My top ten 2005 Accomplishments.
1) On the professional level : I went to work every day except for the days that were designated as holiday or days off.
2) On the personal level : I Quit Mahjoob discussion list and joined Jordan Planet bloggers list.
3) On the family level : I Told my spouse and my children that I still love them
4) On the friends level : I Called my friends in Jordan and Palestine and conveyed my greetings and best wishes.
5) On the theological level : I Haven't started but I'm attempting to start praying on regular basis.
6) On the house level : I Bought new stove and refrigerator for the kitchen.
7) On the internet level : I Learned new techniques for searching and refining my search.
8) On the investment level : I did well in [REIT] real estate investments trust fund.
9) On the health level : I Took my medication according to the way the doctor prescribed them for me
10) On the cathartic level : I Engaged a group of very nice bloggers like Nas, Haitham, Rami, Roba, Lina, Firas, Tololy, and Ziad Kawar
My outlook for 206 : Much of the same things like 2005
Thursday, December 29, 2005
Friday, December 23, 2005
Simplify ... Simplify.
This post is inspired by Darwish Naji's experience during the period immediately before his http://hotice130.blogspot.com/ joining Jordan Planet citizenry. His experience was reminiscent of my own experience and the experience of couple of other citizens who probably wouldn't want their names publicized and would rather remain anonymous.
What makes this topic interesting is the fact that existing members who have been citizens for a while themselves don't know anything about the appropriate manner with which an aspiring prospective bolggers become a citizen of Jordan Planet.
I'm not suggesting that somehow there is a huge level of fortified secrecy surrounding the manner with which a prospective blogger become a citizen what I'm saying is there is a need for something like a pull down key that would take the person for instance to a topic titled [FAQ] frequently asked questions.
The purpose of this topic would be to answer the most frequently asked questions that comes to mind when the person become interested in Joining Jordan Plant. I understand that currently there are brief statements scattered here and there that gives the person some hints on what to do, but judging from Darwish Naji's experience, my own experience and that of couple others, I felt that this topic warrants some addressing and I chose to be the one to address it.
A few days ago, Laith Zraikat suggested http://laithz.jeeran.com/archive/2005/12/4304.html that the citizen ought to be given the option to post or not post some blogs on Jordan PLanet since some of the topics are too technical for some people and find it very boring and may not want to be burdened with looking at it. I personally thought that the suggestion was a brilliant one, as many times the citizen would want to be in the driver seat deciding whether a specific topic warrants the trouble of having the whole world look at it or it simply would be better off confined to the main blogger home page.
So Mr. Zraikat's suggestion would be added to the FAQ list. The question would read something like this : Will the citizen of Jordan Planet be able to post some blogs on Jordan Planet and withhold some other blogs from being published, or all the blogs appearing on the citizen's blog main will be published on Jordan Planet once he become a citizen without exception?
Answer : All blogs will exclusively be appearing on Jordan Planet, you can't choose between which one you can publish and which one you can hold back.
Having said all of that, now let me go back to the main topic and see if I can develop some hypothetical questions that are most frequently asked.
Question: How do I join Jordan Planet ?
Answer : Fill out the application provided.
Question : How long will I have to wait ?
Answer : Usually about 30 days from the day of your submission.
Question : What are some of the qualifications that you look for?
Answer : Interest in blogging. Blog, blog, blog.
Question : How will I know if I was approved ?
Answer : You will receive a letter of approval notifying you ( I've never received no letter)
Question : Once I'm approved, am I obligated to blog on a daily basis?
Answer : No
Question : Is there certain number of blogs that I need to maintain in order for me to keep my citizenship in good standing?
Answer : NO
Question : If I don't blog because I'm busy or have exams will I be penalized?
Answer : No
Question : What do I do to quit Jordan Planet?
Answer : You can't quit, this is a cult.[ Just kidding here] You can quit any time you want by sending an email to one of Jordan Planet staff members.
Question : Will my blog be censored?
Answer : No not unless it has something in it that violates the law.
