The Bakery Wars

I am sometimes too lazy to go to mosque for Fajr prayer. So the other morning, after praying, I came out on my balcony as the sun came up. Suddenly I heard shouts and sounds of scuffle coming from up the street.

I then saw a group of people at a local bakery arguing and fighting for a place in a queue. Someone seems to have pushed in in front, as seems to be the norm around here, and the resulting commotion was the outcome. So much can be said about the manners of queueing, which are so sadly absent around here.

The newspeak of Israeli propagandists

Source: Letters to Guardian

What Uri Dromi says about Hamas is pure and poisonous Israeli propaganda (This Hamas hallucination, 23 January). In every respect his article is almost the exact opposite of the truth. Dromi claims that: "The Orwellian mindset of the organisation is as much a barrier to peace as the rockets it fires." But it is the newspeak of Israeli propagandists like Dromi that is truly Orwellian.

Over the last four weeks the powerful Israeli propaganda machine has been churning out lie after lie about Hamas in order to excuse its own inexcusable onslaught. Israel stopped journalists going into Gaza, preventing any independent reporting on the war crimes its forces were committing. Truth is usually the first casualty in war. Gaza was not even a war in the conventional sense of the word; it was one-sided carnage.

Here are some of the facts Dromi ignores or wilfully misrepresents. First, Hamas is the democratically elected government of the Palestinian people, not the corrupt regime led by Mahmoud Abbas. Second, Hamas spokesmen have repeatedly declared their readiness for a long-term ceasefire. Khalid Mish'al recently did so on these pages (Comment, 6 January). Third, Hamas has a solid record of observing ceasefires, while Israel has a consistent record of sabotaging them. Fourth, even during the ceasefire Israel did not lift its economic blockade of the 1.5 million inhabitants of Gaza, a form of collective punishment forbidden by international law. Fifth, the offensive unleashed in Gaza was illegal, immoral and unnecessary. If all Israel wanted was to stop rocket attacks from Gaza, all it had to do was to observe the ceasefire brokered by Egypt in June 2008.
Professor Avi Shlaim
Oxford

Voices of reason.

3D Modeling - Ziggurat (Or the invasion of the Boolean)

Well, I have been messing around with the 3D Modeling software a little bit every other day (as time allows) trying to learn new things. After completing a tutorial that taught me how to make various chess pieces I decided that I was good enough to try to venture out on my own, so to speak.

I came across a novel "Snow Crash" by Neil Stephenson recently which is all about Metaverses, hacking and Sumerian mythology (the usual cyberpunk sci-fi stuff I am interested in). Following that I did some basic (read Wikipedia) research online on the Sumerian architecture and discovered ziggurats. After looking up a few bits here and there, I decided that I would practice my new-found skills on building a model of the ziggurat. Little did I know the trouble I would get into.

For starters, I thought I would try to use extrusion method to recreate the structure and the curvature of the walls. It took me about three days (about half an hour a day) to realise that that was a dead end. Then I remembered Boolean operations method (basically extracting one object from another) and the model progressed really well. Downside is I could probably "Boolean" the Statute of Liberty from basic forms (box, sphere and cylinder) in my sleep now.

End result is presented here (together with some mediocre attempts at texturing). Not perfect, of course, but hey - I can do ziggurats :)

And here's a word from our elected representatives...

From the horse's mouth...

David Ben-Gurion, the first PM of Israel, said:

"If I were an Arab leader, I would never sign an agreement with Israel. It is normal; we have taken their country. It is true God promised it to us, but how could that interest them? Our God is not theirs. There has been Anti-Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They see but one thing: we have come and we have stolen their country. Why would they accept that?" Quoted by Nahum Goldmann in Le Paraddoxe Juif (The Jewish Paradox), p121.

"We will not go down!" (Song for Gaza)

3D Modeling - Sword

I have been fooling around with some graphics 3d modeling software just for the fun of it. Here's the result of my initial attempts. Not perfect, of course, but the next one will be better, inshaallah :)

Anti-Hebrewism - Part 2

Another small encounter with entrenched racism. I went to buy some falafel in a little takeaway place I attend regularly. One of the workers loudly objected to me being served on the basis that "he is Yehudi!". The rest of the staff, who know me and know that I am Muslim, started telling him to keep his mouth shut and told him that I was Muslim. Since then, the guy would not meet my eyes when I look at him.

I can honestly say that I sympathise with every single Jew who lives in Egypt - the amount of racism they must be experiencing here must be immense. According to my Shaikh, who teaches me Arabic, the Jewish enclave in Cairo is guarded 24/7 by fully armed troops and no Egyptian is allowed in unless he is invited by people leaving in the enclave. No wonder, to be honest, given the tendency among a lot of Muslims to equate all Jews with Zionist murderers of the Zionist state.

