HAPPY NEW YEARS

WHATTAAAA??!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What on Earth?! Kopi Luwak (pronounced [ˈkopi ˈluwak]) or Civet coffee is coffee made from coffee berries which have been eaten by and passed through the digestive tract of the Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus). The civets eat the berries, but the beans inside pass through their system undigested. This process takes place on the islands of Sumatra, Java and Sulawesi in the Indonesian Archipelago, in the Philippines (where the product is called Kape Alamid) and in East Timor (locally called kafé-laku). Vietnam has a similar type of coffee, called weasel coffee, which is made from coffee berries which have been regurgitated by local weasels. In actuality the "weasel" is just the local version of the Asian Palm Civet. Come to think of it, only American & Japanese will try this S***!!!! Literally!!! Source

Eid Mubarak & Blessed Holidays

Eid Mubarak & Blessed Holidays

"The Future Has Always Been Crazier Than We Thought " Nassim Nicholas Taleb

The Future Has Always Been Crazier Than We Thought By Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Nassim Nicholas Taleb talks about the challenge or failure of predictions and Black Swans. Recorded before the current global economic turmoil

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Source

Black swan theory

For Taleb's book on the subject, see The Black Swan.

The Black Swan (Cygnus atratus)

The Black Swan theory (in Nassim Nicholas Taleb 's version) refers to a large-impact, hard-to-predict, and rare event beyond the realm of normal expectations. Unlike the philosophical "black swan problem", the "Black Swan" theory (capitalized) refers only to events of large consequence and their dominant role in history.

Background

The theory was described by Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his 2007 book The Black Swan. Taleb regards many scientific discoveries as black swans—"undirected" and unpredicted. He gives the rise of the Internet, the personal computer, World War I, as well as the September 11, 2001 attacks as examples of Black Swan events.^[1]

The term black swan comes from the commonplace Western cultural assumption that 'All swans are white'. In that context, a black swan was a metaphor for something that could not exist. The 17th Century discovery of black swans in Australia metamorphosed the term to connote that the perceived impossibility actually came to pass. Taleb notes that John Stuart Mill first used the black swan narrative to discuss falsification.

Non-philosophical epistemological approach

Taleb's black swan is different from the earlier (philosophical) versions of the problem as it concerns a phenomenon with specific empirical/statistical properties which he calls "the fourth quadrant".^[2] Before Taleb, those who dealt with the notion of improbable, like Hume, Mill and Popper, focused on the problem of induction in logic, specifically that of drawing general conclusions from specific observations. Taleb's Black Swan has a central and unique attribute: the high impact. His claim is that almost all consequential events in history come from the unexpected—while humans convince themselves that these events are explainable in hindsight (bias).

One problem, labeled the Ludic fallacy by Taleb, is the belief that the unstructured randomness found in life resembles the structured randomness found in games. This stems from the assumption that the unexpected can be predicted by extrapolating from variations in statistics based on past observations, especially when these statistics are assumed to represent samples from a bell curve. These concerns are often highly relevant to financial markets, where major players use value at risk models (which imply normal distributions) but market movements have fat tails.

Taleb notes that other functions are often more descriptive, such as the fractal, power law, or scalable distributions; awareness of these might help to temper expectations.^[3] Beyond this, he emphasizes that many events are simply without precedent, undercutting the basis of this sort of reasoning altogether. Taleb also argues for the use of counterfactual reasoning when considering risk.^[4][5]

Source

Another Terror act

I'm sick of those terror crimes. I'm sick of some looser fanatic group killing random western innocent people. I'm sick of bombs. I'm sick of suicide bombers. I'm sick of senseless killings. I'm sick of random violence. I'm sick of wars. And most of all I'm sick of those criminals using Islam as a label for their criminal acts.

http://alzebda.com

Where can you find the one place that has all the Kuwaiti newspapers? http://alzebda.com Via: AlQabas

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

HAPPY THANKSGIVING Y'ALL :-)

"OBAMA 08" I'm Proud to be an American !

Martin Luther King, Jr.

"I Have a Dream"

delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C.

click for pdf click for flash [AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED: Text version below transcribed directly from audio. (2)] I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation. Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children. It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges. But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by a sign stating: "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."¹ I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends. And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today! I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today! I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."² This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day. And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning: My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride, From every mountainside, let freedom ring! And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania. Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado. Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California. But not only that: Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring. And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!³

NUDE BEACH IN KUWAIT!!!!!!

