عن جدول الضرب و الحفظ و الإلقاء

لم امتلك ابدا القدرة علي الحفظ، و ذلك سبب لي مشاكل كثيرة خلال سنين التعليم اﻷساسي. فأثناء تعلم جدول الضرب مهما حاولت لم أستطع ان اتذكر كافة اﻷرقام فبدلا من الحفظ قررت أن افهم كيفية عمل الضرب و ان احسب اﻷرقام بدلا من تذكرها، و لمساعدتي في ذلك تمكنت من حفظ ثلاثة ارقام من كل جدول مما سرع من حسابي للأرقام.

في المدرسة و في حصة الحساب كان يتم إختيار احد الطلاب لينهض و يلقي جدول الضرب للرقم معين، و إذا لم يستطيع تسميع الجدول فكان هذا الطالب يعاقب، لاحظ ان هذا الحفظ و الإلقاء يتم في حصة الحساب! علي اية حال عندما كان يأتي علي الدور للتسميع كنت اتأخر قليلا بين كل رقم و أخر بينما كنت احسب هذا الرقم في رأسي، و عندما لاحظ المعلم ذلك قرر معاقبتي لفشلي في حفظ الجدول علي الرغم من انني فهمت طريقة عمله ويمكنني ضرب اي رقمين مستخدما عقلي لكن مشكلته كانت في الحفظ فبالنسبه له الحساب هو حفظ مثله مثل النصوص او الدين. علي الرغم من ان رأيي ان النصوص و الدين هم مواد إعمال عقل كذلك، أعتقد ان النظام التعليمي كان مصمم بدقه للغي العقل و إبداله بالحفظ بغير فهم و إعادة الإلقاء، الجميل ان سواء كانت الماده عربي، رياضه، فيزياء، علوم، دين، او جغرافيا في النهاية هي مادة حفظ و إلقاء بغض النظر عن المضمون كلا سواء وكان من الأجدر توحيد كل هذه المواد في مادة واحده و تسميتها مادة الحفظ تحفظ أشياء غير ذات معني ثم تقوم بإلقاءها بغير فهمها.

جمعية الثورة المصريه (تحت التأسيس)

عن البرادعي، عبد الله كمال، و اسامه سرايا

إذا كنت لا زلت اكون رأيي في البرادعي، فأنا كونت رأيي في بعض معارضيه، اليوم قررت ان اراجع أرشيف الأهرام و روز اليوسف لإقراء ما نشر عنه قبل و أثناء الثورة، أشياء تبدو مضحكه هذه الأيام لكن يمكنك ان تتفهم لماذا لا يستسيغ البسطاء البرادعي، ما لا أفهمه هي نظرة عبد الله كمال و اسامه سرايا للإنفسهم. المشكله الأن ان ما كتبه الأثنان له معني واحد البرادعي هو الأب الوحيد للثوره المصريه، و هو ليس حقيقي تماما لكن كتابتهم و عدائهم المركز علي البرادعي و إدعائهم ان اذا اتبعه الناس سيحدث حاله من العصيان المدني في مصر يعني ان الناس قد اتبعوه، مما يعني انه الأب الشرعي للثوره فإما ان يعترفوا بذلك او يعترفوا انهم قد أخطائوا.

روز اليوسف:

عبد الله كمال: الجمعيه الوطنيه للتفاهات 21\12\2010

"المشكلة الحقيقية ليست في أنهم يكشفون أنفسهم، ولا في أنهم يسفرون عن مواقف لاتعرف الخجل، ولا في أنهم عاجزون يعبرون عن حالة تيه وضياع، وإنما في أنهم بهذا الذي يصدرونه للناس إنما يسببون الإحباط للرأي العام.. الذي لا شك أنه يريد معارضة ناضجة.. فيكتشف من موقف إلي آخر كم هي ساذجة.. ويرغب في نخبة انتقادية تحقق التوازن الديمقراطي فيجد نفسه أمام شخصانيين تحركهم الدوافع الذاتية وتبدل أمورهم مسائل أنوية أنانية.. ويريد توجهات أخري في البلد تقوم بدور فعال في الحراك السياسي فيفاجأ بأنه أمام ظواهر صوتية ليست لها مواقف ثابتة.. لا ينظمها قانون ولا تخضع نفسها لنسق.. ترفع شعارات ليست هي قدرها.. وتتصرف وفق الهوي والله أعلم بالطوي."

 عبد الله كمال: الاوراق المخفيه مع البرادعي 22\12\2010

"هل الكلمات التي يرددها هي المقصودة.. هل دعوته إلي العصيان هي الهدف.. هل تحفيزه للناس بأن ينزلوا إلي الشارع بالملايين هو الغرض.. كيف يكون لكل هذا قيمة وخطورة إذا كان ليست لديه مصداقية.. وإذا كان كل ظهور له ينتقص من مكانته التي كانت تستند إلي ما بلغه دوليا.. وهو علي العموم ليس من بنائه الشخصي وإنما من بناء تفاعلات المؤسسات الدولية.. بمعني آخر أن المواطن المصري لم يكن ليعرف البرادعي لو أنه لم يكن حائزًا علي جائزة نوبل.. ما الذي يساويه في عرف المواطن العادي دونها؟ لم يكن ليعرفه الملايين.. الآن هو فقط شخص مصري مشهور ومرموق.. لكن الشهرة لا تصنع السياسة ونوبل لا تضع حلاً للمشكلات والمرموقون لا يكفيهم لمعانهم لكي يطبقوا أفكارا للإصلاح."

محمد عبد النور: الشياطين يتحالفون 15\12\2010

"قبل يومين كتبت في هذا المكان عن التحالف المعلن بين تنظيم جماعة الإخوان غير الشرعي ود.البرادعي وجماعته أيضاً غير شرعية واتفاقهما علي اتخاذ خطوات هي في شكلها ومضمونها خطوات تحريضية بدءاً من البرلمان الموازي وحتي الدعوة إلي عصيان مدني. "

"وصحيح أن هذا التجمع من الفاشلين والمحظورين وخائبي الرجاء قد أعلنوا عن تشكيل مجلس شعب موازٍ لم ينتخبهم له ناخب واحد وحلفوا له اليمين بما يبدو أنه حرص علي البقاء علي شاشات الفضائيات.. ليس له أي تأثير سياسي.
"

الأهرام:

حاولت ان ابحث عن مقالات من قبل الثوره عن البرادعي لكن علي الرغم من انني استطعت ان اجد عناوين الأخبار لم اتمكن من فتح ايا منها، أظن انه تم حذفهم. اتذكر قرأة مقالة عن تعليم البرادعي و انه لم يتخرج بتقدير جيد و كل الأسباب التي تمنعه من تولي الحكم.

الجمهوريه: 

تم إزالة الأرشيف حتي الموجود منه لا يمكن فتحه.