It seems that at some stage, we, the Ummah, have abandoned our brains and embraced our emotions without restraint. It is a crude generalisation and surely the exceptions abound, and yet, as in economics, while it is impossible to predict behaviour of an individual, it is far easier to predict behaviour of masses - and the behaviour of Muslim masses over various issues seems to bear this generalisation out.

And here's a friendly message from the "compassionate" religious leaders of Israel

Courtesy of Jerusalem Post:

All civilians living in Gaza are collectively guilty for Kassam attacks on Sderot, former Sephardi chief rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu has written in a letter to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Eliyahu ruled that there was absolutely no moral prohibition against the indiscriminate killing of civilians during a potential massive military offensive on Gaza aimed at stopping the rocket launchings.

The letter, published in Olam Katan [Small World], a weekly pamphlet to be distributed in synagogues nationwide this Friday, cited the biblical story of the Shechem massacre (Genesis 34) and Maimonides' commentary (Laws of Kings 9, 14) on the story as proof texts for his legal decision.

According to Jewish war ethics, wrote Eliyahu, an entire city holds collective responsibility for the immoral behavior of individuals. In Gaza, the entire populace is responsible because they do nothing to stop the firing of Kassam rockets.

The former chief rabbi also said it was forbidden to risk the lives of Jews in Sderot or the lives of IDF soldiers for fear of injuring or killing Palestinian noncombatants living in Gaza.

Eliyahu could not be reached for an interview. However, Eliyahu's son, Shmuel Eliyahu, who is chief rabbi of Safed, said his father opposed a ground troop incursion into Gaza that would endanger IDF soldiers. Rather, he advocated carpet bombing the general area from which the Kassams were launched, regardless of the price in Palestinian life.

"If they don't stop after we kill 100, then we must kill a thousand," said Shmuel Eliyahu. "And if they do not stop after 1,000 then we must kill 10,000. If they still don't stop we must kill 100,000, even a million. Whatever it takes to make them stop."

In the letter, Eliyahu quoted from Psalms. "I will pursue my enemies and apprehend them and I will not desist until I have eradicated them."

Eliyahu wrote that "This is a message to all leaders of the Jewish people not to be compassionate with those who shoot [rockets] at civilians in their houses."

Disgusting!

Bushisms

Here's a selection of Bushisms courtesy of The Global Language Monitor:

1. “I’m the decider”

2. “I know the human being and fish can coexist peacefully”

3. “You work three jobs? … Uniquely American, isn’t it? I mean, that is fantastic that you’re doing that.”

4. “Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we”

5. “It was not always certain that the U.S. and America would have a close relationship.”

6. “See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda.”

7. “When the final history is written on Iraq, it will look just like a comma”

8. “The only way we can win is to leave before the job is done.”

9. “I want to be a war president; no president wants to be a war president.”

10. “The fiscal year that ended on February the 30th.”

Some of these are very revealing.

Orwellian level of survailance due to come into force in the UK

Hmmm, well may be it is time to start worrying about those civil liberties after all:

Source: BBC News

...

From March all Internet Service Providers (ISPs) will by law have to keep information about every e-mail sent or received in the UK for a year.

...

The new rules are due to come into force on 15 March, as part of a European Commission directive which could affect every ISP in the country.

The firms will have to store the information under the government's Interception Modernisation Programme (IMP) and make it available to any public body which makes a lawful request.

That could include police, local councils and health authorities.

...

The rules already apply to telephone companies, which routinely hold much of the data for billing.

...

Reports have suggested the government has even bigger plans for data retention.

They could involve one central database, gathering details on every text sent, e-mail sent, phone call made and website visited.

Consultation on the plans is due to open later this year.

An interesting additional detail is that this is being initiated at the European level, rather than UK going in alone

The true face of Zionist propaganda

I have been closely following the latest Gaza genocide on the news. The beauty of the satellite TV is that it allows you to get numerous perspectives on the issue. Of course, Zionist stooges eagerly appear on all the channels to present "their" side of the story. However, as the following example demonstrates, the presence of numerous news outlets makes it easier to detect the lies spread about by the Zionist mouthpieces.

Most of us would be aware that a few days back Zionist occupation forces attacked an UNRWA school killing over 40 people, mostly women and children, the highest death toll from a single attack so far. It has been confirmed by both Zionist occupation forces and UN that Zionist state has been provided with the GPS co-ordinates of all the UN locations and therefore are clearly aware what it is they are bombing. Here are the three statements I personally heard and saw provided by the news outlets:

1. Initially, just following the vicious attack, a Zionist military spokeswomen on Al-Jazeera stated that: (1)Mortars were fired from the school ground by Hamas, (2) the Zionist occupation forces fired 1 shell back which hit the school and the school blew up because (3) the school building was booby trapped by Hamas.