Question : Who owns Jordan Planet?
Answer : The spirit of volunteerism
question: Is Jordan Planet for profit organization?
Answer : No
Question : Is Jordan Planet Governmental portal or non- governmental?
Answer : Non-governmental.
question : Do I have to be a Journalist to be a respected member?
Answer : No
Question : How do we resolve disputes?
Answer : There has never been any so far.
Question : Is faith, race, gender, ethnicity, play any role in this portal
Answer : No
These are by no means inclusive questions, I'm sure many more questions will come up as we go along, this meant to be a sample of what the questions and answers might look like.
This isn't something that needs to be implemented now or any time in the future, please note[ disclaimer] that I'm doing it as a blog not as a suggestion or a request or an edict. I have no say so over anything that goes on within the Jordan Planet administration, I'm simply a fresh citizen that has been around Jordan Planet for less than 90 days.
Feel free to comment on the blog or simply ignore it. I feel that simplification is the best policy, the more we simplify things the better they become. If the potential members are able to retrieve all the answers or finding them handy on the sight they will love it more.
People are parched for information, I know that Jordan Planet is a little over one year, I think that in the span of its short life it has done many marvelous things, but refinements never stop, they are an ongoing process. Adding FAQ feature is in my opinion a plus for the portal that will increase the level of visitors and traffic tremendously.
What makes this topic interesting is the fact that existing members who have been citizens for a while themselves don't know anything about the appropriate manner with which an aspiring prospective bolggers become a citizen of Jordan Planet.
I'm not suggesting that somehow there is a huge level of fortified secrecy surrounding the manner with which a prospective blogger become a citizen what I'm saying is there is a need for something like a pull down key that would take the person for instance to a topic titled [FAQ] frequently asked questions.
The purpose of this topic would be to answer the most frequently asked questions that comes to mind when the person become interested in Joining Jordan Plant. I understand that currently there are brief statements scattered here and there that gives the person some hints on what to do, but judging from Darwish Naji's experience, my own experience and that of couple others, I felt that this topic warrants some addressing and I chose to be the one to address it.
A few days ago, Laith Zraikat suggested http://laithz.jeeran.com/archive/2005/12/4304.html that the citizen ought to be given the option to post or not post some blogs on Jordan PLanet since some of the topics are too technical for some people and find it very boring and may not want to be burdened with looking at it. I personally thought that the suggestion was a brilliant one, as many times the citizen would want to be in the driver seat deciding whether a specific topic warrants the trouble of having the whole world look at it or it simply would be better off confined to the main blogger home page.
So Mr. Zraikat's suggestion would be added to the FAQ list. The question would read something like this : Will the citizen of Jordan Planet be able to post some blogs on Jordan Planet and withhold some other blogs from being published, or all the blogs appearing on the citizen's blog main will be published on Jordan Planet once he become a citizen without exception?
Answer : All blogs will exclusively be appearing on Jordan Planet, you can't choose between which one you can publish and which one you can hold back.
Having said all of that, now let me go back to the main topic and see if I can develop some hypothetical questions that are most frequently asked.
Question: How do I join Jordan Planet ?
Answer : Fill out the application provided.
Question : How long will I have to wait ?
Answer : Usually about 30 days from the day of your submission.
Question : What are some of the qualifications that you look for?
Answer : Interest in blogging. Blog, blog, blog.
Question : How will I know if I was approved ?
Answer : You will receive a letter of approval notifying you ( I've never received no letter)
Question : Once I'm approved, am I obligated to blog on a daily basis?
Answer : No
Question : Is there certain number of blogs that I need to maintain in order for me to keep my citizenship in good standing?
Answer : NO
Question : If I don't blog because I'm busy or have exams will I be penalized?
Answer : No
Question : What do I do to quit Jordan Planet?
Answer : You can't quit, this is a cult.[ Just kidding here] You can quit any time you want by sending an email to one of Jordan Planet staff members.
Question : Will my blog be censored?