Petrol, The Prize and The Opium wars

Having just returned from the Gulf I decided to read more about how it became what it is now, how they became more Americanized than any other country I've been in, the answer is OIL and the American interest in the resources they've got in their country, Syriana is one of the movies that really exposes the reality of the situation and how Americans need Arabs to want stuff they don't need from them, in order to maintain a trade balance, otherwise America would go bankrupt while purchasing petrol from the middle east, One of the best book on this is "The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power" I haven't read it just yet but looking forward to, this book is about how the middle east was shaped and reshaped to enable America to acquire Oil without going bankrupt.

Going back in history, about the same thing happened when England discovered Tea around the 1700s, basically tea at one point became a hyped commodity in Britain and since the Chinese people were from a totally different culture and didn't require anything that the British technology could produce and export, additionally china had really firm trade regulations that limited the interaction of the traders to certain areas and they weren't allowed to move freely within China, the Brits wanting tea and having nothing to trade it for started using the universal currencies, gold and silver, soon enough Imperial Britain realized that they were running out, and due to the popularity of tea they were going to go bankrupt in a decade or two. Additionally cargo ships were going to china while empty, since Chinese people didn't want to buy anything from them, the solution was to get them hooked to something they could easily produce, something that didn't cost them a lot to produce, Opium, which they grew in India, and Indians were hooked to British commodities, so the ships sailed from Britain, with commodities for the Indians, traded them for Opium, took the Opium and traded it with China for tea. By the 1800's, China was trading the silver they saved up for Opium, The trade imbalance shifted in the other side, which eventually sparked the Opium war. This sounds awfully familiar doesn't it.

The gulf nations are living this life that's completely Americanized they are addicted to these little trinkets exported to them by the Americans, commodities that they've always lived without but now can not, and for these commodities they are trading out their oil reserves. That said I have this other observation, have you noticed how all of the major cigarette companies are American?

How many people does it take to run a country

Quoted from Management - Tasks, Responsibilities and Practices
 

POLITICALLY, THE HISTORY OF THE BRITISH RULE OF INDIA is a history of muddle, indecision, lack of direction and, in the last analysis, failure. What kept the British in control and power for two hundred years was, in part, India’s weakness and disunity. But above all, the British stayed in power because of a supreme administrative accomplishment: the Indian Civil Service. In its greatest period, the second half of the nineteenth century, it never numbered more than a thousand men. Most were very young, mere lads in their early twenties, for life expectancy was brutally short for the white man in India’s hostile climate, in which malaria and dysentery were endemic and cholera an

annual visitor.

Most of these young men of the alien race who administered the huge subcontinent were stationed in total isolation in small villages or on dusty crossroads in which they did not see for months on end anyone who spoke their language and shared their concerns. Only a few survived long enough to retire with modest pensions to the England whence they had come and of which they always dreamed. These young men who administered British India were rather dull and uninteresting. After a short apprenticeship, they were put into an assignment of their own to sink or swim.* These men were younger sons of poor country parsons, with no prospects at home and little standing in English society. Their pay was low; and such opportunities for loot or gain as their predecessors had enjoyed in the swashbuckling days of the East India Company a hundred years earlier had, by 1860, been completely eliminated by both law and custom.

Flag of the British Raj

These untrained, not very bright, and totally inexperienced youngsters ran districts comparable in size and population to small European countries. And they ran them practically all by themselves with a minimum of direction and supervision from the top. Some, of course, became casualties and broke under the strain, falling victim to alcohol, to native women or—the greatest danger of them all—to sloth. But most of them did what they were expected to do, and did it reasonably well. They gave India, for the first time in its long and tragic history, peace, a measure of freedom from famine, and a little security of life, worship, and property. They administered justice impartially and, at least as far as they themselves were concerned, honestly and without corruption. They collected taxes, by and large, impartially and equitably. They did not make policy; and in the end they foundered because they had none. But they administered, and administered well.*

This remarkable administrative achievement, the achievement of a middle management which, for two hundred long years, could in large measure offset the top management failure of the system—or rather, the fact that there was no top management— rested on exceedingly simple foundations.

The jobs the young men were assigned were big and challenging. There was enough scope in each of them to keep even a good man interested and occupied for many years.  The job was the young man’s own job, and not a job as an “assistant to” anybody. He was accountable. He was responsible. And it was up to him to organize the job as he saw fit. Performance standards were high and uncompromising. A young, basically untrained and unprepared amateur was expected to give perfect justice; to be totally impartial; to maintain public order, safety on the roads and in the villages, and religious and civil peace. And he had to do this by persuasion, by the authority of his own person and by his mere presence; to have to invoke force, for instance to call in the military, was considered failure. And while the individual job was anonymous, the Service had high pride in itself and  a deep commitment to standards and mission. It was imbued with the highest spirit.

A manager’s job should be based on a task that has to be done to attain the company’s  objectives. It should always be a real job—one that makes a visible and, if possible, measurable contribution to the success of the enterprise. It should have the broadest rather than the narrowest scope and authority. The manager should be directed and controlled by the objectives of performance rather than by his boss.

Reading in qatar

Having an idle day to spend in Qatar I decided to get a good relaxing book, find a nice outdoors cafe and spend a couple of hours chilling out as I go through this interesting yet relaxing page turner, having none with me I decided to buy one. These days in egypt you'd never find a mall without a bookshop or two, al shorouk or virgin, stacked with all the types of books you can think off and of course they'd have all these relaxing page turners to pick from, people starting in cairo again and selling books actually returned to being a profitable business. However in qatar obviously its not, the mall closest to my home had no book shops at all even the carrefourz which is selling everything u can think off has 2 racks of the most un interesting books magazines ever, just going through the titles got me bored, of course and just to be fair other malls have virgin mega store, but the books sold there are also uninteresting, and the variety is no where close to the one we have in cairo.

As a result I decided to use one of the books I got with me from cairo, having the book I put on my headset with chillout music playing and sunglasses and decided to hit the nearest outdoors cafe around to soak in the sun while reading, after 20 minutes I gave up. Obviously due to the heat they have here around the year the concept of an outdoors cafe isn't really that popular here, if u want to sit somewhere u can either go sit on kornish or in an indoors cafe. I found a cafe with a nice view and proceeded to sit in that perfect spot over looking the business district towers, only to be told that these are families only tables and that I had to find somewhere else to sit in the cafe, the waitress then proposed that spot over looking nothing what so ever.

