Hey there! My name is Amir, I was born on the April fools of 1984, in Cairo, Egypt. I'm a medical student in the faculty of medicine Ain Shams university, I love horse riding, surfing the internet and guess what? ... blogging!
Ever wanted to have your own TV channel? well ... I don't promise you'll ever get to have one, but most likely you can have at video publishing and live TV pretty soon, with the launch of beautiful web 2.0 services like Mogulus and Babelgum, it's not just a dream any more.
Mogulus has been in pre-beta for quite some time, and now it's in beta, and I got my call to try it out, I haven't tried the publishing section cuz I just logged on Mogulus for the first time now, and I'm in mcD havin a sandwitch and a sunday's, waiting for my ObGyne lesson to start, so I'm not gonna test it right now, but I watched some channels on it, was actually pretty cool, really good speed with an average quality, and the live channels rock big time, I'll blog about it again soon, and you better stay tuned cuz I'm also going to talk about babelgum, which is really nice btw, so stay tuned!
It’s the London’s fastest growing religion, based on noble traditions and compassionate principles, yet Islam can still be tainted by misunderstanding. Here TimeOut.com argues that an Islamic London would be a better place
The noise from the expectant crowd hushed to a murmur as an open-backed lorry that had driven slowly up the Mall – known since the Islamic revolution of 2021 as The Way of the Martyrs – nudged its way through the thousands gathered in Mohammad Sidique Khan Square. On the lorry, two masked guards held a young man, black hood over his head; a quiver running through the material suggested he knew what was coming.
The lorry halted by the plinth that had once held Marc Quinn’s sculpture ‘Alison Lapper Pregnant’ – long since removed as an insult to decency – and was now the place of public execution. A rope noose attached to a wire cable hung from a mechanised hoist. The main doors of what had been the National Gallery flung open and an Imam walked down the steps of the new Institute of Islamic Jurisprudence, opened only a week before by Sultan Charles, Prince of Islam and protector of the faithful in England. The official executioner placed a stepladder against the plinth. The lorry pulled up and the young man was pushed out, then forced up the ladder. The noose was forced over the condemned man’s head. The crowd chanted ‘Allahu akbar’ (God is greater than everything).The hoist driver put his finger on a green button … Okay, not really – that’s a hysterical, right-wing nightmare of a future Muslim London: where an cruel alien creed is forced on a liberal city. A society where women are second-class citizens, same sex relationships a crime and Sharia law enforces terrible public disfigurement and death. But the reality is a long, long way from this dark vision.
For a start, Islam is not an alien religion to London. At the end of World War I the city sat at the heart of an Empire that had 160 million Muslim subjects, 80 million in India alone. London was the largest Islamic capital in the world. Forty years later and the end of the Empire, unrest and war and poverty in south Asia had lead to mass immigration to the mother country and London became a Muslim capital in another sense.
According to the 2001 census there are 607,083 Muslims living in London (310,477 men and 296,606 women). The majority of Muslims live in the east of the city and, by 2012, the Muslim Council of Britain estimates that the Muslim population of Tower Hamlets, Newham, Waltham Forest and Hackney will be 250,000. There are plans afoot (though no formal application has yet been submitted) to build the UKs biggest mosque – capable of welcoming 40,000 worshippers – near the 2012 Olympic site, a move which has prompted predictable outrage from some quarters. Consequently, Muslim disillionment with a reactionary and often ill-informed press is at an all time high.
But rather than fear the inevitable changes this will bring to London, or buy in to a racist representation of all Muslims as terrorists, we should recognise both what Islam has given this city already, and the advantages it would bring across a wide range of areas in the future.
Public health On the surface, Islamic health doesn’t look good: the 2001 census showed that 24 per cent of Muslim women and 21 per cent of Muslim men suffered long-term illness and disability. But these are factors of social conditions rather than religion. In fact, Islam offers Londoners potential health benefits: the Muslim act of prayer is designed to keep worshippers fit, their joints supple and, at five times a day, their stomachs trim. The regular washing of the feet and hands required before prayers promotes public hygiene and would reduce the transmission of superbugs in London’s hospitals.