Answer : No not unless it has something in it that violates the law.
Question : Who owns Jordan Planet?
Answer : The spirit of volunteerism
question: Is Jordan Planet for profit organization?
Answer : No
Question : Is Jordan Planet Governmental portal or non- governmental?
Answer : Non-governmental.
question : Do I have to be a Journalist to be a respected member?
Answer : No
Question : How do we resolve disputes?
Answer : There has never been any so far.
Question : Is faith, race, gender, ethnicity, play any role in this portal
Answer : No
These are by no means inclusive questions, I'm sure many more questions will come up as we go along, this meant to be a sample of what the questions and answers might look like.
This isn't something that needs to be implemented now or any time in the future, please note[ disclaimer] that I'm doing it as a blog not as a suggestion or a request or an edict. I have no say so over anything that goes on within the Jordan Planet administration, I'm simply a fresh citizen that has been around Jordan Planet for less than 90 days.
Feel free to comment on the blog or simply ignore it. I feel that simplification is the best policy, the more we simplify things the better they become. If the potential members are able to retrieve all the answers or finding them handy on the sight they will love it more.
People are parched for information, I know that Jordan Planet is a little over one year, I think that in the span of its short life it has done many marvelous things, but refinements never stop, they are an ongoing process. Adding FAQ feature is in my opinion a plus for the portal that will increase the level of visitors and traffic tremendously.
Monday, December 19, 2005
Googling Jordan Planet Members
Don't ask me why I did it because I have no idea, I guess I found some free time on me and I decided to use it Googling the majority of Jordan Planet members. I don't know what any of these numbers mean, they keep going up and down every so often, so don't be surprised to see yourself with a high number one day and then a low number on the next day.
The result of my Googling yielded some surprises, some of the members that I thought would get a low return received a very high return, for instance, who would have thought that a low key member like Jad would yield 114000, and a very powerful member like Ziad Kawar got only 655.
I was in between the 15 to 20 thousand category, I received 16700, very close to a former Journalist and an aspiring drummer/ singer Rami, he received 17000. The lowest was a member named Rawashed, he received 536, followed by Wael who received 578. Wael is more or less another surprise, he deserves more than that just for the exhibition he put out on the cultural street in not so distant past.
The Jordan Plant 'Staff' members did very well : Isam, the supreme leader received a whopping 57000, Roba did well too, she got 47900, Lina got only 12000, and Natasha had a disappointing 544, don't ask me why, Google yielded these numbers not me.
Moving along, Ahmad received 25500, I think it is a fair number for Ahmad, he isn't overly active but yet he writes in an adequate and consistent fashion. I Like his weekly and sometimes bi weekly columns appearing in the Jordan Times Weekender.
Another very disappointing return was Naseem Tarawneh, now who on earth would have thought that this prolific contributor would only get 544, it is ridiculous, I think that he should be up there with Roba and Isam in the fifty thousand category, but who am I to decide, it is Google who put out these search results.
Some members come out where they should be, Smeir is a new arrival and he received a fair 582, so is Owais, he too is fairly new arrival and he received 148. I hope that no one gets offended by these results, I'm only the messenger and the message is on Google you can investigate these results on your spare time and find out for yourself.
Other results in no particular order were : Ameen 13400, Matalqa 9160, Ammar Ibrahim 159000, by the way he was the highest one, with no one else coming as a close second.
Dweik 531, Sabbah 38100, I think the number for Sabbah is also fair, he is very active and puts out quite a bit of reading material out there. We haven't heard much though about London conference.
Sabanekh 699, Laith 837, Arrabi 833, Nader 11900, nader was sort of a surprise for me, I guess he is very active it just his name doesn't ring the bell when I hear it. Sabri 89000, Wow. For taking pictures of kids fighting in Hai Nazal, that is an excellent yield bro.
Kurdi 778, Yazan 10500, now who on earth is Yazan, I been around for at least 90 days and I don't remember seeing one single post for this Yazan, will Mr.Yazan please identify your self with a post or two so we know who you are?Thanks.