At that point I decided to give up go heading to starbucks I sat in that chair facing the wall drank my cappuccino as fas as I could and then headed home.
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless handheld

عن الكسوف الشمسي و استفتاء تعديل الدستور

شهد امس اول تصويت حر في تاريخ مصر، لأول مره ذهب الشعب إلي صناديق الإقتراع ليعلن عن رأيه، و من ظاهر الأمر أن رأيه مخالف لما يعتقد المثقفين و السياسين و الثوار انه الأفضل لمصلحة مصر ويتناسب تماما مع تطلعات ما تبقي من الحزب الوطني و الإخوان المسلمين الذين سيحصلون الأن علي فرصه ذهبيه للحصول علي أغلبيه في المجالس النيابيه لا تماثل شعبيتهم في الشارع، لكن سيحصلون عليها لمجرد ان الأن الإنتخابات ستجري قبل تكوين او استعداد اي حزب جديد للمنافسه، بغض النظر عن تعديل الدستور اعتقد النتيجه الأهم التي تم التوصل إليها ان الديمقراطيه تعني اتخاذ الشعب قرارات ستؤثر فيك بغض النظر عن إراداتك ومهما كانت تبدو صحيحه لك فإن إرادة هذا الشعب ستفضل علي رؤيتك التي قد تكون صائبه، هذا الشعب لا يقطن أغلبه بالقاهرة و الإسكندريه بل بالقري و النجوع، هذا الشعب يعيش حياة مختلفه تماما عني و عنك. هذا الشعب يحصل علي معلوماته من مصدرين جهاز الإعلام الحكومي و الجامع (او الكنيسه)، أغلب هذا الشعب تعلم في المدارس الحكوميه و لا يقرء. عادةً ما تهتم الحكومات بإعداد الشعب لإتخاذ قراراته لنفسه كي يصبح مستعدا لتحمل مسؤلية الديمقراطيه لكن خلال الثلاثون عام الماضيين و لأننا كنا نعد لنحكم علي طريقة الدكتاتور العادل (حسب تعريفه لنفسه) تم غسيل أدمغة هؤلاء الناس و مسح قدرتهم علي إتخاذ قرارتهم لإنفسهم خلال تعليم و إعلام و خطاب ديني يلغي التفكير الحر و ينمي التلقين و إتباع ما تسمع بغير تحكيم للعقل، كنتيجه لذلك من يملك الإعلام في مصر يملك قرار الشعب.

في أغسطس من عام 1999 قام النظام بإختبار قدرته علي التأثير علي عقلية الجماهير، فقبيل حدوث كسوف شمسي في مصر قام الإعلام بتعبئة الناس بالذعر إتجاه الكسوف الشمسي فأخذت الصحف و البرامج الإخباريه تتحدث عن خطورة الكسوف انطلق الشيوخ يدعون إلي صلاة الكسوف و يبرروا فرضها ان خلال الصلاه ينظر المصلي إلي الأرض مما يحفظه من خطورة الإشعاع أستجاب الشعب بصورة قياسيه علي مختلف طبقاته، كنت وقتها في مارينا و حينها قامت القريه بجعل سياره تحمل مكبرات صول تجوب القريه و هي تذيع تحذير و اعلان أن القريه غير مسؤله عن من سينظر إلي الشمس، و خوت الشوارع تماما وقتها. و بينما كان العالم كله يشاهد الكسوف الشمسي الذي لن يتكرر في حياتنا ثانية تحولت أغلب مدن مصر إلي مدن أشباح اختبئ شعبها كله خوفاً من الإشعاع! شخصيا اعتقد ان هذا الإختبار كان ناجح لإبعد المقاييس فقد اثبت للنظام قدرته علي التأثير علي الشعب و جعله يفعل ما يريد تماما.

أعتقد ان طريقنا الوحيد لديمقراطيه واعية هو التوعيه، توعية الشعب بطريقة الإختيار، مبدائيا عكس كل ما تعلم في المدرسه و الجامع و الإعلام الحكومه، إقناع المواطن الطبيعي في القريه المصريه الطبيعيه ان لديه عقل يمكن ان يستخدمه للتحكيم و أختيار الأفضل له، إقناعه ان رجل الدين ليس علي صواب لمجرد انه يقود الصلاه، و ليس لها ان يؤثر علي إختيارته، للأسف لا اعتقد انه من الممكن حدوث ذلك قبل الإنتخابات القادمه، سينتخب الشعب من يختار الإعلام الحكومي و المساجد (إخوانيه، حكوميه، سلفيه) لهم.

what i think on democracy

عن الأسطول السادس الأمريكي، الجيش الاسرائيلي و أزمة القمح

ن كنتم تريدون الديمقراطية........ فلماذا تفرضون رأيكم بالقوة ان كنتم تريدون محاكمة القتلة ....... فاتركوا الفرصة لبدء المحاكمةان كنتم تخشون الاعتقال ........ فلن يجرؤ أحد علي ذلك بعد ثورتكم ان كنتم لا تثقون في وعود الرئيس ........... فميدان التحرير لن يرحل عناان كنتم تريدون الانتقام .......... فمصر أكبر من انفعالاتكم...و ان كان لكم أهداف أخري ........ فكفي تخفيا و اتركوا مصر

  حققت لكل المصريين كل مطالب الثوره غيرت الدستور و اقالت الوزاره و الغيت فكره التوريث و عينت نائبا لك و تنازلت عن منصبك و لكن لم يهدأ و يفهم هذا لشعب انك كنت بالامس موجود مجرد صوره لكى تحمى بلادنا و نظرا للحفاظ على بلدك اولا و شعبها ثانيا و كرامتك التى اهانوها ثالثا فقررت التنحى شكرا لك يا مبارك على... حقن دماء المصرين والحفاظ على كرامتهم فهو ليس بغريب عن بطل شكرا رئيس جمهوريتنا السابق السيد محمد حسنى مبارك

الجيش السادس الامريكى على حدود قناة السويس بحجة تامين المصالح الامريكية والجيش الاسرائيلى على حدود سيناء ، البلد هتروح فوقوا بقى

 تحركات مكثفه للجيش الإسرائيلي علي الحدود مع مصر، إصحوا البلد بتضيع

مبارك هو السبب الوحيد لإستقرار مصر.

إذا حل مجلس الشعب و الشوري سيحدث فراغ دستوري

هذه بعضا من الأشياء التي ينشرها البعض علي الفيس بوك خلال الثوره، احداث مختلقه او معاد صياغتها لتثير قلق المتظاهرين، او لتجبر الأهالي لإجبار اولادهم علي العوده للمنازل، ما يجعل هذا مختلفا عن التراهات التي كان يروج لها جهاز الإعلام المصري ان هذه الأخبار كان مروجها الأساسي شباب سليم النيه، يصدق ما يسمع و يعيد نشره بغير التفكير فيه، هؤلاء الشباب هم نفس من سلم من اول خطاب، و اصبح حانقا علي المتظاهرين من ثاني خطاب، ثم قرر التظاهر ضدهم بعد ثالث خطاب، الشباب الذى دائما ما يدعون إلي الإلتفات لمصلحة الوطن متجاهليا إن ما يحدث هو فعلا لمصلحته...لا اعتقد ان يمكن وصفهم بالخونه او كرههم، هم مغرر بيهم، شباب تم غسيل ادمغتهم عبر تعليم و جهاز إعلامي صمم خصيصاّ لهذا الغرض، هم مجرد ادوات في ايدي نظام قام علي الكذب و الخديعه.

 

هذه الأيام تستعد مصر لما قد يكون اهم القرارات في تاريخها، هل نعدل الدستور ام نغيره، إنقسم الناس بين مؤيد و معارض، لكن من الواضح إن من تبقي من الحزب الوطني، و النظام يريدون التعديل و ليس التغيير، او كما يصغونها، من اجل مصر صوت بنعم. حقيقة لم أكن متفاجئ عندما وجدت ان نفس الشباب متحمسون لنعم و متعصبين جدا للرأيهم.

