Gibbons plans for 2008

According to the Telegraph, Gibbons is contemplating China.

And this article, on the Buzzle enumerates a number of advices to the notorious teacher, should she venture to cause another wave of my culture is holier than thou's :-)


Quite funny

John Granville, Rest in Peace

My heart goes out to Granville's family in Buffalo, NY and elsewhere. May his soul rest in peace.

At the wee hours of the first day of the first month of 2008, John, aged 33, was shot as he was driven home by his Sudanese driver, Allah yihamu, returning from a New Year's party. Most articles on the net rehash the same information.

Some of those could be read here, here and here.

A compendium to this CV and his radio distribution project in the Sudan could be found at the USAID website

John’s fellowship focuses on community participation in government and NGO capacity building in South Sudan. Using tools such as community needs assessments and interactive problem solving models, John works to create collaboration and cooperation between citizens and government. Currently he is working to bring radios to the population of South Sudan in order to maximize the impact of USAID’s broadcasting initiatives in the region.
John is a former Peace Corps volunteer and has worked in Sudan as a consultant for USAID and GOAL-Ireland. With GOAL, he designed and implemented an HIV/AIDS Participatory Action Assessment. He has studied as a Fulbright Fellow and received an MA in International Development and Social Change from Clark University in 2003.

In my humble opinion the perpetrator(s) could be

- Sudanese: which I wouldn't entirely dismiss given the latest surge of hardcore Islamist sentiments towards anything and everything Western.
- Al-Qaeda: regardless of what's portrayed in the media about that organizations elements in the Sudan, I do not find a direct causal relationship between John and his activities in particular and their resentment other than him being an American diplomat.
- Non-Sudanese: After my last visit to the Sudan I was dumbfounded by the aggrandizing infiltration of Ninja non-Sudanese women in my very neighbourhood who were married to mid-calf jilabiya wearing, bear growing followers of the Prophet from Syria, Somalia and Iraq. Those did not hide their scornful stares at ME, in my own court, for my non-Islamic appearance.


Whoever the perpetrator is, they fill me with opprobrium for their heinous act of shedding the blood of an innocent soul (I do not care if he was a CIA agent working undercover as an USAID worker). This assassination is an act of shame!!!


Condolences to AbdulRaham Abbas' family too. Inna lillah wa innah ilayhi raji3oon.

Benazir Bhutto ASSASSINATED

I still am shell-shocked!
I did not believe it when I read the headlines on the BBC.

The first woman head-of-State of and Islamic country has been brutally killed with a shot to her neck and another to her chest as she was leaving an election rally this afternoon, before the assassin set off a suicide bomb.


May Allah rest her soul in peace and my heart goes out to her family and friends. No one should depart this Earth in such a fashion

Best RSS Reader!!!

I am usually 5 minutes late in catching up with gossip. But when it comes to technology and computer related stuff, I am at least 5 years late.

Anyhow, since I have decided to conserve some of my energy and time, I began using the so-called RSS Readers. My first choice, and last for now, has been the Feed Reader or quoi? This software brought back the memories of my dial-up connection in the ME. I enjoyed the luxury of not having to type the URLs of my favourite sites, blogs, and newspapers, but the updates were really slow. Thus, I removed it!


I would really appreciate it if you folks share with me your experiences and what you use for your RSS Readers. I think I got used to saving time and my lazy self cannot properly google it


Merci mille fois

Toilet Wedding

I think Charmin has gone just a bit over the board and the bride went a lil' loco. Why on Earth would any bride want to wear a toilet paper made wedding gown. One would answer me, an eco-conscious, green-minded bride. I think I will assent to that. But tying the knot in the loo, and a public one, for that matter is certainly insane.

On December the 19th of this year, a Kentucky couple from Lexington were pronounced a man and wife in a public toilet, and a temporary one also. She wore a wedding dress made of toilet paper. You can't discern that, but in my viewpoint it looked very cheap and cheesy.

Read about it here, here and here.

La! ahhama haja innu the gown won a 2007 Toilet Paper Wedding Dress Contest sponsored by Cheap Chic Wedding (I intentionally wouldn't post a link to their site. The idea is ridiculous). Don't these people have anything more meaningful to do?!

Are Russians the Black Whites?

Let me start by saying that YES, I will be stereotyping and here I am practicing my right to free speech. Therefore, I suggest that this post is looked at as an amusing piece that many of us, the Russian Women, can identify with. Also, many of our traits are shared with our African-American sistas. I just love observing that everyday on the streets of the hotchpotch of this metropolitan city of NY

Here are a few of the things I've noticed:


First, most Russian women are in love with the bling bling and the mink furs. That grandeur has no limits. Anything and everything worn must shine like a 10 Carat diamond. Also wearing tight outfits and giving mini-skirts a new definition :-)

Second, Russian women like to be spent on graciously and lavishly. An uxorious man exists to spend on a woman and that's about it :-)

Third, most Russians are able to get along and adapt into living in neighbourhoods of non-Whites. The only whites I see in predominantly African-American or Caribbean blocks are the Russians. Oh for goodness' sake, Russians drove out Black communities from Coney Island :-)

Four, just check the most recent Russian rap songs. The beat is so cool and hiphopish I actually feel proud we've assimilated into that genre so smoothly.