OMG!!!!! http://40some.wordpress.com/2008/10/22/nude-beach-in-kuwait

In light of the current financial crises "CASH IS KING"

So, the cookie is crumbling.. Global markets are collapsing, GCC markets are following suits, what to do? I have no idea! But for those who have the cash, I say BUY NOW, there are great stocks with great value and that gives out great dividends. Look at these stocks , research their historical trading price. I will take one stock for example "GLOBAL" It closed 640 Fils yesterday and 570 Fils the day before. This stock was 3 KD in the first quarter of 2006, during 2007 & 2008 it has been flirting with One KD price, sometimes over and sometimes shy. Do you think in the First Qaurater of 2009 it would go back to 900 Fils - 1.100 KD? I think it would. So is buying Global Stock at 640 Fils a good investment? HELL YEAH. Disclaimer: This is in no way a professional advice, but rather a personal opinion based on a simple Google search :-) http://www.kuwaitse.com/PORTAL/Stock/StkHData.aspx?Stk=224

I was an ugly baby!

So, staying at home for an extended period of 5 days made me go nuts! So I went through some of my old pictures and post them on my Facebook.

Geez I was one ugly baby!

To see the whole album GO HERE

Laugh Your Abs Away Exercise Video

xOk, this is weird! LOL

Laugh Your Abs Away Exercise Video

Money As Debt - 47 min - Feb 12, 2007 Paul Grignon's 47-minute animated presentation of "Money as Debt" tells in very simple and effective graphic terms what money is and how it ...all » Paul Grignon's 47-minute animated presentation of "Money as Debt" tells in very simple and effective graphic terms what money is and how it is being created. It is an entertaining way to get the message out. The Cowichan Citizens Coalition and its "Duncan Initiative" received high praise from those who previewed it. I recommend it as a painless but hard-hitting educational tool and encourage the widest distribution and use by all groups concerned with the present unsustainable monetary system in Canada and the United States.

Michael Moore message

Friends,

Everyone said the bill would pass. The masters of the universe were already making celebratory dinner reservations at Manhattan's finest restaurants. Personal shoppers in Dallas and Atlanta were dispatched to do the early Christmas gifting. Mad Men of Chicago and Miami were popping corks and toasting each other long before the morning latte run.

But what they didn't know was that hundreds of thousands of Americans woke up yesterday morning and decided it was time for revolt. The politicians never saw it coming. Millions of phone calls and emails hit Congress so hard it was as if Marshall Dillon, Elliot Ness and Dog the Bounty Hunter had descended on D.C. to stop the looting and arrest the thieves.

The Corporate Crime of the Century was halted by a vote of 228 to 205. It was rare and historic; no one could remember a time when a bill supported by the president and the leadership of both parties went down in defeat. That just never happens.

A lot of people are wondering why the right wing of the Republican Party joined with the left wing of the Democratic Party in voting down the thievery. Forty percent of Democrats and two-thirds of Republicans voted against the bill.

Here's what happened:

The presidential race may still be close in the polls, but the Congressional races are pointing toward a landslide for the Democrats. Few dispute the prediction that the Republicans are in for a whoopin' on November 4th. Up to 30 Republican House seats could be lost in what would be a stunning repudiation of their agenda.

The Republican reps are so scared of losing their seats, when this "financial crisis" reared its head two weeks ago, they realized they had just been handed their one and only chance to separate themselves from Bush before the election, while doing something that would make them look like they were on the side of "the people."

Watching C-Span yesterday morning was one of the best comedy shows I'd seen in ages. There they were, one Republican after another who had backed the war and sunk the country into record debt, who had voted to kill every regulation that would have kept Wall Street in check -- there they were, now crying foul and standing up for the little guy! One after another, they stood at the microphone on the House floor and threw Bush under the bus, under the train (even though they had voted to kill off our nation's trains, too), heck, they would've thrown him under the rising waters of the Lower Ninth Ward if they could've conjured up another hurricane. You know how your dog acts when sprayed by a skunk? He howls and runs around trying to shake it off, rubbing and rolling himself on every piece of your carpet, trying to get rid of the stench. That's what it looked like on the Republican side of the aisle yesterday, and it was a sight to behold.

The 95 brave Dems who broke with Barney Frank and Chris Dodd were the real heroes, just like those few who stood up and voted against the war in October of 2002. Watch the remarks from yesterday of Reps. Marcy Kaptur, Sheila Jackson Lee, and Dennis Kucinich. They spoke the truth.

The Dems who voted for the giveaway did so mostly because they were scared by the threats of Wall Street, that if the rich didn't get their handout, the market would go nuts and then it's bye-bye stock-based pension and retirement funds.

