Today's Dose of wisdom

Retweet this button on every post blogger "Work is the curse of the drinking classes". Oscar Wilde

This one still stands...

...

"As I understand it, sport is hard work for which you don't get paid". Irvin S. Cobb

This guy needs a serious update!!!

Jordan: Private hospitals deny accusations of discrimination!!

Retweet this button on every post blogger I have to say when I first read the title, I freaked out!!

It turned out that it wasn't as discriminatory as I thought, but it is even more inhumane!! OF course if it turns out to be true!

The private sector in Jordan rejected accusations of mistreating & overcharging non-Jordanian patients!!

My father used to say: Doctors are the worst & most merciless Businessmen on the face of earth!!

I just hope this is not true. Because really, we have some of the best doctors in the region in Jordan, and probably in the world. Also, we really need this Therapeutic Tourism!! Mush na2seen Masayeb!

For the full article follow the link below (From MENAFN-Jordan Times)

http://www.menafn.com/qn_news_story_s.asp?StoryId=1093211297

Jordan's Matrix Company, finally Hacked!!

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I knew it!!... I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!!

aaaaaaaah, business in jordan!! The ever elusive dream!!

I heard they've passed new laws to regulate the operations of such ill-fated companies!

Yes, they have prevented a married guy from travelling for his honeymoon because he was involved in such business dealings and he owned people loads of money!! But somehow they failed to see this one coming!

Please raise Oil prices now, and hammer the last nail in people's coffin!

Eve's most elusive question answered... through science!!

Retweet this button on every post blogger The shutter covering the biggest enigma that has haunted Eve's life throughout history might have been finally revealed. Not through the countless romantic movies and soap operas the whole world was bombarded with!! From America, france, Arab world, Mexico, and finally Turkey!!

Why is he so detached! distant! Why doesn't he make a move! Why is he as frigid & indifferent as a mummy!!

Well, the answer is, it's not you!! It's me. This answer was always conceived as a screen men display to hide behind, and divert eve's attention from what is really going on!!

But a group of scientists from Sweden (Geeks is the word mostly used to describe them) have found out that the reason why some men behave in the way that annoys their partners the most is actually caused by their genetic archeticture!!.

Funny how answers to your questions come from the least expected source, ha!!

Those guys from Karolinska Institue studied the DNA of the XY coded creatures and have come up with this very interesting conclusion!!

Two positives, though, can be the next refuge for optimistic females:

1. The findings are considered to carry with them a Revolutionary Benefit!! Whatever that means
2. The infamous Gene is a small part of the whole process. Having a happy marriage, that is.

So, when the guy utters the famous line "it's not you!! It's me", he be might actually saying the truth, for a change!

This whole thing reminds of a saying, and I don't remember where I read it. But it goes something like this
"Men marry hoping that their women will not change, and they do! Women marry hoping their men will change, and they don't!!"

For those interested in the scientific details, you can follow the link below

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7593301.stm

Is This The Year Of The ‘Messiah’?

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This is not about the religious figure. This is about one of the best young talents in the world of football. Lionel Messi. A fan myself, I decided I'll have a part of this blog following Lionel Messi's magic for the entire football season. I also hope, he will do enough to make me carry this tradition to the next year.

This is an article by Clark Whitney, a sport editor for the website Goal (http://www.goal.com/)