C'est tout for now

You scratch my back, I scratch yours

This is Russian politics (and perhaps others'), but if you scratch my back I will scratch yours. I will assure you the presidency, but only if you guarantee my premiership. But then of course, the PM office will be more influential than that of the president's.

Oh, Medvedev, what a silly lil' boy you are. (I will elaborate on this later)

Volodya (diminutive of Vladimir) never ceases to amaze me.

Sneak Peek

So far these are the posts that I did not publish because one of the following:

1. They are controversial, and might cause me trouble
   
2. Lack of expressive words that could convey exactly what I want to say
3. I'm being lazy

But, I promise, I will very soon :-)

So you think you're all DAT?

I hate subways! They are filthy, stinky, crowded, depressing, dungeon-like, leaking, rat-infested, beggar/vendor dwelling, artist/dancer Hall of Fame. Is it not enough that I have to commute using those means? Must I endure these daily sightings и к этому by paying what I could fill my car with, had I been able to drive it to work, in yet again more congested, toll-infested, pothole marked roads!!!!!!!

So these are the conditions and the scenes I see before I get to work/school, so why should my day be any better?

Anyhow, what bothers me even more, is the disgusting subway riders that shove, push, and stomp you. I mean c'mon! The other day I was boarding a train during the rush hour and his dimwit who was already on stood facing the boarders and deliberately pushed everyone away who, God forbid, brushed against him, with full force!! What a baboon!

Oh Goodness, there are so many incidents that I can stay here forever reciting them, but those morons need to know that they are nothing but animals! 7ayawanat!
From now on, if you push me I'll push you like there is no tomorrow! I will step on you with my heel and I don't give a hoot what you'll do you, you chimpanzee.

Back to Sudan; two men, five years, infinite agony

Finally after more than five years, two Sudanese detainees were released from Guantanamo. Adel Hassan Hamad and Salim Mahmoud Adam .

Watching their brief interviews on TV, filled me with a rush of immense anger that was only attenuated by my sense of helplessness. One of the detainees described his detention as being buried while being alive. Sad indeed.

But, I am very glad they've reached their loved ones in the Sudan

Read about it here, and please have a look at the ridiculous comments which reflect the opinions of a majority, rather than a minority in the US of A.


related site : Project Hamad

Absurdity

وااااااه فضيحتاه

ياخوانا لي متين إحنا حنكون مفضوحين قدام الخلق والعالم ؟؟؟

يعني اللي يسوا وما يسواش بقى شايفنا ناس متطرفين اللي في أقل حاجة بنادوا بالإعدام. وحسي جات المقالة دي عشان توري الناس أن الشعب السوداني شعب مهوس بالجنس منذ الأزل. يعني ما معقول الأجانب بقوا دايرن يعرفوا سر الطلح وحفرة الدخان
!!
ما معقول ما معقول؟ يعني هي دي الحاجات اللي بتميزنا عن باقي الشعوب؟ الطلح والدخان؟ أها والحاجة الجاية شنو؟ التمباك والسعوط؟

يعني وين العادات والتقاليد والممارسات التانية؟ ولا هو بس الختان؟ وقطع الرحط؟

أنا متأكدة إنو المقال ده ما إتكتب إلا عشان واحد سوادني ولا سودانية وروا الحاجة دي ، اللي بتحصل جو البيوت، للخواجة. ده شنو القرف ده؟؟؟؟

وواااااه فضيحتاه

Iranian Exiles in the U.S.

What: Screening of a Film "Caught Between Two Worlds" by Simin Farkhondeh & Persheng Sadegh-Vaziri

When: 12/12/2007 from 6:30 to 8:30 pm

Where: 365 Fifth Avenue in New York, NY at Segal Theatre

Summary: Depicting the lives of Iranian exiles in in the U.S., this documentary tackles acculturation, language, the traumas of revolution and the hostage crisis, religion, and life in post-9/11 America.


Have a sneak peak to decide if you want to watch it

Panel Discussion on "Tolerance and Theocracy"

I know the weather isn't encouraging at all in NYC, but if you are interested in Iranian domestic politics, carpe diem !

Today, at

Kellogg Conference Center - 15th Floor School of International and Public Affairs Columbia University 420 West 118th Street

A panel of prominent scholars will hold this panel to inaugurate the newest issue "Religion and Statecraft". Among the speakers are Dr. Abdul-Kareem Soroush, the vociferous Iranian secular / religious reformer scholar. I admire his writings and staunchly believe that change is feasible through his vision.
Actually, he has been dubbed the Erasmus of Islam by the Finns


P.S. It seems that his webpage has been terminated for some reason. It contained a collection of his essays and excerpts from his books.

Perfunctory yet inciting remarks!

Words must be well thought about before uttered. I did sympathize with Ms Gibbons when she was jailed in Sudan, but I do not understand her when she expressed fear of being raped in prison.