بالمنسبه هو الجيش السادس الأمريكي فين الأيام دي، و بعدين هوا الجيش الإسرائيلي كان بيتمشي علي الحدود ولا ايه، و بعدين الفراغ الدستوري حصل ولا لسه....جامدين اوي الناس دي بجد...

The Pharaohs chair

A short story by Yusuf Idris...really well directed, and definitely worth watching.

عبود الزمر حليف النظام رقم 1

في حركة جريئة للنظام، و لن اقول نظام سابق للإنه لم ينتهي بعد تم الأفراج عن عبود الزمر، احد المتهمين في اغتيال السادات، و علي الفور تم إستضافته في عدة برامج حوارية علي قنوات مملوكه للرجال الإعمال، و علي الرغم من ظاهرية سلامة هذه الخطوة لكن انا اعتقد انها خطوة محسوبة من النظام للإثارة الفتن، كل كلمة نطقها تشعرك بالقلق علي مصر، و قد تدفعك لإختيار الحزب الوطني لمنع اشخاص علي شاكلة عبود الزمر من تولي اي منصب، او حتي سماعه او رؤيته، إذا كنت مسلم و راودتني تلك المشاعر فما بالك إن لم اكن.

شخصيا إن لم اكن مسلم لكنت في الشارع الأن اهتف بتولي جمال مبارك الحكم علي الأقل كان يضمن لنا بقاء هؤلاء الأشخاص في السجن، كل كلمه نطقة في كل حوار استضافه تثير القلق. قلق يحتاجه النظام للإستمرار في صورة جديده. فور انتهاء الحوارات تم رفع عدة مقاطع له، و فورا تم نشرها علي المنتديات الأصوليه المسيحيه، يمكنك ان تشعر بالقلق و الكرة الذي اثارته تلك المقاطع بمجرد قراءة التعليقات، لكن الجميل في الموضوع ان من بعد 25 يناير ارتفع مستوي الوعي لدي الناس، فمعظم التعليقات هي ضد عبود نفسه و ليست ضد الدين الإسلامي كذلك معظم الناس يدركون ان غالب الظن اطلاق سراحه و استضافته هو مجرد مخطط لإثارة فتنة طائفيه، و هذا يتفق كليا مع الأحداث التي حدثت في الأيام الأيام الأخيره.

#صاحي و بيلعب

Outsourcing Industry

Around three years ago I was talking to a German colleague of mine about outsourcing and how he should be worried about his career in Germany since the current trend is to outsource everything possible to countries that can operate the same function at a much cheaper price, I told him that within a couple of years he'll end up moving to one of these cheaper countries in order for him to find a job. However he wasn't the least bit worried, his point was that as work gets outsourced to cheaper countries, such as Egyptian, the Egyptian employees start getting a glimpse of what they should be paid for their job if they were in one of the outsourcing countries, also they start realizing that their work conditions isn't as fair as they thought they were as their European counterparts get paid better, work less hours and generally are more respected by their employers, soon enough they'll demand the same treatment, pumping up the over head until outsourcing isn't that cost effective any longer, he then quoted the Romanian and Polish examples and how it was predicted that they'll crash the salary averages once they joined the EU but that never happened. Also he mentioned something about how outsourcing by its nature is not a sustainable model, as you'll end up outsourcing to a company that would outsource it again and the task will keep getting outsourced until it is done by the cheapest least qualified team possible.

I remembered this conversation as I was handing over my job to my Indian counterparts that accepted the same job for a much smaller amount of money. Talking with them I realized how we must have appeared to the German counter parts, these guys worked more hours, got paid less, got placed in the worst hotels possible, and generally were being abused by their management and didn't have any rights, as one of them put it "in India, you either work hard or not work at all", within 3 weeks they started getting more curious about our packages, how we get paid, compensated, our work rules, our rights as employees, which hotels we stay in and generally started slowly at first demanding the same treatment.

I predict that within a couple of years they'll be more expensive than their say Chinese counter parts, and they'll end up handing over the project to them, and as they hand over the technical part, they'll also hand over the work culture, soon enough outsourcing will not be as cost saving as it originally was, in reality the amount of money saved while outsourcing will be smaller than the money lost during the difference in quality.

The good thing is I believe that us as human beings should be treated the same way, regardless to the nationality we have, I believe that doing the same job you should be compensated relatively the same way, what out sourcing had done is that it allowed workers from all over the world to share how they are being compensated to their cheaper outsourced to counterparts.

عن الكمباوندز

I wrote this entry back in 2008 in a different blog but I feel its time to republish it.

 

فكرت ان اكتب هذه التدوينه بالإنجليزيه لتفادي الأخطاء المؤكد حدوثها، ثم عدت و فكرت ربما هذه الأخطاء ستوضح الفكره التي احاول التعبير عنها، كما ان بعض الأشياء لا يمكن التعبير عنها إلا بالعربية.

بصفتي احد ساكني ضواحي القاهرة (المدن الجديده سابق) لاحظت اخيرا التزايد الغير المسبوق للكمباوندز، كل من يبني اربع بنايات يسورهم و يعطيهم اسما ما يوحي بحياة افضل، فجأه اصبح المعيشه خارج احد هذه المجتمعات المسوره غير مقبول اجتماعيا...الطبيعي في اسعار اي عقار هو مكان هذا العقار و العرض و الطلب لكن في هذه الكمباوندز لا تنطبق هذه القاعده، معظم هذه الكمباوندز في اماكن عديمة القيمه كما ان عدد المعروض من اكبر جدا من الطلب، لكن يظل سعراها اعلي كثيرا من المتوسط و علي الرغم من ذلك تباع معظمها قبل بناءها، السبب في رأي ان ما يباع ليس مجرد عقار بل ما يباع هو الإحساس بالأمان و الوجاهه الإجتماعيه. أمل ان تنأي بنفسك عن العامه و الصراعات اليوميه ان تجد مكانا يضمك مع من يماثلك في مستوي الدخل و التعليم. ان تعتمد علي إداره يمكن ان تسائلها و تغيرها إن لزم الأمر. ان تنام ليلا عالما ان هناك بوابات تفصل بينك و بين العامه الذين لا يريدون غير مالك ايا كانت الطريقه.

في القرن التاسع عشر كان مكان السكن الرئيسي في القاهره هو الحاره، و كان لكل حاره باب يغلق مساء و يحتفظ بمفتاح هذا الباب شيخ الحاره، و كان المصدر الرئيسي للمياه هو السقا، ذلك الشخص الذي كان يدور علي البيوت بقربته المملوئة بالمياه (المعباه من مصدر جيد) ليوزع مياه الشرب مقابل مبلغ معلوم. و دارت الأيام و ظهرت الحكومه المركزيه، و الشرطه التي كانت تأمن الشوارع ليلا فانتفت الحاجه لباب الحاره الذي يغلق ليلا فلا حاجه لإغلاقه و انت عالم ان هناك من يجول بالشوارع ليلا مأمنا اياها، ثم ظهرت شركة المياه و اصبحت المياه الصالحه للشرب متوافره في كل منزل...و دارت الأيام فبدلا من السقا اصبح اعتمادنا علي شركة نستله التي توزع المياه الصالحه للشرب، لأن المياه "الحكوميه" غير موثوق فيها و عامة غير صالحه للشرب، و بدلا من باب الحاره اعتمدنا علي باب الكمبوند. فهل معني هذا ان ثقتنا في الحكومه المركزيه قد اهتزت.

