Since the release of Fitna, I've been taking quick looks at JihadWatch every day. The main author of JihadWatch is Robert Spencer, who has been posting articles since 2003. I'm sure he was quite active elsewhere before that date.
Anyway, he has lead me to reconsider Islamophobia. A large section of the Fitna movie is about the growing number of Muslims in general, and specifically in Netherlands. So, why are people afraid of Islam? Well, one of the many reasons is the common understanding of the Muslims intolerance towards non-Muslims, which is cited many times in the Fitna movie. There is a verse in the Quran (can't find the reference at the moment) that says something like, fight Christians and Jews until they convert to Islam, or let them pay (gezia) for being non-Muslims.
To be honest, Islamophobes have every right to be afraid. If someone comes up to me telling me that I have to do something or else he'll kill me, then yes, I'll be repulsive. However, I know that I can respond to all quotes from the Quran that are mentioned in both Fitna and JihadWatch, but I'll talk about the mentioned verse.
The problem with most people is that they take verses literally, and not the general idea, or the specific historical event. Let's take a look at modern day taxes. Why are there taxes? Because there are departments in the country you belong to that do not generate revenue. Like what? Like building roads. How is the country going to build roads except from taxes? How is the country going to pay for the police or the army without taxes? Exactly. So, what was there in the old times of Islam? There was a system (and still exists) called Zakat. Zakat is basically a social system that attempts to give whoever who cannot generate revenue some funds from those who can. Kind of a social equilibrium system. Now, how was that possible during the old days? Non-Muslims had to pay something, kind of a tax. The fighting part before it? Well, at those times everything went via fighting; fighting for land, for honor, for money, etc.
Finally, does that apply to these times? Hell no!! Everyone pays taxes. People have evolved to use politics. Is it legal (according to the Sharia law) to not follow that verse? Definitely yes. The Creator would not be divine if He didn't know that times change and people evolve.
On the lighter side, the word "Jihad" makes you ponder its meaning. Jihad basically means to fight for a cause. How far are you supposed to go? It depends on the person really. Some women would give their lives fighting for women's rights, some Iraqis would give their lives for freedom, others would blog in the comfort of their homes (myself included). Sarcastically, that would make Robert Spencer a Jihadist, fighting against Islamisation.
Edit: It's Gezia not Fedia, thanks Uma.
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Millenials vs. GenX
I've never seen that before, but they have defined Generation X as people who were born before 1980. On the other hand, people born after 1980 are called Millenials.
So, is 1980 a year where everything changes? Well, yes and no. A recent study has shown that Millenials are slightly more addicted to technology, or their lives revolve around it more than GenX, so they are probably more bound to carry MP3 players, USB sticks, fancy cell-phones, etc. Also, Millenials are more likely to spend a lot of time on social networking websites, like Facebook and MySpace. Putting that in mind, Millenials are more likely to use their computers for both business and personal matters, Millenials are more likely to visit suspicious websites, Millenials are more likely to install pirated software, and last but not least, Millenials are more likely to introduce their MP3 players, USB sticks, and their cell-phones to your business network.
Therefore, Millenials impose a bigger security threat than GenX.
So, is 1980 a year where everything changes? Well, yes and no. A recent study has shown that Millenials are slightly more addicted to technology, or their lives revolve around it more than GenX, so they are probably more bound to carry MP3 players, USB sticks, fancy cell-phones, etc. Also, Millenials are more likely to spend a lot of time on social networking websites, like Facebook and MySpace. Putting that in mind, Millenials are more likely to use their computers for both business and personal matters, Millenials are more likely to visit suspicious websites, Millenials are more likely to install pirated software, and last but not least, Millenials are more likely to introduce their MP3 players, USB sticks, and their cell-phones to your business network.
Therefore, Millenials impose a bigger security threat than GenX.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Traffic Shockwaves
You know when you're stuck in traffic, and cars are moving for a couple of seconds, then they stop again? If you look at that view from a height, you will notice that it resembles shock waves, and hence the term. We all experience them all over Cairo, at any time of the day, and in any street.
What have we done to improve our traffic situation? We bring "foreign experts". Or, the other option is that someone from the Cairo/Giza traffic comes up with an idea. However, scientists and mathematicians are modeling shock waves in very interesting experiments. One of them was that Japanese scientists asked some volunteers to drive in a circular track, at a certain speed. It was noticed that humans cannot maintain the exact same speed, causing some cars to slow down a bit, cars behind them used their brakes, and so on, and so forth, until it caused a traffic shock wave, causing some vehicles to come to a complete stop. No accident up ahead, no check point, not a car broke on the side of the road, nothing except pure shock waves.