And guess what? That's exactly what Wall Street did! The largest, single-day drop in the Dow in the history of the New York Stock exchange. The news anchors last night screamed it out: Americans just lost 1.2 trillion dollars in the stock market!! It's a financial Pearl Harbor! The sky is falling! Bird flu! Killer Bees!

Of course, sane people know that nobody "lost" anything yesterday, that stocks go up and down and this too shall pass because the rich will now buy low, hold, then sell off, then buy low again.

But for now, Wall Street and its propaganda arm (the networks and media it owns) will continue to try and scare the bejesus out of you. It will be harder to get a loan. Some people will lose their jobs. A weak nation of wimps won't last long under this torture. Or will we? Is this our line in the sand?

Here's my guess: The Democratic leadership in the House secretly hoped all along that this lousy bill would go down. With Bush's proposals shredded, the Dems knew they could then write their own bill that favors the average American, not the upper 10% who were hoping for another kegger of gold.

So the ball is in the Democrats' hands. The gun from Wall Street remains at their head. Before they make their next move, let me tell you what the media kept silent about while this bill was being debated:

1. The bailout bill had NO enforcement provisions for the so-called oversight group that was going to monitor Wall Street's spending of the $700 billion;

2. It had NO penalties, fines or imprisonment for any executive who might steal any of the people's money;

3. It did NOTHING to force banks and lenders to rewrite people's mortgages to avoid foreclosures -- this bill would not have stopped ONE foreclosure!;

4. It had NO teeth anywhere in the entire piece of legislation, using words like "suggested" when referring to the government being paid back for the bailout;

5. Over 200 economists wrote to Congress and said this bill might actually WORSEN the "financial crisis" and cause even MORE of a meltdown.

Put a fork in this slab of pork. It's over. Now it is time for our side to state very clearly the laws WE want passed. I will send you my proposals later today. We've bought ourselves less than 72 hours.

Yours, Michael Moore MMFlint@aol.com MichaelMoore.com

List of Names who bought Phony Degrees

My friend Omaro from #Palestine (MIRC - Dalnet) told me about this, here is a list of people who bought Phony Degrees online LOL.

Diploma mill degree recipients

Almost 10,000 people spent $7.3 million buying phony and counterfeit high school and college degrees from a Spokane diploma mill. The complete list of buyers, which the U.S. Department of Justice has refused to release to the public, has been obtained by The Spokesman-Review and published July 28.

READ MORE HERE

(HELPPPPP) Blogger Spacing Problem

Salam, 2 years ago I did something to my Blogger to be able to migrate it to my own domain. Now I have this spacing problem, each time I blog anything the formatting disappears and the whole post is condensed into one big paragraph. Anyone know how to fix that? HELP

LESSONS LEARNED (by Mazin Qumsiyeh)