Engineering a Cup of Cappuccino

Being a second generation java lover I decided to write about coffee, I believe that cappuccino is one of the most popular drinks on earth, no one can hate it or think twice about having it, but what is it really and why is it built in the way it is, personally I believe a cup of cappuccino is a feat of italian engineering. A drink that's constructed using certain dedicated tool that's been designed specifically for it.

A classic cup of cappuccino is composed of three building blocks:
1. An espresso shot.
2. Heated milk.
3. Steamed milk froth

Milk is heated, espresso shot(s) poured in and finally milk froth is carefully added to the cup. The froth is what's a cappuccino apart from its much less glamorous latte, around 200 years ago Italians discovered that froth served as a heat insulator to the drink beneath it, so you could enjoy a hot cup of coffee for much longer even when its really cold, in a way they engineered a way to add a tasty drinkable insulator to their coffee, they then went on to design and build machines to created that perfect foamy long lasting milk froth, the early cappuccino machines are nothing short of stunning, you can easily see how much love went into these machines and how they somehow managed to balance between form and function.


Cappuccino should be always drank from a proper cup, it adds so much  to the experience. When I spot people adding in sugar and then stirring it in through the foam in quick circular motion, I usually feel like stopping them, this usually flattens the froth mixing it into the milk and effectively turning it into a latte. If u want to add sugar u should stir it in really carefully without disturbing the foam, as in using the foamy layer as a pivot to your spoon and trying to rotate the drink beneath it slowly.

Finally, a cup of cappuccino is not an energy drink, not something to drink to give you some energy to endure these few hours left of your work day, if you that just drink american coffee, a cup of cappuccino  is to be enjoyed sipped savored to the last drop.

Now I'll go finish drinking my flat paper cup starbucks cappuccino that inspired me to write this.

Secterian crisis in egypt

I'm not currently in Egypt so I don't have the level of visibility I'd normally have of whats going on, what I know for fact is that some people demolished some church somewhere in the country side surrounding Egypt, and then held Fajr prayer on its ruins, then the army stepped in. Next day several sectarian clashes took place in poorer areas of Egypt, mostly slums and the areas surrounding them, army stepped in again using a level of force it's never used before against protesters and at least 10 people were killed and hundreds were injured.

I know we've always had sectarian issues in Egypt, and I know that the regime used these issues to keep the people busy fighting one another rather than fighting the government, I've never met a Muslim who'd actively harm another based on his religion and I've lived my entire life in Egypt, it's just against the Egyptian nature, we are a peaceful passive people if we weren't we wouldn't have been so easily governed by mubarak's regime for 30 years.

Back in school when one of the teacher's wanted to mess up some kid's life he'd treat him better and provided him with fake protection that would only end up instigating other kids to try to hurt him whenever they can. The Ministry of Interior did something similar by placing a single police deputy in a small kiosk in front of churches, this police deputy wouldn't provide any sort of protection to the church if anything happened, and generally he just sat there doing nothing as an Egyptian Muslim I felt offended by that, and if i was christian I'd have been even more offended by that presence that does nothing but make me look week, hated and in need of protection, anyway during the revolution and after the disappearance act pulled by the ministry of interior all of these police deputies disappeared and nothing happened, not a single church was attacked, not even the Jewish synagogue down town. I believe that these deputies were placed there to make sure that Muslim's and Christian's alike feel that they aren't safe.

So why now?, and right after what appeared to be the fall of the State Security these sectarian issues appeared, a naive person would think that the State Security was stopping such events from happening, but of course this is not true, over the last decade several sectarian incidents happened, some of them even are believed to be managed and caused by the SS to keep the people busy, also even if the SS was protecting Egypt from such things, it'd not have happened this fast. Personally I believe that this last incident was triggered by the SS, which I'm sure is still operational, only gave up its HQs and is operating from safe houses or something like that. All they needed to do was to trigger an incident get the people all excited about it, and let all the social diseases we have in Egypt do their work, and of course the least educated least privileged are usually the people who fall into such schemes.

Going through Copts United, a web site dedicated to Coptic needs in Egypt, they managed to list the people appearing in the video of this incident published on youtube (another reason to think its SS), two of the people are known have been working with the SS, and one is actually a secret SS policeman. the comments on that article are mostly talking about solidarity and how Muslims and Christians are in one ship and how we should stand up against such things, obviously most people visiting that site didn't fall for it, unfortunately there are more underprivileged less educated people than there are people who are aware enough to tell that this is all a scheme, the only way to get out of this situation is Solidarity, Muslim's, as in bearded salafi's should head out and express their solidarity to Christians, which already started happening but I believe that more of this is needed.

The current police situation in Cairo

These days Cairo is not the safe city we were used to, the police force isn't working in many of Cairo's districts and due to the released prisoners (who most probably were released by the x-regime) the streets are far from safe. There have been rumors about mass resignations from the police corps, also the few policemen who are actually in the streets aren't really doing their job, and it's not about lack of resources or having their stations burnt down (again most people believe they did that themselves), it's an attitude issue. There are many stories about how they called for police help and they were told that now that the country is under the people's control people should help themselves.

This can be easily understood if you examine the reasons why people join the police force to begin with, after all it doesn't pay that well and once you join you can't quit, you can't really come and go as you please and you are basically a glorified government employee. I don't think most of the of the people who join police care about this country or are in to protect Egypt and make it a better place to live in, they mostly join because of the prestige associated with being a police officer, knowing that you are above the law and can do lots of things normal people can't and not even get questioned, also being a police officer facilitates lots of things for you, starting a business is easier, getting all the required approvals is a piece of cake, and if you end up in SS or a similar place you've made it and you are set for life. Now after 25Jan they've lost most of these perks, as well as face after all what they've done to the Egyptian people,  and they are now stuck with a measly salary and most of them can't even quit without paying an obscene amount of money to the government. Simply there is nothing to motivate them to get out of bed everyday and protect Cairo, especially now most people feel that they've betrayed them. The only hope I have now that most of the young officers come from good families, they have ethical values somewhere inside of them, perhaps with the proper motivation they can end up becoming the police force we've always been dreaming to have.

The past paragraph is about police officers, as for deputies (omana2 al shorta) these people join the police force to make money by using their powers, I think 90% of them is corrupt if not more, the academy for police deputies allows undereducated lower classes of people to serve in the police force assisting officers, they do their best everyday to find new ways to get as much money as they can from any citizen that crosses their path, I don't think I've ever met a clean deputy, I highly doubt they can become clean because they simply aren't paid well enough and they joined the police force for the wrong reasons to begin with, I hope they prove me wrong but I doubt it is possible.

Or we can always outsource our police force.