My contribution to this theory, is that shock waves do not happen all the time. I mean, if you're driving @ 2:00 am on a highway, you will rarely experience traffic shock waves. Hence, there has to be another factor, which is the density of cars. Not density of the cars' materials, but the number of cars in a given area (width of the road, and any arbitrary length). For a certain road, there is a certain threshold density, that if reached, shock waves begin to formulate. Since the length taken for our sample is arbitrary, then the density is directly proportional to the width of the road.
Here's some food for thought, think about that next time you decide to squeeze your car in a fifth lane in a 4-lane road.
What have we done to improve our traffic situation? We bring "foreign experts". Or, the other option is that someone from the Cairo/Giza traffic comes up with an idea. However, scientists and mathematicians are modeling shock waves in very interesting experiments. One of them was that Japanese scientists asked some volunteers to drive in a circular track, at a certain speed. It was noticed that humans cannot maintain the exact same speed, causing some cars to slow down a bit, cars behind them used their brakes, and so on, and so forth, until it caused a traffic shock wave, causing some vehicles to come to a complete stop. No accident up ahead, no check point, not a car broke on the side of the road, nothing except pure shock waves.
My contribution to this theory, is that shock waves do not happen all the time. I mean, if you're driving @ 2:00 am on a highway, you will rarely experience traffic shock waves. Hence, there has to be another factor, which is the density of cars. Not density of the cars' materials, but the number of cars in a given area (width of the road, and any arbitrary length). For a certain road, there is a certain threshold density, that if reached, shock waves begin to formulate. Since the length taken for our sample is arbitrary, then the density is directly proportional to the width of the road.
Here's some food for thought, think about that next time you decide to squeeze your car in a fifth lane in a 4-lane road.
I kill you
This is actually a quote from Jeff Dunham's comedy act, where he has a puppet shaped as a "Muslim" skeleton called Achmed, where Achmed is supposed to be a dead terrorist.
Today, I heard that Al-Jazeera TV hosted a talk show between 2 sides, a woman who is not against (might I say pro) the Danish caricatures depicting Mohammed, and a man who is against it. The best part is that someone threatened to bomb the Al-Jazeera headquarters because they hosted such a show, and if it was on air, they should have terminated the transmission.
Now, how is it that we want to progress, and have a better image in front of the world, when we are not willing to hear the other side of the story, however bad we may feel about it? Is this how we want to deal with issues? Burying our heads in the ground trying to pretend that the world does not exist?
Today, I heard that Al-Jazeera TV hosted a talk show between 2 sides, a woman who is not against (might I say pro) the Danish caricatures depicting Mohammed, and a man who is against it. The best part is that someone threatened to bomb the Al-Jazeera headquarters because they hosted such a show, and if it was on air, they should have terminated the transmission.
Now, how is it that we want to progress, and have a better image in front of the world, when we are not willing to hear the other side of the story, however bad we may feel about it? Is this how we want to deal with issues? Burying our heads in the ground trying to pretend that the world does not exist?
Sunday, March 02, 2008
Letter to Jyllands-Posten
I asked an anonymous friend of mine to write an email to Jyllands-Posten; the magazine that posted cartoon depictions of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed. Here it is:
I’m a Muslim, Egyptian female who’s offended by the deplorable portraying of God’s prophet Mohamed. As a matter of fact, I’m neither aware of the ideology of your magazine, nor interested in advocating for the idea of conspiracy theory against Islam.
Actually, I’m writing this because I’m shocked of the general attitude of people; and I have some questions that need to be answered. These questions are for you and for everyone who reads this letter –if it was published in the first place-
These questions are related to the definition of some words like justice, freedom of speech, liberty, and tolerance. These words represent generic values accepted and appreciated by humankind regardless of their race, sex, or religion. Yet, for me, and for many others, their true meaning is starting to blur day after day…
Question # 1:
Does justice mean blaming someone for the deeds of somebody else?
If the answer for this question is “no”, then why you blame prophet Mohamed for the behavior of Bin Laden or any other Muslim who committed a crime or a terroristic
act?