Alcohol is haram, or forbidden, to Muslims. As London is above the national average for alcohol-related deaths in males, with 17.6 per 100,000 people (Camden has 31.6 per 100,000 males), turning all the city’s pubs into juice bars would have a massive positive effect on public health. Forbid alcohol throughout the country, and you’d avoid many of the 22,000 alcohol-related deaths and the £7.3 billion national bill for alcohol-related crime and disorder each year.
Ecology ‘The world is green and beautiful,’ said the prophet Muhammad, ‘and Allah has appointed you his guardian over it.’ The Islamic concept of halifa or trusteeship obliges Muslims to look after the natural world and Muhammad was one of the first ever environmentalists, advocating hima – areas where wildlife and forestry are protected. So we could expect more public parks under Islam, but halifa also applies to recycling: in 2006, 12,000 Muslims attended a series of sermons at the East London Mosque explaining the theological evidence for a link between behaving in an environmentally sustainable way and the Islamic faith.
Education Presently, Muslim students perform less well than non-Muslim students. In inner London, 37 per cent of 16 to 24-year-old Muslims have no qualifications (the figure for the general population of the same age and location is 25 per cent). When it comes to university education the picture is equally gloomy: 16 to 24-year-old Muslims are half as likely to have degree level or above qualification than other inner London young people.
Again, social factors rather than religion have led to this state of affairs. Young Muslims in London are often of south Asian origin and therefore more likely to live in households where English is not the first language, more likely to encounter racism (both intentional and unintentional) during their education, and more likely to suffer from poverty and bad housing conditions.
But Tahir Alam, education spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain, claims Muslim children do better in their own faith schools than in the mainstream state sector: ‘Muslim schools have their own distinct ethos. They use the children’s faith and heritage as primary motivators to provide the backdrop for their education and behaviour. This ethos is consistent with the messages that children are getting at home, so it is a very coherent operation between the home and the school.’
If Islam became the dominant religion in London the same ethos could be applied to schooling across swathes of underprivileged and deprived areas of the city. This could have a revolutionary effect on educational achievement and, perhaps just as importantly, general levels of discipline and self-respect among London’s young people. While controversy rages over faith schools, there are 37 Muslim schools in London. As of 2004, only five were state schools, but there is growing pressure to bring more into the state sector which, according to Alam, will ‘help raise achievement for many sectors of the Muslim community. Many private Muslim schools are under-resourced and if they can be brought into the state sector this valuable experience can be extended to more children.’ Food Application of halal (Arabic for ‘permissable’) dietary laws across London would free us at a stroke from our addiction to junk food, and the general adoption of a south Asian diet rich in fruit juice, rice and vegetables with occasional mutton or chicken would have a drastic effect on obesity, hyperactivity, attention deficit disorders and associated public health problems. As curry is already Londoners’ and the nation’s favourite food (see our Brick Lane food feature), it would be a relatively easy process to encourage the adoption of such a diet. Not eating would be important as well. The annual fasting month of Ramadan instils self-discipline, courtesy and social cohesion. And Londoners would benefit philosophically and physically from even a short period when we weren’t constantly ramming food into our mouths.
Inter-faith relations In an Islamic London, Christians and Jews – with their allegiance to the Bible and the Talmud – would be protected as ‘peoples of the book’. Hindus and Sikhs manage to live alongside a large Muslim population in India, so why not here? Although England has a long tradition of religious bigotry against, for instance, Roman Catholics, it is reasonable to assume that under the guiding hand of Islam a civilised accommodation could be made among faith groups in London. This welcoming stance already exists in the capital in the form of the City Circle (see Yahya Birt interview), which encourages inter-faith dialogue and open discussion.
Arts Some of the finest art in London is already Islamic. The Jameel Gallery at the V&A houses ‘ceramics, textiles, carpets, metalwork, glass and woodwork, which date from the great days of the Islamic caliphate of the eighth and ninth century’ up until the turn of the last century. Or take a free daily tour of the Addis Gallery of Islamic art (at the British Museum). London-based Nasser David Khalili, an Iranian-born Jew, has amassed what is considered to be the world’s largest private collection of Islamic art. Islamic influences have also flourished in other areas of the arts, with novelists, comedians (Birmingham-born Shazia Mirza was an instant hit on the London circuit), and music (from rappers Mecca2Medina on, to the less in-your-face Yusuf Islam).