My sincere apologies for those that I didn't get to their names, they are either very new members, haven't posted anything recently, use an alias instead of their names, or I unwittingly omitted their names.
It doesn't mean that they are not worthy of being Googled or their Blogs aren't meeting the standard Blogging techniques, nothing even remotely resembles that.
In the scheme of things and due to the nature of doing things, one have a tendency to omit very deserving people, to those that weren't mentioned please accept my sincere apology, this report is by no means reflective of your skills or abilities, it wasn't meant to be inclusive nor comprehensive.
I started by Googling few names and when I found that I still have some time I googled some more, until I ended up with the bunch that I listed in the report. Again, please don't look at it as if it means anything to me to you or to any of the names mentioned.
The result of my Googling yielded some surprises, some of the members that I thought would get a low return received a very high return, for instance, who would have thought that a low key member like Jad would yield 114000, and a very powerful member like Ziad Kawar got only 655.
I was in between the 15 to 20 thousand category, I received 16700, very close to a former Journalist and an aspiring drummer/ singer Rami, he received 17000. The lowest was a member named Rawashed, he received 536, followed by Wael who received 578. Wael is more or less another surprise, he deserves more than that just for the exhibition he put out on the cultural street in not so distant past.
The Jordan Plant 'Staff' members did very well : Isam, the supreme leader received a whopping 57000, Roba did well too, she got 47900, Lina got only 12000, and Natasha had a disappointing 544, don't ask me why, Google yielded these numbers not me.
Moving along, Ahmad received 25500, I think it is a fair number for Ahmad, he isn't overly active but yet he writes in an adequate and consistent fashion. I Like his weekly and sometimes bi weekly columns appearing in the Jordan Times Weekender.
Another very disappointing return was Naseem Tarawneh, now who on earth would have thought that this prolific contributor would only get 544, it is ridiculous, I think that he should be up there with Roba and Isam in the fifty thousand category, but who am I to decide, it is Google who put out these search results.
Some members come out where they should be, Smeir is a new arrival and he received a fair 582, so is Owais, he too is fairly new arrival and he received 148. I hope that no one gets offended by these results, I'm only the messenger and the message is on Google you can investigate these results on your spare time and find out for yourself.
Other results in no particular order were : Ameen 13400, Matalqa 9160, Ammar Ibrahim 159000, by the way he was the highest one, with no one else coming as a close second.
Dweik 531, Sabbah 38100, I think the number for Sabbah is also fair, he is very active and puts out quite a bit of reading material out there. We haven't heard much though about London conference.
Sabanekh 699, Laith 837, Arrabi 833, Nader 11900, nader was sort of a surprise for me, I guess he is very active it just his name doesn't ring the bell when I hear it. Sabri 89000, Wow. For taking pictures of kids fighting in Hai Nazal, that is an excellent yield bro.
Kurdi 778, Yazan 10500, now who on earth is Yazan, I been around for at least 90 days and I don't remember seeing one single post for this Yazan, will Mr.Yazan please identify your self with a post or two so we know who you are?Thanks.
My sincere apologies for those that I didn't get to their names, they are either very new members, haven't posted anything recently, use an alias instead of their names, or I unwittingly omitted their names.
It doesn't mean that they are not worthy of being Googled or their Blogs aren't meeting the standard Blogging techniques, nothing even remotely resembles that.
In the scheme of things and due to the nature of doing things, one have a tendency to omit very deserving people, to those that weren't mentioned please accept my sincere apology, this report is by no means reflective of your skills or abilities, it wasn't meant to be inclusive nor comprehensive.
I started by Googling few names and when I found that I still have some time I googled some more, until I ended up with the bunch that I listed in the report. Again, please don't look at it as if it means anything to me to you or to any of the names mentioned.
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Response to Khalaf post about the 'AGENDA'
I think that the purported election laws and the leaked news about the cancellation of the mandatory membership in the press association were the two reasons behind keeping the agenda articles obfuscated.Let us be realistic, it is almost impossible to implement any of the agenda's recommendations even if you have all the best intentions in the world.