If the answer is “yes”, then why don’t you blame Jesus for Bush’s practices against prisoners of war in Iraq (Abu Ghraib prison incidents and others)? Or blame Moses for the barbarian acts of Israelis against Palestinian women and children?
Question # 2:
Does liberty and freedom of speech mean having the right to be biased and publicly harass whoever or whatever a person disagrees with?
Before you answer this question, let’s assume that there was a bombing in a subway in USA or any European city. The way the news will be reported is totally depended on the suspect.
If the suspect happened to be a Muslim, the news will be reported as follows: “A Muslim terrorist bombed the subway in X city. X city police also suspects that he is
one of binladen’s gang and….. ”. Then for the next couple of weeks, all bombing news will be published saying that “another bombing in….it is suspected to be the same binladen group who bombed X city 2 weeks ago… ”.
On the other hand, if the suspect turns out to be a non Muslim, the news would simply be reported as follows: “A fanatic or psychopath bombed the subway in X
city”. End of the story!
Unfortunately, this is the way most of similar news is handled by media. The incident itself is the same; an act of violence. Why is it reported differently?
Moreover, in any dictionary, the definition of a “Terrorist” or “Terrorism” has nothing to do with religion. For example; the definition of “Terrorism” in Webster’s
Dictionary (America’s best-selling dictionary) is: “Systematic use of terror.
Terror: 4: Violence committed by groups in order to intimidate a population or
government into granting their demands”.
A terrorist should be punished anyways regardless of his religion, origin, or sex. Now, please read the question once more. Does it make any sense?
Question # 3:
This is a classical type of question found in the “logic” section of any IQ test. It states a sentence and then you decide whether the statement is true or false. Here we go:
If some fulus are dulos and some dulos are zulos. Then, all fulus are zulos.
Is this statement true or false? The correct answer is “false”. Logic says so.
In the above statement, if the word “fulus” was replaced by “Muslims” and the word
“zulos” was replaced by “Terrorists”. By using the same logic, would this make all fulus (Muslims) zulos (terrorists)? Would the correct answer change from “false” to “true”?
Last, but not the least. You respect people for going out for strikes or demonstrations defending animal rights, or homosexual rights, or whatever rights they believe in. Why are you furious because Muslims went out in demonstrations and boycotted Danish products when you insulted their Prophet? Don’t they have the right to stand up for what they believe in? Putting into consideration that boycott only took place after you refused to apologize.
Is “double standards” the tool used for applying justice? Is discrimination the synonym of liberty? Is freedom of speech the antonym of respect?
If the answer to these questions is a “yes”, then there will be no wonder when the next release of dictionaries includes the word “prejudice” as the synonym of “tolerance”…
Monday, February 25, 2008
The war is over... damn you Sony
I really respect Sony for the many achievements over the years in Hi Fidelity equipment. Hell, my home theater amplifier (and speakers) is a Sony, and I love it. Sony has been very creative, and well known (at least in Egypt), that every portable cassette player was called a "Walkman", and every portable CD player was a "Discman". But throughout history, Sony has been trying to force standards in such a way, that it is becoming sickening. Of course, the free world is against bowing to a certain standard, and Sony has been rejected for a long time, except for now, Sony finally got a break.
A few years back, when they invented home video playback devices, there were 2 standards; the VHS and BetaMax (VHS was the ugly big cassette that records and plays video, while the BetaMax was the small slick one). If you aren't as old as I am, you'd probably not know about the format war that happened at that time, where people didn't know which format to choose. You couldn't get a certain movie on VHS, and you couldn't get another movie on BetaMax. If you spend 2 seconds on the internet searching for BetaMax, you'll find one name that pops out.... Sony.
In the 90's, we all got CD players after ditching out our analog cassette players, along with the tapes themselves. CD was mainstream, until Sony wanted to enforce a new standard, the MiniDisc. Many haven't even heard of it, because for some reason people rejected it.
Later in the 90's, when they invented memory sticks, everyone was using the standard SDRam or the MMC. Sony had to come up with something else... the Sony Memory Stick. People kept using the standard sticks, while Sony, until that day, is using its own proprietary memory stick.
The final story that gave Sony a break, was the latest format war, HD DVD vs. Blu-ray. With the invention of "blue-laser", which is basically a thinner laser than the one used in DVDs, they were able to cram 15 GB on one side of a disc, compared to the 4.7 GB of the normal DVD. Again, Sony wanted to set foot on standardization, and created... Blu-ray. Blu-ray is one of the standards used to play High Definition Video (HD Video). On the other side, Toshiba (leading the DVD forum) wanted to create a non-proprietary format; the HD DVD.