SOURCE

LESSONS LEARNED

RANDOM LESSONS LEARNED FROM 15 Years of activism by Mazin Qumsiyeh Everything that happens in life is exactly as it is supposed to happen. Our free will gives us the ability to react to it in different ways. That is freedom which no one can take away from us. Further, watch carefully these things that happen in your presence for it is sometimes the prepared mind that captures the opportunities that are presented to us. I cannot count the times (in the thousands) where I found success by paying attention and following the clues left for us (by God or fate or mere chance) You can sometimes learn far more from someone who never finished high school (e.g. Bill Hill who drives the Wheels of Justice bust tour) than from a president of a university or a governor. Change is good. Life is good. The two are inseparable. Some people can take away our jobs, our family members, our friends, our homes, our lands, our belongings and much more but as long as we do not get infected with their hate and fear, we will continue to love and be content and hopeful. In this lies the fact told by many philosophers that secrets of our happiness is within us not in those ephemeral things that happen to us. You can think those who do evil things are guided by evil forces (Satan) or you can think they are guided by their own upbringing and circumstances. In either case if you reflect rationally on the causes of their actions and cannot convince them of the errors of their ways then what can justify hating them or fearing them. Isn't that the only real way they can harm you and rattle your tranquility. Corollary: things and events and people cannot make me lose tranquility or happiness.. only I can do that! No person is worth more than any other. Some people are more fun and far more worth hanging around with (to me) but this is due to my own circumstances and life. Just like if you have food and do not share with those who need it, it is also with having "wisdom". But it is always wise to remember to be humble and that the old teachers taught us well only when we wanted to learn. There are really very few people who know how to live with love. Love makes them act in courage and speak truth to power. These are the teachers we should learn from. Some people can eat a tortured lamb while treating their cats and dogs better than children are treated. Others go pray in a church to the prince of peace (Jesus who asked us to love our enemies) and then drop a 1000 pound bomb on a city obliterating hundreds of lives. We could cite hundreds of other such things that make good material for stand-up comedy (or drama). But my responsibility is to reflect on my own behavior. Strive to live life free from hypocricy, envy, self-indulgence, jeolousy, vanity, and frivolty. When given a chance to eat good food- do it When given a chance to drink good drinks- do it When given a chance to dance- do it When given a chance to have fun- do it When given a chance to help others- do it when given a chance to do all the other things that life gives us to do (love, share, laugh, etc), do it! As the sages wrote "eveyone dies but not everyone lives" so live life to the fullest. Activism is the best antidote to despair. A good friend is great to have. A good spouse and a good child also. Having a spouse and a child who are also best friends and confidants are gifts beyond words. A million dollars can make some men feel poor while a few essential belongings or a good meal can make another feel rich. Thus it is not what I have but how I feel about what I have. No one and no comfort or pain can make me feel as happy or as unhappy as I can make yourself. It is all under my ultimate control. Correct your errors, repent (and if harmed others provide correct recompense and apology) and then forgive yourself. If you are able to do that and understand your circumstances then why would you ever think ill of anyone else. To quote Howard Zinn "To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places - and there are so many - where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory." Howard Zinn (You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A personal history of our times, p. 208) Don't take yourself too seriously :-) Having many good friends that you can trust with your life (and vice versa) means you have learned to be a true friend and that you have learned to let go of your ego. There is evil and goodness in all human traditions and strains of thought (e.g. Judaism, Christianity, Western Civilization, socialism, capitalism). If we learn to look honestly at each thing on it own and not on the box it was contained in at one time, we will not be in the least bit harmed but be enriched by the knowledge. An old saying in the fight against segregation in the South was "free your mind and your ass will follow". Shakespeare wrote: "assay the power within you, our fears make traistors of us all" Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote: “Cowardice asks the question - is it safe? Expediency asks the question - is it politic? Vanity asks the question - is it popular? But conscience asks the question - is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular; but one must take it because it is right.” The highest purposes in life is doing our duty as human beings, part of this social network of human beings. That is why doing something good for another should n=be its own reward. Looking for and receiving thanks and recognition actually diminishes the goodness of the act. When tempted by our petty egos to do that, it is best to remember that these things do not add one thing to what you gave. When death comes and afterwards, all these things will be forgotten only the ripple effect of the actual action might persist. First do no harm, second, third.. and last do no harm. In between do some good. A touch or a tear is far more powerful than any statement in expressing the emotion behind it. Do not thus be afraid to let your emotion express itself in the best way it can. Most of us are more scared of our abilities than disabilities. We are scared of success more than of possible failure. Failure is used an excuse but it is only a lesson. We can do far more than what we even imagine if have courage (in its true decent sense). Many of these lessons were available to me as child if I chose to see how for example my grandfather lived. It is the nature of things that we absorb things with age and only fully understand them when the ripeness of time and with other experiences they come to to the forth and become clearer (just like a binoclar focuses on an a fuzzy objects in the distance). Making many mistakes is the price of learning. It is for a good reason that many religions and traditions hold patience and hope as the highest virtues (ofcourse when accompanied with doing what you are able to do). For the alternative vices of impatience and dispair only lead to destruction. Further, patience and hope are virtues associated with freedom because the outside world can enslave us only if we internalize our external difficulties and exude the negative. Negative waves can only be countered with positive ones. Those who support racism (though think of themselves as not racist) and those who support war crimes (though they justify it in their mind) need to be challenged with facts and figures but if they chose to remain where they are then we should neither assign blame to them or to us for failing to convince them. They are like patients who refuse to recognize their illness or its treatment, they are only to be looked it with compassion. This is true even when those people try all sorts of techniques to cause us harm. For again, they can only alter the circumstances external to us and if we are well grounded, they cannot cause us any harm (a real harm is one that I can only inflict on myself by accepting that which I claim to reject). Others may hate me, despise me, be jeolous of me but these things should only concern me if they are based on a real defect in my behavior. In that case, that should not distress me since I could/should correct such defects. If they are not based on real defects, then that also should not cause me distress. Similarly, some may love me and admire me. If that is based on real good characters in me then why should that please me. Isn't having good character a reward in itself. And if they are mistaken then also why should that please me? Do not seek the convoluted explanations. Sometimes the simple ones and the first ones are more correct. That is Occam's razor. It applies also to your thinking about others and their behavior. Make sure to increase your love and diminish your hate. Increase your kindness and diminish your selfishness. Increase your hope and decrease your scepticism. This will make you live better. Real change and the one that is most significant is what happens within us. Change in our circumstanced is of far less importance. Because of this it is also true that people can change circumstances of other people but only people themselves can affect the more important change within ourselves. For those who were there along our path and whose actions helped us reach the correct internal change, our debt is great. As the Buddhists say: let us work to "have joyful participation in the Sorrows of this world". Doing our duties and expecting nothing in return other than the privilege of participation IS our path to joy. Make sure you make your life a good journey; the destination is dust! Let us contemplate our lives and always strive for maximum humility. What I do not like about others, they may not like about me. As a scientist, I believe there is no certainty in anything. In fact, the defintion of scientific hypothesis (e.g. that there is gravity, that the earth is spherical, that speciation by evolution occurs) is that it is FALSIFIABLE. So if someone asks me if I have considered that what I think of this or that matter maybe entirely wrong, the answer is: yes! Maximum objectivity is not equivalent to maximum certainty. The only people absolutely certain of their positions are actually those who lead us to wars, oppression and destruction.

