amount is for you to spend without claiming it to cover what you call a necessity. is there any logical reason for being a stressed overworked and underpaid citizen?

you, laxed

its all about the money

just googling :D

The London based British investor from Kurdish origins who made a deal with the former government to start a casino among a huge resort which includes 5 stars hotel is Muhammad Rashid, also known as Khalid Salam.

who is he?

This guy was part of Yaser Arafat's inner circle and best known as his economic advisor and business manager .

maybe you need to read here
i found those articles i think they are worth checking too: here , here and here

what side this man takes, why this project and why in Jordan, its too weird and just through hopping from place to another and mostly they are israeli maintained sites, i felt like other governments don't want this project to go on out of what possibly could happen there and that governments are into casino business!!!

the more i read about shitty stuff like these, i feel like i am a fluffy sheep who was given crayons to get busy with called democracy, justice & co !!!!