Again, people didn't know which player to buy, since major studios have signed contracts with either side, for example, you couldn't buy an HD Spiderman 3 except on Blu-ray, while the HD Last Samurai was only on HD DVD. Blu-ray was much more expensive than HD DVD. However, HD DVD used Microsoft's HDi as a platform, while Blu-ray used Java. And... Blu-ray was considered an "incomplete" format, since the early versions had problems, and the players were not updateable, while all HD DVD players were ethernet ready, with a writeable bios. That means that the Blu-ray's early adopters were chuffed.
However, Sony's sleazy trick of installing a Blu-ray drive in PS3s, and after Sony had paid off a lot of the major studios (which is an unconfirmed rumor), most of them switched loyalty to Blu-ray, and finally Toshiba gave up by announcing that HD DVD is dead.
Finally, the consumer is happy, regardless of which format has won, but at least you will be able to buy just one player, that plays all your favorite movies.
I believe that however the Blu-ray was incomplete, now every major manufacturer, and the god-blessed open source community can work together to make it complete.
A few years back, when they invented home video playback devices, there were 2 standards; the VHS and BetaMax (VHS was the ugly big cassette that records and plays video, while the BetaMax was the small slick one). If you aren't as old as I am, you'd probably not know about the format war that happened at that time, where people didn't know which format to choose. You couldn't get a certain movie on VHS, and you couldn't get another movie on BetaMax. If you spend 2 seconds on the internet searching for BetaMax, you'll find one name that pops out.... Sony.
In the 90's, we all got CD players after ditching out our analog cassette players, along with the tapes themselves. CD was mainstream, until Sony wanted to enforce a new standard, the MiniDisc. Many haven't even heard of it, because for some reason people rejected it.
Later in the 90's, when they invented memory sticks, everyone was using the standard SDRam or the MMC. Sony had to come up with something else... the Sony Memory Stick. People kept using the standard sticks, while Sony, until that day, is using its own proprietary memory stick.
The final story that gave Sony a break, was the latest format war, HD DVD vs. Blu-ray. With the invention of "blue-laser", which is basically a thinner laser than the one used in DVDs, they were able to cram 15 GB on one side of a disc, compared to the 4.7 GB of the normal DVD. Again, Sony wanted to set foot on standardization, and created... Blu-ray. Blu-ray is one of the standards used to play High Definition Video (HD Video). On the other side, Toshiba (leading the DVD forum) wanted to create a non-proprietary format; the HD DVD.
Again, people didn't know which player to buy, since major studios have signed contracts with either side, for example, you couldn't buy an HD Spiderman 3 except on Blu-ray, while the HD Last Samurai was only on HD DVD. Blu-ray was much more expensive than HD DVD. However, HD DVD used Microsoft's HDi as a platform, while Blu-ray used Java. And... Blu-ray was considered an "incomplete" format, since the early versions had problems, and the players were not updateable, while all HD DVD players were ethernet ready, with a writeable bios. That means that the Blu-ray's early adopters were chuffed.
However, Sony's sleazy trick of installing a Blu-ray drive in PS3s, and after Sony had paid off a lot of the major studios (which is an unconfirmed rumor), most of them switched loyalty to Blu-ray, and finally Toshiba gave up by announcing that HD DVD is dead.
Finally, the consumer is happy, regardless of which format has won, but at least you will be able to buy just one player, that plays all your favorite movies.
I believe that however the Blu-ray was incomplete, now every major manufacturer, and the god-blessed open source community can work together to make it complete.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Dead man lying
Saturday, February 16th 2008, Cairo, Ring Road, 19:30. An ambulance parked at the side of the road revealing an accident that has just occurred. I drove closer to see 3 covered dead bodies and 1 splattered brain. Twenty meters further I see a young teenage girl, with a 10ish year old boy crying.
I try to imagine what happened there, and the only thing I could think of is that they were crossing the 90 km/h Ring Road in the middle of nowhere, and someone, however fast he was driving, and might I say, driving monotonously as in every highway, who didn't see this family cross, and ...SPLAT.