Let us go over some of the recommendations and see how they fair up against the existing circumstances.
* Comprehensive universal health insurance for everyone in the nation by 2012. Give me a break, how much is that going to cost and who is going to fund it ?
* The creation of 600000 job opportunity.MMMMM Sure! How? In what field?
*Reduce unemployment from 14% to 6.8%. Read the item above, they go hand in hand with one another.
* Reduce poverty from 14% to 10%. This is possible with continued growth and money brought in by expatriates working in the Gulf.
* Increase annual income per capita from JD1500 to JD 2400. Well, I'm not so sure about this one either, if it hasn't happened during the past decade why would it happen now.
* Equal rights for both sexes by the year 2015. This one makes me laugh, it will happen when the salt bloom.
* Convert the budget deficit to budget surplus by the year 2017. This one also makes me laugh real loud. With so many thieves stealing everything including toilet tissue, I have serious doubts about any budget surpluses.
* Increase economic growth to 7.2%. Call me crazy on this one but I honestly think that it is achievable.
* Reduce external debt from 91% to 36% LoLLLLLLLLLL for that one.
* Increase spending on research. May be it will happen , by a small margin.
Let us go over some of the recommendations and see how they fair up against the existing circumstances.
* Comprehensive universal health insurance for everyone in the nation by 2012. Give me a break, how much is that going to cost and who is going to fund it ?
* The creation of 600000 job opportunity.MMMMM Sure! How? In what field?
*Reduce unemployment from 14% to 6.8%. Read the item above, they go hand in hand with one another.
* Reduce poverty from 14% to 10%. This is possible with continued growth and money brought in by expatriates working in the Gulf.
* Increase annual income per capita from JD1500 to JD 2400. Well, I'm not so sure about this one either, if it hasn't happened during the past decade why would it happen now.
* Equal rights for both sexes by the year 2015. This one makes me laugh, it will happen when the salt bloom.
* Convert the budget deficit to budget surplus by the year 2017. This one also makes me laugh real loud. With so many thieves stealing everything including toilet tissue, I have serious doubts about any budget surpluses.
* Increase economic growth to 7.2%. Call me crazy on this one but I honestly think that it is achievable.
* Reduce external debt from 91% to 36% LoLLLLLLLLLL for that one.
* Increase spending on research. May be it will happen , by a small margin.
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Proffesor Acquitted Of Funding Terrorists
Professor acquitted of funding Islamist group : Dr.Sami AlArian has been acquitted by federal Jury. See the link below.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/crime_professor_dc;_ylt=AlVp2G2ehVI4oEeqEeFrt.2s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--
I have blogged about him on November 5, 2005. See the link below
http://hatemabunimeh.blogspot.com/2005_11_01_hatemabunimeh_archive.html
I also blogged about him again on June 16, 2005. See the link below.
http://hatemabunimeh.blogspot.com/2005/06/sami-al-arian.html
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/crime_professor_dc;_ylt=AlVp2G2ehVI4oEeqEeFrt.2s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ--
I have blogged about him on November 5, 2005. See the link below
http://hatemabunimeh.blogspot.com/2005_11_01_hatemabunimeh_archive.html
I also blogged about him again on June 16, 2005. See the link below.
http://hatemabunimeh.blogspot.com/2005/06/sami-al-arian.html
Monday, December 05, 2005
Arab-American Museum
Below is a very nice article written by my friend Ray Hanania about the recently opened first Arab-American Museum in Dearborn Michigan. Enjoy.
http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200505/telling.our.own.story.htm
http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200505/default.htm
http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200505/telling.our.own.story.htm
http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200505/default.htm
Another Suicide Bombing
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-12-05T135327Z_01_SCH534657_RTRUKOC_0_US-MIDEAST-BLAST.xml
Another suicide attack, how different is this suicide attack from the one that took place in Amman on November 11, 2005 ? Are all suicide attacks against the civilians are one and the same ? Are the attacks directed against the Israelis are supposed to be justified ? Shall we as ordinary citizens condemn all forms of suicide attacks against innocent civilians even though these civilians are considered enemies?