Social justice Each Muslim is obliged to pay zakat, a welfare tax of 2.5 per cent of annual income, that is distributed to the poor and the needy. If the working population of London, 5.2 million, was predominantly Muslim this would produce approximately £3.2bn each year. More importantly, everyone would be obliged to consider those Londoners who haven’t shared their good fortune. London would become a little less cruel.
Race relations Under Islam all ethnicities are equal. Once you have submitted to Allah you are a Muslim – it doesn’t matter what colour you are. End of story.
Have a good idea? well TED is on it, here's my second video from TED about a new idea called Bumptop which is a computer interface based on real life physics, where you can pile your files, stack'em, drag'em, crumple them and throw them to the corner, size'em or hang them on the wall! pretty intense, huh ? I'm just wondering about one thing, where are the file names?!
Technology, Entertainment and Design; sponsored by the car manufacturing giant BMW, "TED" is a prize given to people who excel in the fore-mentioned fields, the initials of which form the name of the prize; it all started back in 1984 when I was born, and it was like a secret cult or something, now, it's in the open; In this video, computer architect Blaise Aguera shows us the lates state-of-the-art technology concerned with image and photo management and how in the near future we will be able to "dive" into our own photos and experience the complete environment.
يا جدعان إحنا نايميين في سااااااابع نومة ... الناس عمّالة تصرف ع المبدعين و احنا قاعدين نتفرج و خلاص, يعني الصراحة حمداً و شكراَ لله الذي سخر لنا الفرنجة, هما يتعبوا و يكتشفوا و يخترعوا و احنا نأخذ ع الجاهز ... عموماً إتعقّدوا شوية و قلولي إيه رأيكم في الكلام الجميل ده؟
Okay, now those of you who don't admire ronaldinho as a legendary soccer player, raise your hands! .... Just as I expected, very few did. Ronaldinho is an international soccer phenomenon with a huge smile! He's also known to be one of the most decent and respectable players on the green ... he still is decent and respectable, but the guy got a red card!
رونالدينهو ده فعلا لعيب جامد يا جماعة, حريف جداً بشكل عجيب, و مؤدب إلى حد كبير في الملعب, و لو إن إبن اللذين ده جاب فرقته الكاتالونية و دعكونا 4-1 ييجي من شهر كده, لكن برضه يبقى رونالدينهو اللاعب المفضل لدى الجميع, عموماً أهو أخد جزاؤه و لأول مرة طلع له الكارت الأحمر ....... آدي جزاء اللي ييجي ع الأهلي ! ء
1. Brain food: Don’t let yourself run on empty. A balanced diet will help keep your mind running strong all day long. Make sure to include plenty of fruits and leafy green vegetables. They are loaded with essential antioxidants and nutrients to boost your brain power. Some of the best foods for thought include: blueberries, blackberries, fish and fish oils, eggs, spinach, strawberries and almonds.
2. Exercise: Get your body moving and your memory will soon follow. Exercise improves the heart’s blood flow. This, in turn, helps the brain function better and stay sharper. Studies have also found that cardiovascular exercises done over a long period of time help reduce the amount of brain tissue you lose as you age.
3. Brain Games: Unscramble your memory with Scrabble. Intellectually stimulating activities and games such as Scrabble, crossword puzzles and trivia games are great for boosting your memory. Have fun and challenge your brain with these fun memory games.
4. Pick Up a Book: The key to keeping your memory sharp is to continue to challenge it. Try to always have a book in hand. After you’re done reading a chapter or two, question and review the material you’ve read. Try to imagine what you’re reading. Discuss what you’ve read, and talk about it with friends or join a book club.
5. Take a Sip Down Memory Lane: Coffee is good for more than just getting you out of bed in the morning. Researches have found the stimulant affect of caffeine can help boost memory. Studies have also found that key enzymes found in green and black teas help improve memory functions.
6. Cultivate interest: We tend to remember the things that we enjoy. Find ways to make a boring subject fun by associating it to something you already know. If you have to remember a list, try to make a fun sentence out of the first letters of each item or try categorizing things into a group. You can also use your imagination and create a fun story behind a subject to help make it easier to remember.
7. Catch some those Zzzz’s: Sleep plays a critical role in your physiological function and is vital for your intellectual development. Memory failure is a common occurrence for many sleep-deprived individuals. A study conducted at the University of Luebeck found that creativity and problem solving appear to be directly linked to adequate sleep.
8. Repeat After Me: When learning new information, the more you repeat it, the more likely you will be able to recall that information. Practice is the key to lasting memory. Practice is the key to lasting memory. Practice is the key to lasting memory.
9. Give It a Beat: Music not only helps trigger memories of past events, but also stimulates learning skills. Music has also been shown to help retain information and provide multiple modes of information retrieval.
10. Pick Your Own Brain and Share it with Others: Don’t keep your knowledge stored up. Teaching others is another great way to boost memory skills. You should also become your own teacher. Don’t be afraid of taking on new challenges. You might not be in school anymore but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t test yourself. After you learn something, it’s important to put the new information to use.
Ladies and gentlemen, the incredible search engine giant "Google" has officially announced that tomorrow (tuesday, june 5th 2007) they will open their regional middle east office in Cairo, Egypt. That's pretty good news for all of us because google is a huge investement opportunity which will definitely benefit all of us. I also expect google to activate its free SMS service on the google toolbar pretty soon, and I really hope this affects the adsense revenues for users all over the arab world, hopefully to the best because I read that click rates in the UK and the US are much higher than in Egypt, hopefully, this new office will correct the current status for adsense revenues.
Would you like to earn money off of the internet? well, you can't! hehehehe, no I'm just kidding! of course you can! You may already be a blogger, just like me, I met google Adsense just a few days ago, it's a service by your favourite (mine too) company, google. basically it lets you put text and image advertisements on your site, and you get paid everytime someone clicks the ads, it's that simple! With adsense you can earn hundreds of dollars on monthly basis, and you don't even need a credit card, they will send you a real cheque within a month of every time you earn 100$! It's free, it's simple and it will change your life. Adsense is one of the best things that has ever happened to me, I really encourage you to sign up with adsense now.
يا جماعة مش ممكن, أنا فعلا بحب جوجل, من ساعت ما العالم دي ابتدت شغل و أنا معجب بيهم جداً, من أول محرك البحث الرائع بتاعهم, لحد خدمة أد-سنس اللي أنا هتكلم عليها دلوقت, و هي عبارة عن إنك تحط في الموقع بتاع سعادتك أو البلوج بتاع حضرتك إعلانات نصّية, و لما حد يدوس عليها, يتحط في حسابك فلوس, و كل ما تكسب 100 دولار يبعتولك شيك مصرفي, يعني كمان مش محتاج بطاقة ائتمانية و لا حاجة, كل المطلوب منك إنك تعمل بلوج و تشترك في خدمة أد-سنس ببلااااااش يا معلم, و ادعيلي!
This clip demonstrates the power of video editing. It's very startling to see how well videos can be doctored. There is no way to really know if you're looking at the real thing.
بعد كدة لما تبقى تتفرج ع الإعلانات ما تبقاش تتهبل على البنات اللي في الإعلان ... كلها فوتوشوب يا معلّم, و لما تتجوز إبقى هات مراتك و دخلها في الكمبيوتر (بس اعمل حسابك في هارد كبير عشان لو ربنا رزقك بواحدة تخينة) و ضبّطها على زوقك!
Ever visited the "Testtube" portion of YouTube?! It's just a very small link on the bottom of the YouTube home page. It corresponds to google's "google labs", it's supposed to be where they keep all the upcoming new cool stuff, for example, there's this new service called Active Sharing which can be used to show other YouTube users what videos you're watching, another one is AudioSwap which will allow you to replace the audio on your videos with officially licensed music, last but not least (I hope ...) is Streams 2.0 that lets you join streams to chat with others who are watching the same video you are.
Hey there guys, my blog is now listed on technorati, the most famous blog search engine on the web, give my technorati profile a visit ... I hope you liked the previous posts!
According to the 2001 census there are 607,083 Muslims living in London (310,477 men and 296,606 women). The majority of Muslims live in the east of the city and, by 2012, the Muslim Council of Britain estimates that the Muslim population of Tower Hamlets, Newham, Waltham Forest and Hackney will be 250,000. There are plans afoot (though no formal application has yet been submitted) to build the UKs biggest mosque – capable of welcoming 40,000 worshippers – near the 2012 Olympic site, a move which has prompted predictable outrage from some quarters. Consequently, Muslim disillionment with a reactionary and often ill-informed press is at an all time high.