I know that he will be charged with murder, whichever degree, but is it right? I mean, didn't this family cross a highway right in the middle of it? If they live somewhere close to the Ring Road, how do they cross? I know that there aren't any cross-overs for pedestrians, but how are supposed to cross? And the exact same situation could happen to me, but is there a law that protects me? I know I killed someone, but it was basically their fault.
Moreover, are they going to mention it in the news tomorrow? So that it would be a lesson for every pedestrian thinking it was fahlawa to cross a highway, and a lesson for every driver who traverses the Ring Road more than twice a week.
I doubt it. Even if it was mentioned, you wouldn't get the same message I got today.
I try to imagine what happened there, and the only thing I could think of is that they were crossing the 90 km/h Ring Road in the middle of nowhere, and someone, however fast he was driving, and might I say, driving monotonously as in every highway, who didn't see this family cross, and ...SPLAT.
I know that he will be charged with murder, whichever degree, but is it right? I mean, didn't this family cross a highway right in the middle of it? If they live somewhere close to the Ring Road, how do they cross? I know that there aren't any cross-overs for pedestrians, but how are supposed to cross? And the exact same situation could happen to me, but is there a law that protects me? I know I killed someone, but it was basically their fault.
Moreover, are they going to mention it in the news tomorrow? So that it would be a lesson for every pedestrian thinking it was fahlawa to cross a highway, and a lesson for every driver who traverses the Ring Road more than twice a week.
I doubt it. Even if it was mentioned, you wouldn't get the same message I got today.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
No soup for Saudis
The Committee of the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (CPVPV) is a bureaucracy appointed by the Saudi Government to "enforce" the Sharee3a Law within Saudi Arabia. It is believed that the Saudi Government had a previous agreement that the CPVPV would handle the Sharee3a Law in the Kingdom, and the Saudi Police would handle the Civil Law. Why would they need 2 different institutions to enforce law? Well, Saudi Arabia has been known to be the cradle of Islam, and it's where Mecca is where all Mulsims face towards when praying. Saudi Arabia has believed that it would be the protector of Islam, and hence, they are trying to enforce the Sharee3a law.
Unfortunately, what they are doing has given them a name; Wahabism. Wahabism is known to be the sect of Muslims who forbid everything and anything. And it is known that if you start talking to a Wahaby, he will probably tell you a list of 7arams that is much bigger that his list of 7alals. Lately I have been seeing a lot of Wahabis in Egypt, which is a natural effect of Egyptians working and living in Saudi, then returning to Egypt with the Wahaby school-of-thought.
Anyway, the CPVPV is known to walk around the streets hitting women who are not "properly dressed", arresting anyone they suspect of drinking alcohol or eating pork, arresting non-married men and women for socializing, forcing people to pray at pray time, and even forcing shops to be closed during pray time. And of course, they are not scandal-free. March 11th 2002, there was a fire in a Meccan girls school, where it is told by the Saudi press that the CPVPV has forced the school gates shut preventing 15 school-girls from leaving the burning school, because they were "not properly dressed", resulting in their tragic death. Lately, there is a number of additions to their "laws", which include shutting down shops that sell Western DVDs and CDs, arresting people with cats or dogs as pets since it's a Western tradition, and lately banning red roses from flower shops 2 days ahead of Valentine's day. Why? Because Valentine's day is a pagan festivication which encourages relationships between non-married men and women.
As far as I know, Saudis do not manufacture cars, there is no Saudi brand for air-conditioners, and definitely there are no Saudi plasma screens. Moreover, modern concrete apartment buildings is a Western invention; Arabs lived in tents, and agricultural Arabs lived in mud-built houses.
Tough luck my brothers and sisters. Maybe one day you will be able to express your love to one another.
Unfortunately, what they are doing has given them a name; Wahabism. Wahabism is known to be the sect of Muslims who forbid everything and anything. And it is known that if you start talking to a Wahaby, he will probably tell you a list of 7arams that is much bigger that his list of 7alals. Lately I have been seeing a lot of Wahabis in Egypt, which is a natural effect of Egyptians working and living in Saudi, then returning to Egypt with the Wahaby school-of-thought.