كيف تتلذذ بالصلاة - مشاري الخراز

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم "ألم يأن للذين آمنوا أن تخشع قلوبهم لذكر الله وما نزل من الحق" برنامج كيف تتلذذ بالصلاة؟ للداعية الشاب مشاري الخراز، يهدف البرنامج إلى بيان سبل الرُقي و السُمو في عبادة الصلاة، سوف تتغير صلاتك للأفضل بإذن الله عند مشاهدتك لكافة حلقات البرنامج

To all my peeps outside Kuwait, You have to check this brother out, he is amazing, I actually witnessed one of this lectures live. Very well put and a great topic. He started at Kifan Mosque, then was upgraded to the Grand Mosque because the crowd was overwhelming. During Ramadan he is in Kuwait TV1, I kept asking for his DVD, he is new and doesn't have them YET. A fellow Blogger posted about him and his show at youtube. Here is the link to his shows: كيف تتلذذ بالصلاة - مشاري الخراز Here is Mishary Al Kharraz site

Thank you article to Expats in Kuwait from a Kuwaiti citizen

أنا كويتي.. وأنت وافد الأربعاء 20 أغسطس 2008 - الأنباء

ذعار الرشيدي كم نحن عنصريون، خمسون عاما وهم يعملون معنا ويشاركوننا بناء بلدنا ولم نقل لهم شكرا، نصف قرن أفنى غالبيتهم زهرة شبابه يعمل ويذهب صباحا إلى عمله الذي يعود في النهاية نفعه أيا كان حجمه في دائرة تنمية البلد، تزوجوا هنا وأنجبوا أولادهم هنا، حتى أن أولادهم اعتقدوا أو يتملكهم اعتقاد أنهم كويتيون، وهم فعلا كويتيون بالمولد، لم نكن لنقفز هذه القفزات الكبيرة خلال خمسين عاما لولا أنهم جاءوا إلى بلدنا وشاركونا البناء والتعمير والتأسيس. خمسون عاما وهم في جميع القطاعات الحكومية والخاصة، مهندسون وأطباء وصيادلة ومحامون وعمال وميكانيكيون وأساتذة جامعة ومدرسون وطباعون وبناءون ومقاولون وبائعو فاكهة وخضار وملابس وفنيون واستشاريون بل وحتى «طقاقات» وبائعات في سوق «واجف». خمسون عاما عانوا مما عانيناه وربما أكثر، فعندما استيقظت الحكومة يوما وأرادت أن تعدل التركيبة السكانية لم تضرب على أيدي تجار الإقامات ولكنها توجهت إلى الوافدين ووضعت قيودا وشروطا عليهم وعلى أقاماتهم ووضعت التأمين الصحي على أدمغتهم «ذلك التأمين الذي لا يسمن ولا يغني من جوع»، فلكي يعيش أحدهم مع زوجته وثلاثة من أطفاله عليه أن يتحمل تأمينهم الصحي وتكاليف إقامتهم بمبلغ يفوق الحد الأدنى لراتبه رغم أنه لا توجد حدود دنيا للرواتب في الكويت ولم تحدد يوما، وكأن الحكومة عندما أرادت أن تكحل التركيبة السكانية أعمت عيون الوافدين، كانوا ولا يزالون الحلقة الأضعف والطريق الأسهل لأي قرار أرادت به الحكومة تعديل أخطاء تجار الإقامات من المواطنين الذين يتحملون المسؤولية الكاملة عن كل أخطاء التركيبة السكانية منذ عام 1980 وحتى اليوم. بدلا من أن تضرب الحكومة على أيدي تجار الإقامات، ضربت الوافدين بقرارات جعلت البلد أقرب إلى بلد من المغتربين العزاب. 50 عاما والوافدون يأتون ويرحلون، يبنون ويعمرون ويشاركوننا العمل والبنيان، ولم تتكون لدى العامة من المواطنين فكرة سوى أن هؤلاء الوافدين جاءوا بحثا عن الدينار وكأن المواطن ملاك منزّل لا يأكل ولا يشرب ولا يبحث عن الدينار «ألم نقم الدنيا ونقعدها وحُل مجلس أمتنا الماضي بسبب 50 دينارا؟». في نظرة أخرى للوافدين نقول عنهم «جاءوا ليشاركوننا لقمة عيشنا ويأخذوا وظائفنا»، رغم أن دستورنا كفل لنا التعليم والصحة والتوظيف وهم «يا بخت» من يجد منهم وظيفة بالكاد تسد رمقه حتى آخر الشهر. 50 عاما وأغلبهم سمع هذه الجملة «أنا كويتي...