"I had no justification for thinking that. But that was my worst terror - that they would come in and teach me a lesson by raping me or that they would hit me."

That would have been an interesting headlines "Raped for defaming religion". Shouldn't Ms Gibbons as an academic refrain from throwing such remarks in such a perfunctory fashion?


More here

Arab Women Journalists, I consider Stars

As I was checking yet another post on the blog of my fellow countryman, Sudanese Thinker, I was pleased to find out that Mona Eltahaway, the award-winning Egyptian/American journalist has joined the blogsphere.

I have been reading her articles across the 3Ws for quite some time now, and love her eloquence and zeal in educating the others of Islam, Middle East, and Muslim women. She's been contributing to many online magazines, journals, newspapers among which are:

• The Post Global of the Washington Post
• The Saudi Debate
• The Christian Science Monitor

Another shining star in the 3Ws, I must bring inhere, is Sally Bishai, who as an Arab-American Copt is determined to share her perspectives with the rest at her site, which is full of interesting pieces under the mystic superficies.

Maybe you can have a look at the two interacting here

Site to answer nature's call

If you live or plan to visit the United States, and Cali, Ohio, NY, Ontario, MA, IL, Oregon, PA, MN, GA, WA, or DC precisely, you will find this site very helpful when nature gives you a call. The site is MizPee

I haven't had the pleasure of visiting other cities in the US, but know enough of NYC. If you gotta go in the middle of the street, you have three choices; ignore it, hold it, or let it go. There aren't public restrooms and the story goes way back to the 1990s. Have a look

Thankfully, this season, NYC is trying to accommodate locals and visitors alike with 20 posh toilets. Actually, they are temporary and organized by Charmin, not the City of NY, and at Times Square only!

Anyhow, if you or someone you know ends up here or in another metropolitan city in the US, help them to MizPee. The website contains addresses to the public restroom in the vicinity of the place that you specify, reviews, suggestions, chance to add toilets, send the ones you find to your cellphone and even "looisms", or toilet trivia

Amusing idea and very very helpful

Purple Bottom!!!!!

This morning my whole "Thank-God-It's-Friday" mind-set has been ruined by the sight of a flat and limp behind of a fat cow. As I was rushing through the underground paths of the subway, submerged in my own thoughts of how to get the best out of this last day of the week, I was shaken back to reality when my eyes were violated with that repulsive mass.

What turned me off is not the unpleasant figure, nor the tightness of the pants which defined all the imperfections, but the phrase that ran across that behind. No, it wasn't "Juicy" or "Pink". I was able to discern "Purple Bottom" and that's when the crazy naked man who lives in a solitary confinement inside my brain started running around in circles to help me understand what the heck that expression meant. "Purple Bottom"? Oh God!!! I was so infuriated by that scene that I could visualize myself flogging her behind until it really turned purple.

Anyhow, when I landed back to Earth from my diabolic thoughts of torturous ways of punishing stupid women who have no other means to attract attention other than with such means, I squinted my eyes..... Then, from staring at that "so-called bottom", I was able to read "Apple Bottom"

Apple??? Apple??? are you frigging kiddin' me? That flappy patty is an apple? MY FOOT is an apple you disgusting moronic cow!!!

شُفع الزمن ده

طبعاً كباقي السودانيين أنا حريصة جداً على إنو أفراد أسرتي الصغار يتعلموا العربي. كان ما تعليم مدرسي بكل تفاصيل النحو والقواعد والبلاغة ، إن شاء الله كلامنا العامي ده.
شخصياً ما بفوت فرصة إلاَ وأحاول إن أقلب الونسة عربي قح.

الليلة بقى النتيجة ظهرت! بعد ما في شافعة بعرفها متربية هنا وبتتكلم عربي مكسر سوت ليها مصيبة، أبوها جا جاري. قلت بالعربي السوداني حقنا ده لزول جنبي "الليلة البت دي دقست".


البت إتلفتت علي وقالت ليك بي لهجة عامية صرفة "أنا أصلي دقست لمن إتولدت" وضحكت وفكت الجرية


والله شفع الزمن ده

My First Voting Experience

Today, it snowed in New York City and walking under the lightly falling snow flakes amidst the barren trees, the weather somewhat resembled the Russian one, but of course to a lesser degree.
I was also prepared to cast my very first ballot, in the first full-swing proportional representation legislative elections of the Russian Duma.

Busy as I am, I was able to arrive at the Voting Center only past 19:00. To my surprise, the process was very smoothly run that the whole thing took, at most, 10 minutes. And yes, I consider that to be very fast, since I lived during at the Soviet Union times and queues were one of the trade marks of that period of time.

Anyhow, greeted and seated, one of the members of the Consulate General took down my passport's info, asked me to sign next to my name and ushered me into the booth. 1,2,3... Their's and my job were done!

Many of my friends mocked me for actually going to cast a ballot. They argued the elections are rigged. I think that's irrelevant. In my opinion it is a civic duty that any citizen of any country owes his/her country. Complaining and fulminating is futile. If change is what we want to see, we have to practice what we have, both right and duty, to achieve it. Our civic duty.

Take care all