Souad Massi - oh Horria

I accidentally discovered Souad Massi's new album, obviously she released a new album last year and no one realized, anyway I'm adding a link here for your listening pleasure, however if you like it please buy it, do not download it, I think the least think we should do is repay Souad for her gift to us, the ability to tune down the entire world and just listen to her voice.

The album is really good perhaps technically one of her best however I don't really like how there are more English songs than Arabic in the album.

http://www.mawaly.com/music/Souad+Massi/album/6219

Private Channels and the egyptian revolution

Just the other day I was having a discussion with a friend of a mine and we mentioned that the only way for any regime to stay clean and uncorrupted is knowing that its being closely monitored, installing enough controls on it to make sure that corruption would be immediately spotted and handled, and that mass media is the main control of any successful regime around the world, he then mentioned something about how the independent Egyptian channels are assuming that role these days and how they were in large part responsible for the fall of the regime and the events that lead to jan25, to which I responded that to-date we've never had truly independent channels, the regime made sure that it was impossible for one to surface, the approval system made sure that the only way for you to broadcast anything is by going through state security first and making sure that you are complying with there rules and will always be under their control. Their main purpose was providing the masses with a mean to vent through, this venting made sure that people weren't feeling bad enough to move still none of that venting resulted in anything serious, so it was all about making sure that people were too busy talking to take any action, further more these shows/channels were used to control the masses to think whatever the regime wants them to think, they were even being used to bash public figures that they don't like.

Throughout the last 2 decades the regime made sure that only the corrupt and decadent would be successful, and to own your own channel you must be filthy rich. In short the only way for you to start an independent TV channel is to be accepted and approved by the government, knowing that they'll loose everything they have if their channels misbehave the make sure that they never cross these red lines drawn to them by the government furthermore whenever they are asked to show their loyalty by pushing a certain idea they do. From day one of the revolution you could tell that they were playing what the government wanted them to say, the only difference form one channel to another is how good they were at masking their intentions. The fact is These channel's owners are an integral part of the regime the reason they exist and why they amounted such huge fortunes was their loyalty and if the regime falls, most of them will be exposed or at least they'll be playing in a leveled field and they don't that, this fact didn't change over night because of the revolution.

The point I'm making here is that these channels are owned by corrupt decadent men who were produced by the regime and are an integral part of it, they have full control over the what gets played and what doesn't and they'd defend what ever is left from the regime by their lives, I think expecting these channels to be fair and provide a balanced coverage of whats going on is nothing more than a pipe dream that can't be realized, and unless we manage to launch a publicly owned channel that's being managed by some kind of independent board the only proper coverage we can get is Twitter and Social media.

The fall of the Egyptian SS apparatus

The Egyptian SS (State Security) apparatus finally fell yesterday, obviously after Ahmed Shafik's resignation they panicked and started burning whatever documents they had inside these buildings, people saw that and tried to stop them, something happened, they started attacking the protesters with live ammunition and Molotov cocktails! The army was there and obviously some of them got injured, and as a result they stormed into the building, minutes later a decision was taken to freeze all SS activities and for them to hand over the HQs to the army.

Protesters got into some of the SS buildings, such as the one in Nasr City, a complex of several 4 stories buildings, turns out they had 8 stories underground. rooms full of shredded paper were found, prisoners who've been hijacked and imprisoned with no court order for years, they even found a guy who's been there for 14 years!! files on everybody, obviously this 100K employees apparatus was doing nothing but monitoring the egyptian people, they even found rooms full of sex tapes of anybody who is anybody in egypt! obviously they used to use this to "persuade" people, sheets containing email passwords of activists, and they even found "Khaled Saeed"s file. We need years just to process the files we've found there. Wikileaks offered to unshred the shredded papers we recovered, they say they've got the best unshredding team in the world and they are wiling to help, sharing these files with them is not an option of course as they include sensitive information that should never leave this country however they can transfer their knowledge to the more than able Egyptian people and we'll unshred them.

I've several concerns though, first of all and I'm just stating the obvious here ahmed shafeek was just an extension of the old regime, documents were found that were produced in the few days he was in charge, it seems like the SS was working for him during that time, I already knew this however many of the people I know believed in him, I recall he said something like the SS is sacred right before he resigned, anyway days will prove what he was really all about.

Another really important concern is about validating these files, if any document surfaces there is no way for us to verify its authenticity, so most of the documents that were recovered are more or less useless, additionally SS had a really decent head start, they've been burning files and destroying evidence for quite some time now, we are only left what they thought had the lowest priority or wanted us to find, already most of the documents that were recovered are about public media figures, so far no documents about any political figures were found? this doesn't make much sense, unless of course they wanted us to see these documents. Another point is that now these files are all over the place, many people's privacy would be even more violated than they already were.

I'm able to breathe easier now though, knowing that no one is looking over my shoulder, they spent 91 man years everyday to monitor the Egyptian people, controlling and manipulating every single aspects of our lives, I'm sure I have a file there somewhere and most probably its not important enough for them to burn right away, I'm sure this file is waiting there in one of the cabinets waiting to be read.

Restructuring the Egyptian Police Force (translated off nawara negm's blog)

I just read an interesting entry on how to restructure the police force by the ever so creative nawara negm that I just had to loosely translate here.

Nawara is saying that the Police force should be restructured in the same way it was built in the first place, classically the Police administration picked the decent well mannered police candidates and placed them in airport security and tourism police, and the candidates who knew would never steel or accept unethical practices gets placed in the firefighting brigade, they then placed the possibly unethical candidates in the police stations and riot police, and the psychotic candidates in state security. Nawara cleverly states that the same technique should be used in reverse.

The policemen serving in airports and tourism police should be placed in police stations and riot police, and the unethical corrupt psychotic policemen we used to deal with should be placed in airport and tourism police, as well as these special protection units (that protect important figures in Egypt). If followed this would mean that we'll interact with the good policemen and the bad ones would have to watch their attitude or they'd end up offending the wrong person and we'll end up getting fired from the police force.

Simple and genius :)

original entry
http://tahyyes.blogspot.com/2011/03/blog-post_05.html

1984 : The Ministry of Love and the Egyptian SS

George Orwell has always been one of my favorite authors, I think he successfully predicted how an oppressive dictatorship would be run so precisely that I sometimes wonder if dictators read his books and design how their states are run based on his books. These days with the things going on with the Egyptian State Security I couldn't get Orwell's fictional ministry of love out of my mind, in "1984" a dystopian Oceania is being run by the 4 ministries, who make sure that the people are busy, under control and know nothing about reality other than what the regime tells them.

• Ministry of Peace : througout the modern history the country was always on war with some entity or another, no one knows if it is real or not, however it provides the company the ability to accuse anyone of being a spy, and claiming that any issue suffered by the people is due to that enemy. Remember how the regime kept convincing us that there are so many forces of evil that want to destroy us, be it islamists, copts, Palestinians, Zionists, al Jazeera, the regime made sure we always had that fictional enemy that was responsible for all these bad things happening to us.

War was a sure safeguard of sanity, and so far as the ruling classes were concerned it was probably the most important of all safeguards. While wars could be won or lost, no ruling class could be completely irresponsible.