"It was a warm June afternoon in 2006. Having finished my classes for the day, I rushed to the nearest TV to tune in to the World Cup. Argentina were up against Serbia and Montenegro and the South American heavyweights were comfortably ahead 3-0. A foregone conclusion.
But there was good reason to keep watching. Shortly after tuning in, a substitution was made: Maxi Rodriguez was withdrawn for a young Lionel Messi, who was just six days shy of his 19th birthday.
Just four minutes into his entrance, the teenager was released down the left flank, creeping behind the defensive line. Having a nearly impossible angle wherefrom to shoot, he provided an inch-perfect pass across the face of goal. It evaded three defenders and the goalkeeper, but not Hernan Crespo, who tapped the ball into the net.
Then, in the 88th minute, Messi made a long run off the ball to receive a pass from Carlos Tevez just as he burst into the box. With just one defender to beat, Messi raced ahead and coolly knocked the ball past Dragoslav Jevric, capping a 6-0 rout. It was on this day that I became a Lionel Messi fan.
Lionel Messi’s talent is undeniable, although the extent of it is still heavily debated. Some hail him as the next Diego Maradona, while others think that he will never reach the heights of some of the great wide forwards, such as Maradona himself and, more recently, Cristiano Ronaldo. While I cannot compare Messi to the great Diego – I was just four years of age when Maradona left Napoli for Sevilla and entered the autumn of his career – I can compare Messi to Ronaldo.
I will be the first to admit that comparing players is generally a difficult and flawed process. After all, in spite of their having similar playing positions on the pitch, Messi and Ronaldo have different playing styles and talents.
Ronaldo is, marginally, the faster of the two, and is certainly stronger. He benefits greatly from the fast pace of the English game, as he is able to instantaneously transition from defence to lead a breakaway. However, he often wastes his strength and balance by falling when he could easily stay on his feet. As for his technical advantages, the Portuguese ace is far better in the air than Messi, and has a better shot. And yet, I have plenty of reason to believe that Argentine will emerge the better player at the end of this season.
To begin with, I doubt Ronaldo will be able to replicate last year’s success in the 2008-09 season. Missing the early stages of this season with injury has given him plenty of time to lose focus and brood over his failure to move to Real Madrid in the off-season. To add to this, he has received (and will continue to do so) every individual award imaginable for his performance last year. In addition, he also picked up winners’ medal for the Champions’ League and the Premiership with Manchester United. So, what else does he have to prove?
Plenty, if you ask me – he has never won anything with Portugal and his displays in important Premier League and Champions League matches have sometimes been far below his performance against low-level league teams. However, this knowledge will not weigh heavily on the mind of a self-assured, distracted, and discontented Ronaldo.
Messi, on the other hand, has everything to prove and, with Ronaldinho having left Barcelona, finally has his chance to do so. His dribbling is unmatched by anyone in the world and while he lacks Ronaldo’s flashiness, he is far more effective in one-on-one situations, and has the unique ability to take on several defenders at once. Moreover, his work rate exceeds that of Ronaldo’s by leaps and bounds.
The Argentine uses his diminutive stature to surprisingly good effect. Having a low centre of gravity, he is amazingly agile and has incredible balance. Unlike Ronaldo, Messi continues to play after contact with opposing defenders, using a combination of speed, balance, and ball control. Instead of trying to run behind a defensive line as Ronaldo does, the Argentine runs towards his opponents, cutting to the centre. In doing so, he puts himself in an ideal position for making plays. Instead of simply shooting (Ronaldo did manage 42 goals last year, but took 255 shots), the Barça winger creates openings and he does it with great efficiency.
While Ronaldo had only eight assists in 49 appearances, an injury-riddled Messi amassed 13 assists to complement his 16 goals in 38 appearances. He also initiated countless attacking moves that resulted in goals for his team but for which he was never credited with a direct assist.
Perhaps most importantly, Messi is a big-game player, whereas Ronaldo, as the argument goes, is not. Many are quick to hail the United ace for his 42 goals – a feat that is absolutely remarkable regardless of how they were scored – without considering the opponents against whom he scored. Ronaldo did indeed tally more strikes (eight) than any other in the Champions League, but, for example, he was surprisingly anonymous in both legs of the semi final against Barcelona, doing little more than missing an early penalty at the Camp Nou.
Against Chelsea, in perhaps the most important match of his life, the Portuguese again did little, but had a Gerd Mueller-like flash of brilliance and managed to score a great goal. Still, he could have cost his team the Champions’ League trophy with his missed penalty during the shoot-out if not for John Terry’s even less impressive effort moments later.
As for his outstanding total of 31 Premiership goals, 20 of them were scored against teams in the lower half of the table, and just three against the “big four”. Of course, the statistic of three goals in six matches is still very good, especially considering the fact that they were scored against top teams. However, we can’t say that Ronaldo truly led his team to any of their success last season. He helped very much, but in the important matches, he failed to perform to the best of his ability.
Messi, on the other hand, is a great leader and tends to play his best in important matches, although he still has much to prove. While Ronaldo failed to impress in either leg of the 2008 Champions League semifinals, the bullish Argentine was an omnipresent force at the Camp Nou and even put on a good showing at Old Trafford, although he could not save his team from a 1-0 defeat in the second leg.
Still, Messi has a record, albeit limited, of leadership and success. In 2005, he won the U-20 World Cup with Argentina, earning himself both the Golden Ball and Golden Boot awards. Last month, he led Argentina to the gold medal at the Olympics, providing a perfect assist to Angel Di Maria for the tournament winner. He also won the 2006 Champions League with Barcelona, although he only participated in 7 of the 13 matches during that competition. Ultimately, he still has much to prove for both club and country, which will provide plenty of motivation to the 21 year old.
Judging from his performances at the Olympics, it seems as though Messi is finally coming of age. That said, the young “Messiah” has plenty of room for growth and may not peak for another two to three, or even five years. And yet, barring injury, I still think he will win the 2009 Ballon D’Or."

Personally I think Lionel Messi is - at the moment - better than C.Ronaldo, but eh! I'm just one guy, he has to prove it to the rest of the world :)

Islamic Banking II

Retweet this button on every post blogger Investments through principles

Bai' al-Inah (Sale and Buy Back Agreement)
The financier sells an asset to the customer on a deferred-payment basis, and then the asset is immediately repurchased by the financier for cash at a discount. The buying back agreement allows the bank to assume ownership over the asset in order to protect against default without explicitly charging interest in the event of late payments or insolvency.

Bai' Bithaman Ajil (Deferred Payment Sale)
This concept refers to the sale of goods on a deferred payment basis at a price, which includes a profit margin agreed to by both parties. This is similar to Murabahah, except that the debtor makes only a single installment on the maturity date of the loan. By the application of a discount rate, an Islamic bank can collect the market rate of interest.

Bai muajjal (Credit Sale)
Literally bai muajjal means a credit sale. Technically, it is a financing technique adopted by Islamic banks that takes the form of murabaha muajjal. It is a contract in which the bank earns a profit margin on the purchase price and allows the buyer to pay the price of the commodity at a future date in a lump sum or in installments. It has to expressly mention cost of the commodity and the margin of profit is mutually agreed. The price fixed for the commodity in such a transaction can be the same as the spot price or higher or lower than the spot price.

Mudarabah (Profit Sharing)
Mudarabah is an arrangement or agreement between the bank, or a capital provider, and an entrepreneur, whereby the entrepreneur can mobilize the funds of the former for its business activity. The entrepreneur provides expertise, labor and management. Profits made are shared between the bank and the entrepreneur according to predetermined ratio. In case of loss, the bank loses the capital, while the entrepreneur loses his provision of labor. It is this financial risk, according to the Shariah, that justifies the bank's claim to part of the profit. The profit-sharing continues until the loan is repaid. The bank is compensated for the time value of its money in the form of a floating rate that is pegged to the debtor's profits.

More to follow...