Are suicide attacks moral thing to do or totally immoral? What is the purpose of killing 5 people when the enemy is going to retaliate by killing three or four times as many of the Palestinians?
Are the suicide bombers helping the cause or harming it? Will suicide bombing yield any results or is it going to harden the enemy's resolve? All of these random thoughts are going through my mind as I listen to the latest news about yet another suicide bombing in Natalia Israel.
I honestly haven't fully recovered from Amman's suicide bombing, I just can't figure out why people resort to such a futile attempt to change things. The suicide strategy in my opinion, while it terrorizes people momentarily, and creates a great deal of havoc and mayhem, it is a strategy of failure on the long run.
When the Japanese used it against the United States in Pearl Harbor, the United States responded by dropping two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, two cities that have not recovered until our present day.
The Chechnyan rebels used it against the Russian soldiers for many years, and more recently against the Russian civilians, it too proved to be a policy of failure because the Russians retaliated and devastated Chechnya into ashes and charred its buildings.
The Tamil separatists used it against the Sarilankan government personnel and it failed to achieve any thing, the Kashmir's used it against the Indian forces, and in recent years the Palestinians have been using it against the Israelis, they too have not been able to advance their cause a single inch by employing suicide strategies.
How long before the people sponsoring these strategies realize that suicide bombing doesn't work!? On the contrary, it hurts many more folds than the little benefit gained out of it.
The policy of suicide bombing is a bank rupt policy, it should abandoned all together, the responsible people with the right frame of mind must realize that the entire world is against it, you can't stand all alone in this world.
No matter what the cause is, no matter how justified the person in carrying out their attack, it never will be legitimized as a form of resistance, it will always be condemned as an act of barbarism.
Another suicide attack, how different is this suicide attack from the one that took place in Amman on November 11, 2005 ? Are all suicide attacks against the civilians are one and the same ? Are the attacks directed against the Israelis are supposed to be justified ? Shall we as ordinary citizens condemn all forms of suicide attacks against innocent civilians even though these civilians are considered enemies?
Are suicide attacks moral thing to do or totally immoral? What is the purpose of killing 5 people when the enemy is going to retaliate by killing three or four times as many of the Palestinians?
Are the suicide bombers helping the cause or harming it? Will suicide bombing yield any results or is it going to harden the enemy's resolve? All of these random thoughts are going through my mind as I listen to the latest news about yet another suicide bombing in Natalia Israel.
I honestly haven't fully recovered from Amman's suicide bombing, I just can't figure out why people resort to such a futile attempt to change things. The suicide strategy in my opinion, while it terrorizes people momentarily, and creates a great deal of havoc and mayhem, it is a strategy of failure on the long run.
When the Japanese used it against the United States in Pearl Harbor, the United States responded by dropping two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, two cities that have not recovered until our present day.
The Chechnyan rebels used it against the Russian soldiers for many years, and more recently against the Russian civilians, it too proved to be a policy of failure because the Russians retaliated and devastated Chechnya into ashes and charred its buildings.
The Tamil separatists used it against the Sarilankan government personnel and it failed to achieve any thing, the Kashmir's used it against the Indian forces, and in recent years the Palestinians have been using it against the Israelis, they too have not been able to advance their cause a single inch by employing suicide strategies.
How long before the people sponsoring these strategies realize that suicide bombing doesn't work!? On the contrary, it hurts many more folds than the little benefit gained out of it.
The policy of suicide bombing is a bank rupt policy, it should abandoned all together, the responsible people with the right frame of mind must realize that the entire world is against it, you can't stand all alone in this world.
No matter what the cause is, no matter how justified the person in carrying out their attack, it never will be legitimized as a form of resistance, it will always be condemned as an act of barbarism.
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