أنت وافد... هذي ديرتي»، نفس عنصري عالي النبرة، ونسينا أن من يلوح لنا بالعلم الأحمر في الطريق أثناء الإصلاحات به كحماية وتنبيه لنا هو وافد يقف في عز الظهيرة بينما نحن نستمتع بهواء مكيف سياراتنا، ونسينا أن من علمنا ودرسنا وافدون ومن بدأ حركتنا الفنية من الوافدين ومن أسس صحافتنا «الحديثة» وافدون، ومن عالجنا وافدون، ومن أعلى البنيان هم من الوافدين. 50 عاما واستكثرنا خلالها حتى أن نقول لهم شكرا. من القلب شكرا لكل وافد جاء أو عاش في هذا البلد حتى ولو لم يفعل سوى أن دق مسمارا في لوحة إرشادية على جانب طريق مظلم.

3-F-Y

Back in the states I used to sleep the minute my head touched my pillow and wake up around 5 AM. In Kuwait I still fall asleep as fast, but I wake up like 2 to 4 times at night, I check on the kids, drink water, watch some TV, check my email..... I think this has to do with a lot of issues. 1- Mentally, I'm not in peace with my self as I used to. 2- Dealing with people, in the stats people are more forward and direct with you. Here I have to deal with morons & bullies, I usually take the high road and move on. 3- Work is consuming most of my energy, I'm working my ass off and trying to establish a good base for my career, it kills me to see people around me slack off and get away with murder, and no one can say or do something about it. I have made a pack with myself to stick with it for 3 years and then things should look better. It has been one year so far. The funny thing at work people are happy with me because of my hard work, but I'm not because I always have to look the other way and occupy myself with my work so I dont get in trouble. Was I in the states? I would be screaming my lung off 24/7. God bless the US. So, to help me survive my job I have created a motto: 3-F-Y Yupe, 3 F. Years.

Bored!

Hello people, Although I won't be blogging as often, I would be using this blog to blow some steam. Wow, I have developed thick skin from living among Arabs. My driving skills has become more aggressive. I'm not as social as I used to be, as a matter of fact I try to avoid going out, I can't stand teenagers, traffic and "ignonts". I have been here for over a year now, things are moving slowly.. Did I make the right decision moving out of the states?! I think so. Are the kids Happy? although they enjoy mingling with their cousins, they still say the states is better, I don't blame them. Any plans to go back? not before 2010. This is the funniest thing I heard since I moved here, it a conversation between me and a close friend in the states: Me: Whats cracklackin baby? Abdullah: hey man, when are you moving back? Me: not before 10 years. Abdullah: why? it only takes 7 years to clear your credit! LOOOOOL OK maybe not as funny to you, but it made me laugh. Omar's first day at KG was yesterday. So what's up with the Arab stock Markets? is it because of Ramadan? Why do people stop working in Ramadan?! I think we are enslaving Indians. OK, as you can see I'm so bored, will write when I have something good to post about. Peace out peeps.

Guess who is back?

HONEY I'M HOOOOMMMMMMMMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE