Well after a long period of laziness I gave my mind a chance to wander about a bit and these thoughts/questions just came into my head. I thought I'd write something about it because I know that if I don't do it right now then I probably never will.
So this post is actually more like thinking out loud.
I am particularily thinking about respect for freedom, respect for the other point/points of view, and how it evolves and forms.
At first I was thinking about the differences in these respects between first and third world countries. Having lived 24 years in a 3rd world country, and having read/heard a lot about first world ones, I am under the impression that respect and tolerance for the other point of view is a lot more common among the more advanced nations.
So how does a nation's moralities relate to its economic state....
Narrowing my scope down a bit, I began thinking about those differences among the people of the same nation. I have had the privilege of dealing with lots of people from very vastly different social classes. And by mere observation I have found out that the more intellectual and/or educated a person is, the more open he usually is to new ideas and opposing points of view.
This naturally means more respect for others' freedom and being able to live with the fact that different does not mean worse. To be able to say "I recognize that you have different beliefs, I may have a different set of beliefs or views on things, but that doesn't mean I think any less of you. And I do respect you and your set of beliefs/views"
So maybe this is why more advanced nations are better at that (on average), because they are more intellectual/better educated.
Does this mean that this respect is taught rather than human nature? Are human beings essentially selfish? How did humanity develop that?
Am I making any sense at all?
Friday, July 29, 2005
Sunday, July 24, 2005
Canon S2 IS
I'd wanted to get myself a digital camera for some time but was waiting till I relocate. Various factors however made me take the decision to get one right now, so I got a Canon Powershot S2 IS, and I love it. It's just brilliant, the 12x optical zoom comes in amazingly handy, the image stabilization functionality makes sure you can use the zoom effectively with less fear of photos coming out blurred due to camera shake, and the photos come out looking great as long as I'm not using ISO200 or 400 speeds. If you're like me into photography and shopping for a digital camera (non SLR) I highly recommend it. It's not for someone who just wants to point and shoot though, as it takes some working to get perfect results.
So here goes some photos I'd taken with this excellent piece of kit:
(You can click on the images for a larger version)
Color Fest
Years of technology
I'd changed this one to black and white and increased the contrast for a slightly more dramatic effect, although I usually like to leave my photos without any digital processing.
Splash
Using the optical zoom I was able to go "inside" the wave to capture this splash while sitting at the shore.
Pushing it just to demonstrate the zoom, I used the full 4x digital zoom plus the 12x optical zoom for a combined 48x zoom to get this photo of the moon, it was very surprising to me to see the lunar details apparent in this photo
So here goes some photos I'd taken with this excellent piece of kit:
(You can click on the images for a larger version)
Color Fest
Years of technology
I'd changed this one to black and white and increased the contrast for a slightly more dramatic effect, although I usually like to leave my photos without any digital processing.
Splash
Using the optical zoom I was able to go "inside" the wave to capture this splash while sitting at the shore.
Pushing it just to demonstrate the zoom, I used the full 4x digital zoom plus the 12x optical zoom for a combined 48x zoom to get this photo of the moon, it was very surprising to me to see the lunar details apparent in this photo
Monday, July 18, 2005
The Birthday, Duke's Birthday
Last post ended at the events of last Wednesday night.
So Thursday comes and at around 4:30pm I find meyo adding me to her msn contact list and tells me that they've decided to throw a tiny surprise birthday party for the duke at their home and that I'm cordially invited. I'd never been to duke's home before, and they have known me for a relatively very short period of time. So being one of the 5 people invited was really really heart warming. If that's not touching, I don't know what is.
To be brutally honest, I was afraid at first. I sometimes get this fear of social situations (remnants of my old shyness thing). Birthdays are one social situation I'm particularily not good at (although I'm worse at weddings). And the fact that I'd be among such a close-knit group, two of which I'd never met before, certainly did not help much. But I've decided to face my fears, and took faith in how I've enjoyed the company of the duke and her highness the few times we'd been in outings or trips.
And am I glad I did!
It was a very very pleasant experience. I went with Nag, I enter duke's living room, I'm introduced to Heba and Rihab for the first time, and I am taken aback by the sheer coolness of duke's die cast car model collection. So I ignore all rules of etiquette, the fact that I was just introduced to people who do not know me, and the fact that I'm almost 24 years old and I turn the place upside down fiddling with the gorgeous models of the Carrera GT, Ferrari 612 scaglietti, Ferrari F50, Mercedes SL, Lamborghini Murcielago, Lamborghini Gallardo, Jaguar XJ220, Jaguar E-Type, and many others.
Later on, Nag takes the chance (anytime she and I are around people is a chance) to tell everyone a fictional account of my views on the differences between men and women in a manner that is very carefully, yet deliberately, twisted so as to show me as a nasty sexist. I swiftly maneuver myself around the trap as usual and we move on.
We then watch a bit of seinfeld (which everyone but me seemed familiar with), was fun, we also have a discussion about what books one would recommend to show a foreigner a bit of the Egyptian character and culture. Opinions vary widely between tourist guides, and novels like Naguib Mahfouz's or "Emaret Yaakobian" (Jacob's building), among many other suggestions. A very interesting discussions.
So much more happened and you can check Duke's own post for more details and funny incidents, or this picture post for more visual details.
I had so much fun, and to Rihab, Hoobs, Duke, Meyo, Rifa3i, and Nag, Thank you so much. You are a wonderful group of people and hilarious company.
And that my last thursday :)
See you next post.
So Thursday comes and at around 4:30pm I find meyo adding me to her msn contact list and tells me that they've decided to throw a tiny surprise birthday party for the duke at their home and that I'm cordially invited. I'd never been to duke's home before, and they have known me for a relatively very short period of time. So being one of the 5 people invited was really really heart warming. If that's not touching, I don't know what is.
To be brutally honest, I was afraid at first. I sometimes get this fear of social situations (remnants of my old shyness thing). Birthdays are one social situation I'm particularily not good at (although I'm worse at weddings). And the fact that I'd be among such a close-knit group, two of which I'd never met before, certainly did not help much. But I've decided to face my fears, and took faith in how I've enjoyed the company of the duke and her highness the few times we'd been in outings or trips.
And am I glad I did!
It was a very very pleasant experience. I went with Nag, I enter duke's living room, I'm introduced to Heba and Rihab for the first time, and I am taken aback by the sheer coolness of duke's die cast car model collection. So I ignore all rules of etiquette, the fact that I was just introduced to people who do not know me, and the fact that I'm almost 24 years old and I turn the place upside down fiddling with the gorgeous models of the Carrera GT, Ferrari 612 scaglietti, Ferrari F50, Mercedes SL, Lamborghini Murcielago, Lamborghini Gallardo, Jaguar XJ220, Jaguar E-Type, and many others.
Later on, Nag takes the chance (anytime she and I are around people is a chance) to tell everyone a fictional account of my views on the differences between men and women in a manner that is very carefully, yet deliberately, twisted so as to show me as a nasty sexist. I swiftly maneuver myself around the trap as usual and we move on.
We then watch a bit of seinfeld (which everyone but me seemed familiar with), was fun, we also have a discussion about what books one would recommend to show a foreigner a bit of the Egyptian character and culture. Opinions vary widely between tourist guides, and novels like Naguib Mahfouz's or "Emaret Yaakobian" (Jacob's building), among many other suggestions. A very interesting discussions.
So much more happened and you can check Duke's own post for more details and funny incidents, or this picture post for more visual details.
I had so much fun, and to Rihab, Hoobs, Duke, Meyo, Rifa3i, and Nag, Thank you so much. You are a wonderful group of people and hilarious company.
And that my last thursday :)
See you next post.
Saturday, July 16, 2005
Outings, Concerts, and a Birthday :)
Last week started with me going on a trip to bad mood land. Not anymore though.
Because mid week just when I was about to hit rock bottom, Nuni calls, she tells me we could go out, I warn her that I won't be all that much fun to hang around given the current mood (and the fact that I'm usually not all that much fun even in good moods), she dismissed my remarks. So I pick her up and we drive around without a destination for a while till grecko is mentioned, I find out that she loves it too so we head to grecko.
We chat for a while, look at coldwell banker's guide to find some villas and houses costing 17 million EGP, and then she unveils a gold mine.
Out of her purse, Nuni takes out an old penguin book entitled "Test your IQ" or something like that. It contains some introduction about IQ testing and then 5 full IQ tests, with answers and scoring charts. I've always liked IQ tests, turns out nuni does too (and she's real good at them). So for the first time I collaboratively work on an IQ test with someone.
And it was soooo much fun. We thought, and we laughed at how similar our thoughts are sometimes, and at how different they are at other times. Nuni enthusiastically mentions something about a "sea dog", and then I sarcastically point out there is no such thing, a few seconds and she remembers it's called a "seal" in English and that "sea dog" is the word for word translation for what a seal is called in Arabic (Kalb el ba7r) (While writing this I found out through merriam webster online that a sea dog is in fact "a veteran sailor")
It sounds like a very strange thing to do on an outing (specially with someone as attractive as nuni *wink* *wink*) but it was very novel and so much fun. We head home at around 11, chat a bit, and she buys me dark chocolate on the way home. Nuni if you're reading, you had made my day, Thank you :)))
On Wednesday I learn that WAMA (an Egyptian 4 boy band) are doing a concert in El Sakya so I pick up Amgad and Heba (who sadly are "virtual" people in the sense that they only exist offline with no online presence), and we head to the concert. It was so much fun, although I was disappointed with their performance. Their voices were week, they were out of breath with all the jumping they had to do on stage, and they used lots of playback throughout the concert. They even sang out of tune sometimes and in one very ironic incident, forgot the lyrics. Not professional at all to say the least. Althought I'd still enjoyed the concert "mood", the loud cheers from the attendees, and the general atmosphere.
Come Thursday, and Duke's birthday party :D
I'd originally planned writing about this in the same post but I think it's getting way too long now. So I'll save it for a post to come tomorrow isa.
Ciao Ciao
Because mid week just when I was about to hit rock bottom, Nuni calls, she tells me we could go out, I warn her that I won't be all that much fun to hang around given the current mood (and the fact that I'm usually not all that much fun even in good moods), she dismissed my remarks. So I pick her up and we drive around without a destination for a while till grecko is mentioned, I find out that she loves it too so we head to grecko.
We chat for a while, look at coldwell banker's guide to find some villas and houses costing 17 million EGP, and then she unveils a gold mine.
Out of her purse, Nuni takes out an old penguin book entitled "Test your IQ" or something like that. It contains some introduction about IQ testing and then 5 full IQ tests, with answers and scoring charts. I've always liked IQ tests, turns out nuni does too (and she's real good at them). So for the first time I collaboratively work on an IQ test with someone.
And it was soooo much fun. We thought, and we laughed at how similar our thoughts are sometimes, and at how different they are at other times. Nuni enthusiastically mentions something about a "sea dog", and then I sarcastically point out there is no such thing, a few seconds and she remembers it's called a "seal" in English and that "sea dog" is the word for word translation for what a seal is called in Arabic (Kalb el ba7r) (While writing this I found out through merriam webster online that a sea dog is in fact "a veteran sailor")
It sounds like a very strange thing to do on an outing (specially with someone as attractive as nuni *wink* *wink*) but it was very novel and so much fun. We head home at around 11, chat a bit, and she buys me dark chocolate on the way home. Nuni if you're reading, you had made my day, Thank you :)))
On Wednesday I learn that WAMA (an Egyptian 4 boy band) are doing a concert in El Sakya so I pick up Amgad and Heba (who sadly are "virtual" people in the sense that they only exist offline with no online presence), and we head to the concert. It was so much fun, although I was disappointed with their performance. Their voices were week, they were out of breath with all the jumping they had to do on stage, and they used lots of playback throughout the concert. They even sang out of tune sometimes and in one very ironic incident, forgot the lyrics. Not professional at all to say the least. Althought I'd still enjoyed the concert "mood", the loud cheers from the attendees, and the general atmosphere.
Come Thursday, and Duke's birthday party :D
I'd originally planned writing about this in the same post but I think it's getting way too long now. So I'll save it for a post to come tomorrow isa.
Ciao Ciao
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Question marks
Well, I used to write poetry and sonnets (in English, could never do it in Arabic), but that was long ago, back in high school to be precise.
I don't think I've written anything since then, up until today. I have no idea what brought it up. But I felt like writing something, so I did. I don't know if it's any good, but the one person who'd read it gave me kind of positive feedback (Thanks Tiny!), although she'd advised me not to blog it :)
So without further ado I present you my piece, that I called "Question Marks".
Needless to say, your feedback is highly seeked and appreciated. Hoping you enjoy it.
Question Marks:
-----------------------
Did you ever ache hearing a song?
Did you ever feel like you need to belong?
Loneliness never killed anybody, or did it?
Do you know exactly what you're looking for?
Are you sure you never ran into it before?
Why do things have to be like that, or do they?
If you're a victim, what are you a victim of?
If you're not, then what are you accused of?
It's you who's doing this to yourself, or is it?
I don't think I've written anything since then, up until today. I have no idea what brought it up. But I felt like writing something, so I did. I don't know if it's any good, but the one person who'd read it gave me kind of positive feedback (Thanks Tiny!), although she'd advised me not to blog it :)
So without further ado I present you my piece, that I called "Question Marks".
Needless to say, your feedback is highly seeked and appreciated. Hoping you enjoy it.
Question Marks:
-----------------------
Did you ever ache hearing a song?
Did you ever feel like you need to belong?
Loneliness never killed anybody, or did it?
Do you know exactly what you're looking for?
Are you sure you never ran into it before?
Why do things have to be like that, or do they?
If you're a victim, what are you a victim of?
If you're not, then what are you accused of?
It's you who's doing this to yourself, or is it?
Monday, July 11, 2005
Site Seeing
Well, the project I was working on at ITWorx had been cancelled by the client a few days ago. Looking at the bright side, that has led to me having a lot less work on my hands. I will be working on documenting one year's work during the upcoming 7 weeks before I finally quit and get ready for relocation by end of september.
And since it looks like I'm heading slowly but surely to a bad mood, I don't feel like talking about anything related to myself, nor do I feel like thinking about stuff. So I will just share with you a couple of things I'd read in the past few days and found interesting or amusing.
A very interesting futuristic look on the future of copyrights and DRM simply called "The Right To Read". Make sure you don't miss the author's note at the end of the page.
Another man does something that he himself can't find a reason for, reciting pi from memory to 83,431 places, weirdly enough, he's not even a mathematician but a psychiatrist.
An interesting piece about Mars coming close to earth again on October this year. Helps you separate the truth from the hype that has been circulating the Internet about it for quite a while. I hope by October I would have acquired my own telescope and could go camping somewhere in a national park in Seattle and enjoy the view.
And the irony doesn't get much better than this where a man who rescued a swimmer from drowning is taken to jail for interfering with public duties.
And since it looks like I'm heading slowly but surely to a bad mood, I don't feel like talking about anything related to myself, nor do I feel like thinking about stuff. So I will just share with you a couple of things I'd read in the past few days and found interesting or amusing.
A very interesting futuristic look on the future of copyrights and DRM simply called "The Right To Read". Make sure you don't miss the author's note at the end of the page.
Another man does something that he himself can't find a reason for, reciting pi from memory to 83,431 places, weirdly enough, he's not even a mathematician but a psychiatrist.
An interesting piece about Mars coming close to earth again on October this year. Helps you separate the truth from the hype that has been circulating the Internet about it for quite a while. I hope by October I would have acquired my own telescope and could go camping somewhere in a national park in Seattle and enjoy the view.
And the irony doesn't get much better than this where a man who rescued a swimmer from drowning is taken to jail for interfering with public duties.
Monday, July 04, 2005
Back from Hurghada
Been on vacation in Hurghada for 3 days, it was an ITWorx organized trip (but everyone was welcome to bring in guest).
The trip was doubly important to me. Not only was it my first time to visit Hurghada, but it was also my first summer vacation in more than 18 months.
