Manal and Alaa's bit bucket

Just watching MSNBC on the State of the Union speech. Senator Dianne Fienstein is interviewed and asked about what she thinks about the experience with elections in Egypt, Saudi etc. and the fact that these regimes are hardly democratic yet useful allies. She says (I paraphrase):I think we need to promote stability and economic development. [...]

I arrived in Doha last night to attend a conference on democracy organized by Al Jazeera. For me and many of the journos on this trip, of course, this conference is an excuse to dig a little deeper into the forthcoming Al Jazeera International, the English-language station. I was looking forward to meeting some of [...]

Some of your comments in the past week or so were not immediately posted because of changes in the system. Apologies, they should now appear.

The blogosphere has been prodding at me for the past few months, so have a few dedicated readers. Just wanted to make it public, the Sphinx may Think again soon.

Had a few things I wanted to post — notably the verdict against Ayman Nour, which is going to be a repeat of the Saad Eddin Ibrahim case — but alas, no time. My immediate reaction is sympathy for Nour’s two teenage sons, which are the clearest sign I’ve seen that he is a good [...]

Had a few things I wanted to post — notably the verdict against Ayman Nour, which is going to be a repeat of the Saad Eddin Ibrahim case — but alas, no time. My immediate reaction is sympathy for Nour’s two teenage sons, which are the clearest sign I’ve seen that he is a good [...]

Some interesting links I don’t have time to blog about at length: U.S. Is Given Failing Grades By 9/11 Panel: The federal government received failing and mediocre grades yesterday from the former Sept. 11 commission, whose members said in a final report that the Bush administration and Congress have balked at enacting numerous reforms that could [...]

Mark Frauenfelder from BoingBoing posted that:

Mark Frauenfelder from BoingBoing posted that: Donna Wentworth says: "Could your color laser printer be automatically including a secret fingerprint in every page so that what you print could be used to trace the document back to you?

In an effort to identify counterfeiters, the US government has succeeded in persuading some color laser printer manufacturers to encode each page with identifying information. That means that without your knowledge or consent, an act you assume is private could become public. A communication tool you're using in everyday life could become a tool for government surveillance. And what's worse, there are no laws to prevent abuse.

zephoria posted a very nice

zephoria posted a very nice article on similarities between companies and countries, read the disclaimer on the article as I have the same one.

Microsoft is Germany. They did some pretty evil things a while back but you don't remember the details, you just know that you really hate them. Even though they're really no worse than any other large corporpation/country, you can't help but distrust them permanently because, well, you always have.
Yahoo is Japan. It had an economic crisis that almost destroyed it and it plays too nice with all of the other evil empires, supporting the most evil endeavors. It hasn't really innovated for a while, but it tries to improve on known products to support average people.

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It is very hot now in Cairo, and it seems to be getting hotter :-(

I just found an ancient (10-2004) poll on BBspot. It says

I just found an ancient (10-2004) poll on BBspot. It says Which File Extension are You?, My result is as follows,

Which File Extension are You?
looks true, maybe, what do you think? let me know yours.

IslamiCity has an article ba... [31 characters]

IslamiCity has an article based on the astounding seminar given by The British submarine engineer and historian Gavin Menzies on March 15, 2002 to the Royal Geographical Society in London, with evidence to support his theory that Zheng He, a Chinese Muslim navigator in the Ming dynasty, beat Columbus by more than 70 years in discovering America.

The article has excellent and entertaning stories of the great traveller's expeditions.

I started this blog in order to write about the world as I see it from my point of view. But during the latest downtime (since February 2005) I have began to realize that the mere idea is egotistical. Ever since then, I have had a growing feeling of guilt brought about by a feeling of [...]

My host has been sporadic, so I am saving my posts locally until I can find a more reliable host, or until this one improves. Please forgive the seemingly abandoned blog these weeks, I assure you I am here and will update soon.

The holidays have put a dent into my regular posting routine. But hopefully I will get back into it soon. My thoughts and prayers join the millions of others who are with those affected by the tsunamis in southern Asia. If you can, please donate.

After spending some time in the land of CSS and researching WordPress hosts, the blog is back up. One thing I must say is, I have a newfound respect for web designers well versed in CSS, much more difficult than it seems. Also, as I am discovering the intricacies of WordPress, I am becoming more attached [...]

Currently, I am in the process of redesigning Think, Sphinx and possibly finding another host. So please forgive the dust, or rather limestone dustings. Posting will resume soon.