Anyway, the CPVPV is known to walk around the streets hitting women who are not "properly dressed", arresting anyone they suspect of drinking alcohol or eating pork, arresting non-married men and women for socializing, forcing people to pray at pray time, and even forcing shops to be closed during pray time. And of course, they are not scandal-free. March 11th 2002, there was a fire in a Meccan girls school, where it is told by the Saudi press that the CPVPV has forced the school gates shut preventing 15 school-girls from leaving the burning school, because they were "not properly dressed", resulting in their tragic death. Lately, there is a number of additions to their "laws", which include shutting down shops that sell Western DVDs and CDs, arresting people with cats or dogs as pets since it's a Western tradition, and lately banning red roses from flower shops 2 days ahead of Valentine's day. Why? Because Valentine's day is a pagan festivication which encourages relationships between non-married men and women.
As far as I know, Saudis do not manufacture cars, there is no Saudi brand for air-conditioners, and definitely there are no Saudi plasma screens. Moreover, modern concrete apartment buildings is a Western invention; Arabs lived in tents, and agricultural Arabs lived in mud-built houses.
Tough luck my brothers and sisters. Maybe one day you will be able to express your love to one another.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Tin-foil hats for sale
Now with the 5th cable damaged, there has to be something going on. Upon looking further on the matter, there were several theories where most of them were about ISP market shares, and cable providers' market shares. One, however, was very interesting, that I'm bound to think that it is probably the reason we have seen the number of damaged cables within one week.
First, I'd like to say that there were several sources that said that damaged cables happen all over the world with the average of a damaged cable every 3 days. Several reports show that there were 50 damaged cables in the Atlantic alone in 2007. Also, there are around 25 ships around the world that do nothing except fixing damaged cables. They say that no one notices them because they are redundant in the sense of internet can be re-routed easily through other cables. Of course, they are talking about the 100+ cables between the Americas and Europe. The disruption that happened in the East was due to the low number of cables connecting, where backup routing was not an option.
Anyway, there is this small island that belongs to Iran, called Kish Island. The island is a major touristic attraction in the Middle East after Sharm El Sheikh and Dubai. Strict Iranian Islamic laws are relaxed there, although they do not sell alcohol, makes it very touristic. Also, Kish Island is considered a trade free zone. However, it was planned to open an Iranian Oil Bourse around February 10th. The bourse is an oil exchange where they have decided not to tie the oil barrel price with the US$, instead they intended to tie it to the lovely Euro. Of course, this pissed the US, due to the current economical recession. And, of course, Iran, the second candidate for a "cleansing crusade" after Iraq, is really progressing that they launched their first home-built-and-launched satellite.
What's that got to do with the internet submarine cables? Well, the 5 damaged cables were geographically around Kish Island, and supposedly provide the island with internet. The first option is that Uncle McDonald wanted to show the world that it couldn't be relied on, due to the lousy not-so-redundant connectivity the Middle East has. The second option was to eavesdrop on the transactions to and from the bourse.
Well.. well.. seems we finally have a reason to wear our tin-foil hats.
First, I'd like to say that there were several sources that said that damaged cables happen all over the world with the average of a damaged cable every 3 days. Several reports show that there were 50 damaged cables in the Atlantic alone in 2007. Also, there are around 25 ships around the world that do nothing except fixing damaged cables. They say that no one notices them because they are redundant in the sense of internet can be re-routed easily through other cables. Of course, they are talking about the 100+ cables between the Americas and Europe. The disruption that happened in the East was due to the low number of cables connecting, where backup routing was not an option.
Anyway, there is this small island that belongs to Iran, called Kish Island. The island is a major touristic attraction in the Middle East after Sharm El Sheikh and Dubai. Strict Iranian Islamic laws are relaxed there, although they do not sell alcohol, makes it very touristic. Also, Kish Island is considered a trade free zone. However, it was planned to open an Iranian Oil Bourse around February 10th. The bourse is an oil exchange where they have decided not to tie the oil barrel price with the US$, instead they intended to tie it to the lovely Euro. Of course, this pissed the US, due to the current economical recession. And, of course, Iran, the second candidate for a "cleansing crusade" after Iraq, is really progressing that they launched their first home-built-and-launched satellite.
What's that got to do with the internet submarine cables? Well, the 5 damaged cables were geographically around Kish Island, and supposedly provide the island with internet. The first option is that Uncle McDonald wanted to show the world that it couldn't be relied on, due to the lousy not-so-redundant connectivity the Middle East has. The second option was to eavesdrop on the transactions to and from the bourse.
Well.. well.. seems we finally have a reason to wear our tin-foil hats.
