A world of dreamers and pragmatists

Retweet this button on every post blogger The world is a tragedy to those who feel, and a comedy to those who think.

Perspectives is what makes life interesting. It's what actually makes people different, not race or color.

people are born identical. With goodness instilled in them. They all believe in truth and happiness. They all believe in justice and the power of the human soul. But then, we grow up. We are taught different versions of history and God. We are made to believe that we own the truth, and that we are somehow better than the rest. It sure helps us advance in certain aspects of life, but the trade off is that we lose some part of our humanity as life goes by, and we see it happening with pride, thinking that we are somehow growing stronger and better.

If you are lucky, you go on with your life failing to notice this, as your reality doesn't challenge your ideas. If you're not that lucky, you meet someone who unintentionally strikes a truth that you will never be comfortable with. The greater the divide, the more difficult it is for you to accept the new facts. You might change, but there is only so much you can change without being denounced for relinquishing your superiority and your version of the truth. Suddenly, what you know, or thought you knew, becomes the greatest wall separating you from reality and your humanity.

Ignorance is a bless.

Being naive is often what makes you happy. That's why children have the most genuine smiles. You might think It is inevitable, but there are those who are blessed with a humane reservoir that decades of life won't consume. As for the rest of us, we grow older and we lose our humanity to nothing.

Those who are prepared to cross barriers are the unsung heroes of this race. Sadly, quite often they are the ones who pay the price. Blessed are those who believe in abstracts and non-existing values, for without them the earth will be inhabited by Swiss watches and robots dressed in human skin working relentlessly and obliviously on terminating this race.

It's your choice whether you die of a great Tsunami, an ice age, an Ozone hole, or a sudden non-existence of dreamers!

Dreamers give losers life, and lovers give everyone a home.

Jumping off the shoulder of a Giant!! A story of two men who dified gravity

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This short movie show the story of a Frenchman and An Englishman who jumped off from the top of the highest buidling in the world!

Enjoy!

Dubai... A Middle Eastern Dream

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As I grew up people dreamt about going to the US, the land of opportunities. Some wanted the UK, others wanted anything out of this stagnating region!

As I graduated there was a new destination. One that is unusually close, and easier to fit in. An Arab country. Somewhere we don't worry about being descriminated against or punished for who we are or what we believe in. People came from all corners of the world to experience it and live it. To be part of the boom and part of the phenomenon. This place is Dubai.

Unfortunately, the world is not fair. And while we always demand the best from governments and coutnries, we tend to crucify those who dream. Even if there dream worked for awhile. We rush and compete in bringing those who dream down. We point the fingers of blame and we open our mouths and we say: I KNEW IT!

I don't blame Europeans or North Americans. It just amazes me how middle easterners and specifically arabs feel so vendicated by what's going on now! What was it that you wanted? One more mundane place? Inorganized, flat, dirty, dull, Oil-dependant, aid-dependant & grey City? 

Dubai offered people an alternative for our corrupted countries and cities. A place to work and live in security and peace. A multi-cultural environment. A platform to meet people from other cultures in an unbiased condition. Prejudice free. Tax free. 

Everyone is allowed to dream, and everybody is encouraged to. nevertheless, we jump into the forefront and race to step on the the shoulders of a giant that fell down to accelerate its demise.

One question for, Egptians, Lebanese, Jordanians, Palestinians, Iranians, Indians, Filipinos, Australians and others; What is your alternative? What is your plan B?

Was Dubai perfect? Definitely not. Was everyone here happy and living the perfect life, absolutely not! But for many of us it was the perfect solution and the perfect alternative? Thousands of families lived on remittances from this country. Thousands of other families were built because of careers and expereicnes which would have been otherwise impossible. 

I still believe that it is not over. Maybe it will never be the same booming city it was before. There were mistakes and they will definitely need to be fixed, but that doesn't mean that the dream is dead.

It better still be alive. For everyone's sake! 

Status Update

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The past few weeks were a little different from what preceeded them. A change is always welcome. The question is; was it a good change?

Last time I scored 7.4!

Social: 8

Life is pretty rewarding sometimes, and after some dry spells you get reminded that you're not socially dead :).

Financial 8:

Hard work ocassionally pays off! It looks like it's going to be a good year. A new method in handling my finances is apparently paying off, even during Holidays.

Professional 9:

I'm having a great time :) ... If I manage to avoid the scramble of the year-end I will be bursting with fruits flavors.

Weather 9:

As I wished, I Felt a little cold in Jordan, and then came back to the wonderful winter of Dubai. It's a great time for outdoor activities.

Health 6:

You can't win it all!! I hate Flu.

Overall 8:

Looks like it was a good change :) .. I hope it goes on... Targeting 9.5 by March!

Analyze your relationships

Retweet this button on every post blogger Touchgraph is a great tool that you can use through Facebook. The tool is usually used for more professional purposes in business and science. However, you can also use it for fun!

Simply run the application on your Facebook account and you will get a graph analyzing your relationships, and those connecting your friends. Your friends will be clustered based on the relationships connecting them, and your friends will be scientifcally ranked based on their importance in your network!

For exmaple, if you look at the graph which is created from my account, you will find that Loui's circle is overlapping with mine! This simply means that this idiot is a very important part of my life whether I like it or not. This also goes for those showing up in the pyramid. This insight will make me think twice before I miss with any of those guys on the top... They'll pop up everywhere, and they'll disturb my network :)

I also went the extra mile and took a look at how diversified my network is, and I have to say that I felt proud of what I found out!

19% of my friends are Non-Arabs, 32% are of a different religion, 39% are not compatriots & 28% are females.
The colors represent clusters. These clusters put together people who are connected to each other, and by taking a closer look you will see who is the leading character in that group/cluster!

Try it, it's really interesting :)

All Hail El Messias

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After two years of coming second, Messi has finally and rightfully won the Ballon d'Or! Messi won all the titles that came his way along with Barcelona in 2008/2009 scoring many goals and assisting many others.

Messi scored 38 Goals and Amassed 16 Assist, many of those will go down as some of the best in history.

This year so far, Messi added 9 Goals and 5 Assists. Although a little more subtle than last year, I still believe he is going to be wonderful this year.

I just hope Maradona doesn't screw it up foor Argentina and him next year in South Africa!

I leave you with a clip of all his goals with Barcelona in the 2008/2009 season.