Weirdly enough, One can hardly find Egyptians in Hurghada -apart from people who operate the city's facilities and resorts-, it's infested with Russians, I think Moscow might have less Russians than Hurghada does.
One thing that I did find annoying is how almost every place you go has signs written in Russian, sometimes English is thrown in too, but Arabic is not put to use. I realize that this might be the smart thing to do if you have a shop or restaurant in Hurghada but it kinda gets on my nerves. We're in Egypt after all, Russians should try and learn some Arabic, or English (as a global standard).
Another thing that you immediately notice is the "touristic" prices you pay for stuff. Mineral water bottles that you get here for 1.5 LE cost you 8 LE over there at the resort. Coming back to Cairo everything suddenly seems so cheap, I went to the supermarket on my way to work and got half a dozen chocolate bars, I'd intended getting one but I just "felt" there were very cheap :)
However, the vacation was so much fun, I think I'd spent more than 16 hours in water in 2 days, when I came back yesterday night I hadn't slept for around 36 hours straight. There was simply no time to sleep.
And the trip was specially fun for me as I had lots of "first timers", it was my first time to visit Hurghada, first time to learn diving, not really diving but rather swimming under water, right over the pool's floor (160 cms), and it was my first time to go on an ATV safari in the desert, which I enjoyed immensely.
I still have lots to say about the trip, but I guess a picture says a thousand words, so I'll continue the photography theme with some photos from the trip, some taken by myself and some of me by my friend Osama.
Sitting on water
Demonstrating my super human powers ;)
Attack of the safarists
During the sunrise ATV safari we made, the best photo I took on this trip in my opinion.
30 Years From Now
Some of ITWorx folks who went on the safari, half way through the journey all the sand and dust in your hair gives a sneak peek at how you could look like 30 years later.
Me on the ATV
If you'll excuse the look on my face, I hadn't slept for 24 hours when this was taken, not that I would have looked any better if I'd slept anyway.
A joint effort made by me and Osama :)
The trip was doubly important to me. Not only was it my first time to visit Hurghada, but it was also my first summer vacation in more than 18 months.
Weirdly enough, One can hardly find Egyptians in Hurghada -apart from people who operate the city's facilities and resorts-, it's infested with Russians, I think Moscow might have less Russians than Hurghada does.
One thing that I did find annoying is how almost every place you go has signs written in Russian, sometimes English is thrown in too, but Arabic is not put to use. I realize that this might be the smart thing to do if you have a shop or restaurant in Hurghada but it kinda gets on my nerves. We're in Egypt after all, Russians should try and learn some Arabic, or English (as a global standard).
Another thing that you immediately notice is the "touristic" prices you pay for stuff. Mineral water bottles that you get here for 1.5 LE cost you 8 LE over there at the resort. Coming back to Cairo everything suddenly seems so cheap, I went to the supermarket on my way to work and got half a dozen chocolate bars, I'd intended getting one but I just "felt" there were very cheap :)
However, the vacation was so much fun, I think I'd spent more than 16 hours in water in 2 days, when I came back yesterday night I hadn't slept for around 36 hours straight. There was simply no time to sleep.
And the trip was specially fun for me as I had lots of "first timers", it was my first time to visit Hurghada, first time to learn diving, not really diving but rather swimming under water, right over the pool's floor (160 cms), and it was my first time to go on an ATV safari in the desert, which I enjoyed immensely.
I still have lots to say about the trip, but I guess a picture says a thousand words, so I'll continue the photography theme with some photos from the trip, some taken by myself and some of me by my friend Osama.
Sitting on water
Demonstrating my super human powers ;)
Attack of the safarists
During the sunrise ATV safari we made, the best photo I took on this trip in my opinion.
30 Years From Now
Some of ITWorx folks who went on the safari, half way through the journey all the sand and dust in your hair gives a sneak peek at how you could look like 30 years later.
Me on the ATV
If you'll excuse the look on my face, I hadn't slept for 24 hours when this was taken, not that I would have looked any better if I'd slept anyway.
Silhouette of me
A joint effort made by me and Osama :)
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