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
The plot thickens
Yay, fourth cable in a week. This one is close to Qatar. Now that the Egyptian authorities denied the possibility that the first cable was damaged by the anchor of a stray ship, where they provided video evidence of a 24-hour window around the approximate time the cable was damaged, which showed that no ships were around, the scale tends to favor the "conspiracy theory" against "pure coincidence".
This time, the theory is about internet feeding Iran, getting ready to strike it. There is another half-plausible theory that this is the work of Al-Qaeda trying to elevate the level of Islam in the not-so-Islamic nations (which shows how Islam is portrayed by the West as a retarded way of life).
We're placing bets on the next sea-bed-cable. Contact booky (at) conspiracy (dot) com.
This time, the theory is about internet feeding Iran, getting ready to strike it. There is another half-plausible theory that this is the work of Al-Qaeda trying to elevate the level of Islam in the not-so-Islamic nations (which shows how Islam is portrayed by the West as a retarded way of life).
We're placing bets on the next sea-bed-cable. Contact booky (at) conspiracy (dot) com.
Look at us
Look at us, we proudly present 59 wounded and 1 dead Arabs fighting each other on the Egyptian-Palestinian border.
Face the camera people, and take a graceful bow because the world is watching you, you wookiees.
Face the camera people, and take a graceful bow because the world is watching you, you wookiees.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Great day for Conspiracy Theorists
According to Reuters, last Friday, a third internet-providing cable was cut 56 kms away from Dubai. I personally didn't know that Wednesday's "accident" was 2 cables, and now Friday, a third cable.
Most common rumor so far, is that Egypt prevented a ship to pass through the Suez canal for some reason, so the ship anchored in the middle of the Mediterranean, which coincidently was just over the first FLAG cable.
Now, 3 major cables, that provide internet to the Middle East, and the Far East, were damaged only 2 days apart. Could that be a coincidence?
One of the rumors was that an un-named western government wanted to hook up monitoring equipment to the main internet channels in the Middle East (same as the AT&T scandal) for anti-terrorism acts, or anti-piracy. Both happen to have roots in the "East", and both are causing problems to the "West".
I would certainly like to see more conspiracy theories
Most common rumor so far, is that Egypt prevented a ship to pass through the Suez canal for some reason, so the ship anchored in the middle of the Mediterranean, which coincidently was just over the first FLAG cable.
Now, 3 major cables, that provide internet to the Middle East, and the Far East, were damaged only 2 days apart. Could that be a coincidence?
One of the rumors was that an un-named western government wanted to hook up monitoring equipment to the main internet channels in the Middle East (same as the AT&T scandal) for anti-terrorism acts, or anti-piracy. Both happen to have roots in the "East", and both are causing problems to the "West".
I would certainly like to see more conspiracy theories
Friday, February 01, 2008
Rival Collaboration
Imagine this. The two cables that provide Egypt with internet have been severed. But for some odd reason, anyone in Egypt can access websites hosted on servers located in Egypt. Now, most of us know this isn't true based on these days' turmoil. When the FLAG cable was damaged, which is only one of the cables, many people had a hard time accessing servers on Egyptian soil. There is a reason for that. It's called "routing tables".
Routing tables are simply tables on routers (some networking hardware) that provides a packet of data with the fastest route to reach its destination. And of course, since fastest routes are not always the fastest (if one internet provider should be down for any odd reason), routing tables are dynamic. The whole time they check for fastest routes, and alter their routing tables. They do that with the aid of a routing protocol, that everyone agrees on.
If all ISPs (internet service providers) in Egypt have agreed on a routing protocol, and then with today's cable problem, all traffic would have been rerouted automatically through the other cable, and no one would have that total blackout.
Another situation to imagine. You know that corner in your house in Ain So7'na where your Vodafone phone does not work? And you find your Mobinil friend as happy as a bird? If Vodafone and Mobinil agree that subscribers from either network can roam on the other network, with a price of course, then the Egyptian consumer would not have to worry about coverage anymore; he would only have to worry about service.
Rival collaboration in any form benefits the end consumer, and since the consumer is not important, then why bother.
Routing tables are simply tables on routers (some networking hardware) that provides a packet of data with the fastest route to reach its destination. And of course, since fastest routes are not always the fastest (if one internet provider should be down for any odd reason), routing tables are dynamic. The whole time they check for fastest routes, and alter their routing tables. They do that with the aid of a routing protocol, that everyone agrees on.
If all ISPs (internet service providers) in Egypt have agreed on a routing protocol, and then with today's cable problem, all traffic would have been rerouted automatically through the other cable, and no one would have that total blackout.