• Ministry of Plenty : The Ministry of Plenty rations and controls food, goods, and domestic production; every fiscal quarter, the Miniplenty publishes false claims of having raised the standard of living, when it has, in fact, reduced rations, availability, and production. The Minitrue substantiates the Miniplenty claims by revising historical records to report numbers supporting the current, "increased rations".
• Ministry of Truth : The Ministry of Truth controls information: news, entertainment, education, and the arts. Winston Smith works in the Minitrue RecDep (Records Department), "rectifying" historical records to concord with Big Brother's current pronouncements, thus everything the Party says is true.
• Ministry of Love : The Ministry of Love identifies, monitors, arrests, and converts real and imagined dissidents. In Winston's experience, the dissident is beaten and tortured, then, when near-broken, is sent to Room 101 to face "the worst thing in the world"—until love for Big Brother and the Party replaces dissension.

I recall reading the novel once, and then trying to read it again however I wasn't able to finish it as it got too depressing for me to complete, now I know why i got this inexplicable depression while reading it, I think Orwell as he wrote this novel was actually predicting how Egypt is going to be run, including how when the main character in the novel, who was against the regime throughout the entire novel realizes that he really loves the regime, reading this now I can't help but go through all the facebook groups about how we should apologize to "Mubarak", by people who genuinely love him, who believe he was up to the responsibility handed over to him by his predecessor (by the way you do realize we didnt really pick him right?).

I think the best thing to close this entry with is a quote from "1984" when the the novel's protagonist who was against the regime all along, was able to see through all their lies, got caught, tortured and lost his love thought the following:

But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.

shifting from

To die hating them, that was freedom.

to read more about the novel please check
http://www.gradesaver.com/1984/study-guide/short-summary/

Cairo under Curfew

This is a raw unedited entry that i wrote while stuck at my home with no internet, i meant to complete it or edit but chose not to, as i want to capture how i felt back then as it happened.

29/1/2011 7:14pm CLT,

Currently i'm basically held up at my home by the statewide curfew, The regime robbed me of my right of saftey as the egyptian police is no where to be seen, I have no access to the internet, bbm and the celluar phone service is moody to say the least, i'm really exited over the hope of a better tomorrow, a tomorrow i imagined would never come, too exited to keep a single thought in my mind for more than 10 minutes, its like the door to a whole new world of possibilities just opened up, and we are about to step in, still i'm rather worried about the state the country is in right now.

yesterday the police forces withdrew from Tahreer square after failing to confront the massess requesting change, a hope for a better tomorrow, finally the people moved, after years of opression, after i've gave up on most of them, as the police forces withdrew the left the police stations to the looters, basically they just packed up and left, not just the riot police, the entire police force, and then the looters, thugs and crime lords appeared, armed by weapons left intentionally by the police in the abandoned police stationed they started this organized campaign of robbing and looting. i'm sure this has been planned by the regime as a punishment or as a sick and twisted way to get us to request its assistance, everybody i talked to today thinks the same. the official story is that the police force wasn't able to handle all of this so the govronment had to resort to the armed forces, which are deployed in the major intersections and squares, however they are more or less useless, they weren't trained to face looters or rioters, The soldiers are only armed by weapons that can only make the situation worse, they dont have even a place to detain criminals if they capture any. thinking about it when did the police force ever provide any of us with anything other than fear, when did they ever assist me with anything or respond to my call for help, the last two times i needed the police they appeared 2 hours to late, and basically just documented what i've done or have been done to me, they aren't loyal to the people, they dont serve the people, they only exist to serve and protect the regime, and they only helped people for appearance's sake and now that their overlord is being threatened, they have no inclination to help us. most of the people who join the police are people who are in for personal profits, they think of their job in the police force as a way to achieve personal targets, to be respected and feared, i dont believe i should have ever expected them to help or be of any assistance.

currently there is a tank parked at the corner of my street, i've served in the army and i can imagine how the people in this tank must feel like, they have no idea what they are doing, or what to do if they were needed, they are just there hoping for the best, hoping that they wont be needed as they wont have anything todo, they aren't allowed to use their automatic guns, and the tank's main weapon is practically useless in this situation.

The regime wants to give us an impression that things went out of control but all signs indicate that it hasn't, al arabia and al jazeera aren't allowed to go into the streets, the internet and sms service are still down, and nile news (the state's voice) which has been claiming that things were peaceful and things went back to its normal state are trying to triger a mass hysteria, by placing calls from people being attacked by thugs, something they didnt do over the last few days, as they've been consistently claiming that things are under control, so now this dramatic shift only indicates that the regime wants people to panic. which indicates that this security issue thing we are in, was triggered by the govronment, and is controlled by it. however people has taken things into their own hands, as i speak people are standing in the streets everywhere in egypt, people, egyptians are protecting themselves and egypt from the thugs the regime is using against us.

i dont think there is a country in the entire world, that would use criminals, communication black out, police brutality, the army, propaganda and curfew against its own people.

just now the tv is boradcasting images from the egyptian museum, which has been looted, and is currently being protected by the armed forces using heavy weapons and officers, obviuosly they are there to kill as in KILL anyone who tresspases it, earlier yesterday the police gave up on it and left, and the egyptians protesting over there tried to protect it. the officers are sweeping through the museum delta force style. my heart is crushed as i watch the invaluable relics crushed and looted.

My thoughts are shifting too fast for me to be able to compose a proper entry so i'm just documenting things as they go through my head, i believe i like this as it is, i dont think i'm going to edit, i want to keep the dissasociated thoughts look and feel of it.

7:40
i feel violated, i'm locked, blocked from accessing the internet, my security is threatened, and now my heritage has been looted, all done purposefuly by the govronment.

however for the first time in years i dont feel crushed under disspointment and helplessness, i know that we can do something, make that we've done something, all we have to do now is wait and see, we've triggered the change, me, people like me, people who's never spoken before, and even when they did speak no one listened, we are the people who spent a year of our lives serving in the army, sweeping floors and making sure it looks great while not doing anything to the country, we are the people who spend 3 hours everyday stuck in traffic, we are the people who know that we have no access to proper medical service, know that our gov. is selling our natural resources for nothing, we are the people who spend hours standing in queues, while people who have connections go in through the back door delaying us even more, we are the people who are being mocked by the entire arab world as the people who never revolt, who would agree anything and everything, we are considered traitors by the arabi world and followers to america, who on the other hand looking at us as trash, making it almost impossible for us to get a visa into america. this is all going to change, finally i can't wait, and if egypt has to burn for it, so be it, let the fire purgee egypt of all the parasites we have.

7:50
having no security, we just heard noise in the street, obviously thugs tried to attack our street but have been stopped by the people in the street, nothing that serious but people are really edgy, and we all have no idea how we are going to spend the night, people are trying to convince me to leave to sharm el sheikh, however i'm not leaving, i want to be here

I dont believe in democracy!!

This is an entry I wrote back on August 2009.

I don't believe in democracy and never did, democracy is the perfect way to get uneducated, underprivileged and even mentally challenged people to decide for people who actually spent some effort to become better people by studying or investing (in themselves or in society).

the effect of mob mentality usually takes priority for any decision made by uneducated groups, or even slightly educated ones. even if we ignore the "mob mentality" factor, educated/cultured/smart people usually represent a small percentage of any community, however in developed nations (like the Scandinavians) the average is closer to the top than it is to the bottom, on the other hand in developing countries it's the exact opposite. it is in fact the duty of the elite to guide the nation, to help those less fortunate people into becoming all that they can be, manage their resources and even stopping them from hurting them selves.

Another factor is the minimum amount of income for a person to be able to make an unbiased decision, personally I don't think anybody can make a valid decision on an empty stomach, I know I can't, not to mention if other family members were starving as well. I believe that such a person can be easily tempted by promises or even worse money!

as an educated person I refuse to have an undereducated/un cultured person to take decisions for me, I however don't mind to have my decision influenced by their needs and aspirations, as it is my responsibility as well as their right.

A counter argument would be that the decisions should be made by the masses, and as time goes by these masses will develop a conscious and slowly but surely someday they'll be mature enough to take decisions. I totally agree to this point but I don't believe that the so called masses will move in that direction, I'm sure that they'll try to fulfill their basic needs (which is not wrong) then they are going to work really hard to make sure they'll never be hungry again (through ethical or an unethical acts), thus guiding the less fortunate in the wrong direction.

Another counter argument will be that only the educated/ cultured people would run for official positions, I totally disagree, I think a ghetto drug lord can easily finance such a thing, or in upper Egypt the family with the biggest influence can easily get someone into the people's assembly, and thus making my decisions for me.

I may come out as an elitist, which I actually am, how come when any of us needs a doctor or an engineer he searches for the one with the best education/ experience i.e. the elite, but yet again we can't bare the idea of having them rule us.

The district I'm living in, being one of Cairo's suburbs is filled with constructions workers who actually reside in the area, if a naive form of democracy was implemented, and the people living in this area were allowed to make every single decision can you imagine how life would be.

another example imagine if we apply democracy in religion, and voted on every single aspect, or rather every single interpretation of the religion, can you imagine what would happen if the masses got that privilege (personally I know I'm not able to make such decisions).

I'm working in a team, the team has freshly hired people as well as slightly more experienced ones, we make all the decisions that/which affect the team through voting, and as a result we make a lot of really stupid decisions based on the fact that the new comers are more or less naive and easily manipulated, and as a result we wind up making the same mistakes over and over again, every time we get a new batch of new comers. most probably this is what got me to write this piece first place.

On Qatar and Contradictions

Over the past 2 years and due to my work I’ve been visiting Doha every couple of months, over these visits I started developing this opinion about the country and the people living here, be it Qatari’s or expats, in general it’s a really calm relaxing country, one of the richest in the world and definitely the richest in the region, they have what seems to be an infinite amount of gas that they are trading out for education, good cars, food, and living standard that’s much higher than the regional average, all while maintaining their local roots, Qatari’s feel proud of their nationality and they aren’t afraid to show it, they’d prefer being seen in their Qatari outfit than any other outfit, be it at work or the mall no matter how old are you or what social class you come from the white Qatari thob is what to be seen in. that’s the impression you’d get in your first visit to Qatar staying longer though you start understanding what this country is really about. 

They do have the money and the will to make this country into something truly special, something that can compete with the major capitals of the world, however this fact ended up painting a huge bulls eye on their back, any company that wants to make some extra cash heads to Qatar, knowing that if you talk to the right people and throw in a good enough presentation you’ll end up making a kill, even if you aren’t that good at what you claim you can provide them with, you’d still get the cash, additionally most of the expats working here know that this is just a stop along the way it’s not a place they’d settle in and thus all they need to do is to survive the few years they are spending in this country make enough money and then head to somewhere else to spend it, so they’re never that loyal to their companies. Put these two facts together and you end up with Qatar.

Everything in Qatar looks good at the first glance, until you look deep enough and 9 times out of 10 you’d end up disappointed with what you admired at first, you know that somewhere in the world, some European company made a kill selling them that product and then cheated them on the fine details and that company is most probably several time bigger than it was when it first came to Qatar. For instance you’ve got Dafna/West Bay area, a 10 squared kilometer area overlooking the sea covered with glass covered architectural wonders offering a magnificent skyline that ravels dubai’s however if you look anywhere you can tell that this country is flat, scorching summer heat and the fact that buying a piece of land isn’t that expensive here resulted in most people building small houses that are cheaper and easier to build and cool than these buildings in dafna, building a skyscraper in a mostly vacant country doesn’t much sense does it, unless of course you are the construction company building it there no reason for you buy a skyscraper, why expand vertically when you’ve got the much cheaper horizontal expansion to grow into. so you end up with 10 squared kilometer with the worst urban planning ever (tiny streets that go round and round) filled with huge buildings that are mostly vacant.

The conference dome, a glass dome in the desert

I mostly work in whats is called Qatar Science and Technology Park, the Qatary answer to Egypt’s smart village, another admirable idea at first sight but as you spend more and more time there you start getting disappointed, first of all the buildings look expensive, metal lattice covers for all buildings with empathizes on form rather than function, its built in a way that’d insure that you’d feel impressed by the buildings once you see them, however the person designing them took no consideration to the fact to this countries weather and how dust is everywhere, so after a couple of days worth of dust they ended up with what looks like a meat packing factory, you can tell that the company building it made sure to pick the most expensive option whenever they could most probably because the more expensive it is the bigger the profit margin is, for instance you get this water fountain that’s imported from Australia, it looks nice, and most probably really expensive, however Qatar’s tap water is undrinkable! Then you get the carefully manicured grass, it’s not native to the area and I’m sure maintaining it in the 8 or 9 months that make out summer is really hard and require a lot of fresh water that they don’t have to begin with.

Designer water fountain for undrinkable water

Whats truly inspiring about Qatar though is its people, I’ve not interacted with a lot of Qatari’s however the few I interacted with truly inspired me, they are extremely well mannered, well educated, urban and they are proud of their heritage, and they make sure that anybody who is in this country respects that, for instance all the store names are written in Arabic as well as in English, even though i don't think there is a single Qatari who can’t speak enough English to get by. they always dress up in their national outfit, even though they’ve got all these stores selling all the kind of clothes you can imagine, they prefer to dress as their ancestors did decades ago.

In conclusion I believe considering Qatar a country isn’t fair as it’d appear to be lacking on many aspects that are considered basics for any country to survive, I believe Qatar should be compared to a major cooperation with dorms inside of its campuses, with full time employees as well as contractors that come and go, they have overheads and resources leakages just like any other major cooperation.

Mission Statement

Through out my life and every couple of years I usually pause and review the mission statement I'm living by, the reason why I get up everyday and do the things I do, currently I'm going through one of these phases, the result should be either validating this mission statement and continuing on the same track of modifying it and branching out in a different direction, however as it is and as I write this I have none and I'm just handling everyday as it comes.

I intend for this blog to be my point view on life and my opinion on whatever that's going on around me.