Another situation to imagine. You know that corner in your house in Ain So7'na where your Vodafone phone does not work? And you find your Mobinil friend as happy as a bird? If Vodafone and Mobinil agree that subscribers from either network can roam on the other network, with a price of course, then the Egyptian consumer would not have to worry about coverage anymore; he would only have to worry about service.
Rival collaboration in any form benefits the end consumer, and since the consumer is not important, then why bother.
Internet in Egypt
A couple of days ago, Egypt was struck by a non-natural catastrophe. For anyone who uses the internet at home, or work, has felt either the internet outage, or the exceedingly slow connections. Turned out that a fiber-optic marine cable has been severed, or damaged. Those who didn't know, found out that Egypt is connected to the world through two cables.
Also, for those who didn't know, that the damaged marine cable provides several other countries with internet services, and that includes India, and several gulf countries.
Using modern techniques, they have figured out that the damaged part is 10 km away from the coast of Alexandria, and 10 km off the coast is in Egypt's territory. They have attempted to figure out what damaged the cable, but they couldn't till now.
Several jokes have surfaced, like the whale that bit into the cable, among others, and there are several other jokes that did not see the surface, like they were extending sewer pipes which crossed the cable, so they had to cut it.
In any case, I think it was a bad idea to have a cable that important go through Egypt, or any other country. Even better if there were 2 or 3 other cables that feed the area.
Now Egypt stays in the dark for 10 more days.
Also, for those who didn't know, that the damaged marine cable provides several other countries with internet services, and that includes India, and several gulf countries.
Using modern techniques, they have figured out that the damaged part is 10 km away from the coast of Alexandria, and 10 km off the coast is in Egypt's territory. They have attempted to figure out what damaged the cable, but they couldn't till now.
Several jokes have surfaced, like the whale that bit into the cable, among others, and there are several other jokes that did not see the surface, like they were extending sewer pipes which crossed the cable, so they had to cut it.
In any case, I think it was a bad idea to have a cable that important go through Egypt, or any other country. Even better if there were 2 or 3 other cables that feed the area.
Now Egypt stays in the dark for 10 more days.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Resurrection
Now, after 3 years since my last post, am I the same person? Do I still believe of tolerating diversity?
According to dictionary.reference.com, tol·er·ance is a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, practices, race, religion, nationality, etc., differ from one's own; freedom from bigotry, and di·ver·si·ty is the state or fact of being diverse; difference; unlikeness. I'm not fair, I'm not objective, and I do not allow anyone who has a different opinion to actually.... have a different opinion. I think I have grown to be bitter, and in fact, one of my 2008 new year's resolutions was to "try" to tolerate diversity.
There, now that's off my chest... on with the show.
According to dictionary.reference.com, tol·er·ance is a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, practices, race, religion, nationality, etc., differ from one's own; freedom from bigotry, and di·ver·si·ty is the state or fact of being diverse; difference; unlikeness. I'm not fair, I'm not objective, and I do not allow anyone who has a different opinion to actually.... have a different opinion. I think I have grown to be bitter, and in fact, one of my 2008 new year's resolutions was to "try" to tolerate diversity.
There, now that's off my chest... on with the show.
Thursday, February 03, 2005
Snooze
The everlasting debate on which invention should be awared 'The most important invention ever' might come to the conclusion with the invention of Alarm Snooze.
Hats off to Mr. Jack Snooze.
Hats off to Mr. Jack Snooze.
Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Geek
Whatever....
So, I get a blog, and start blogging. Does that make me:
1. Certified Geek,
2. Lonely with nothing in hand to do,
3. A person with loads of words, and no one's listening?
Probably all of the above.... except for #1. A wise man once said, a crazy man never admits he's crazy. An even wiser man once said, a geek would never admit he's a geek. So, if I say that I'm a geek, that would - by default - not make me a geek, or a geek wannabe.
I think I feel better now.
So, I get a blog, and start blogging. Does that make me:
1. Certified Geek,
2. Lonely with nothing in hand to do,
3. A person with loads of words, and no one's listening?
Probably all of the above.... except for #1. A wise man once said, a crazy man never admits he's crazy. An even wiser man once said, a geek would never admit he's a geek. So, if I say that I'm a geek, that would - by default - not make me a geek, or a geek wannabe.
I think I feel better now.
Monday, October 18, 2004
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