2. The next day, Mark Regev, that infamous Zionist lying zombie, stated on Al-Jazeera that: (1) Mortars were fired from the school by Hamas, (2) the Zionist occupation forces fired shells at the school because (3) the Hamas mortar teams, which initiated the mortar fire, were hiding among the civilians at the school. On BBC, the same zombie stated to the BBC that Hamas took over the UN facility and started firing mortars directly out of the school, making the Zionist response "necessary".

3. Today, the BBC confirmed that UNRWA have been officially informed by Zionist state that in fact no mortar or rocket fire whatsoever has ever came from the school that was attacked.

Granted, there may have been fire from locations near the school - but it is not like modern artillery/missiles are lobing shells at an "approximate" locations. "Surgical" strikes, "smart" weapons, "precision" targeting - the keywords in every Zionist propaganda.

Just to keep in mind that UN has always maintained that no Hamas members were ever on the school grounds and that nothing was ever fired from the school, this being identical to the statement of Hamas from the outset.

And of course, the gullible public are just lapping it all up.

So, the lesson from all this? Wake up! Every single word that comes out of the Zionist's foul mouths is a lie until proven otherwise. And if you think this is unjustified, here's another example:

At the start of the Genocide, there was a rumour that Zionist state has planned this most latest round of genocidal madness as far back as 18 months ago - well before the whole ceasefire myth. So, here I was watching CNN coverage. As expected, the Zionist government spokesperson/zombie appears and, in response to a direct question states without blinking that the Zionist genocide was a spontaneous response. The only problem is that on the day the ground massacre began, on Al-Jazeera, another Zionist military spokesperson/zombie unequivocally stated that the Zionist occupational forces have been preparing this operation for the last 18 months!!! It is clear that Zionist spin machine is taking the public for complete and total suckers.

And what of the fabled ceasefire. The Zionist line - Hamas broke ceasefire by resuming the firing of rockets. Let's take a brief look as to why the Hamas and other resistance factions resumed the rocket fire. Oh, I remember now - the Zionists restarted their campaign of extra-judicial executions of resistance members by firing missiles and killing people. Of course, everyone has somehow forgotten about that fact.

Resistance is NOT a crime!!! Occupation is!

Egyptian way of cleaning tower blocks

When I first saw it about a month ago, I thought a washing machine pipe had burst at the top floor of the tower block. However, the same thing happened a couple of days back and now I am sure this is the way my doorman and his family clean the "common parts" (stairs and floors) of the tower block.

Basically, they turn on the tap at the top floor of the tower, mix the water with various detergents and then let if flow all the way down to the ground floor. It is fun :) The water sometimes flows into my appartment with a fair amount of foam rising from under the door. But at least, alhamdulillah, the stairs are clean at the end of it.

Saving Electricity in Egypt - Part 2

My night-vision skills must be improving since the environment conscious doorman has added a new exercise to my daily routine.

The day before yesterday the tube light in the elevator started flickering informing anyone who cared to notice that it was due for retirement soon. As any Brit knows, this things get changed pretty much immediately. I mean, when was the last time you rode in a lift without light and five people you do not know cramped into it.

Clearly the doorman in my building has no such squabbles. The light died yesterday. In the evening, I went out to get some water in the local cornershop since only the Egyptian stomach can take drinking the tap water. Riding down in the lift without light is definitely an experience - finding the "Ground" button is fun, particularly when you end up pressing every single button between your floor and the ground floor. The whole experience is something akin to being placed into a black box that is moving - a kind of sensory deprivation experience. Since the lift has a Quran player installed that plays the same verses over and over while the lift moves, listening to the Quran in the dark in the moving lift is both frightening and inspiring at the same time.If you are seeking a new experience in your life this is the one to try.

On my way back from the shop, I got into the lift with the doorman and another resident. As the doors closed, and we pressed our buttons in total darkness (hoping that we pressed the right buttons), the resident asked what was wrong with the light and whether it was getting replaced. After slapping the tube light a few times, causing the light to flicker a couple of times and then go dark again, a "Hmmm", pregnant with multiple facets of meaning, was the only sound that came from the doorman.

The light is still dead today. Of course :)

New Year Celebrations

As all around the world, fireworks and celebrations were evident around Alexandria on the night of 31st Dec/1st Jan. Kids were playing with fireworks on the street, loads of families were hanging out on the balconies of their flats enjoying the atmosphere.

And then, as the clock hit 00:00, people started launching fireworks from the balconies of their flats and throwing bags full of water with an exploding firework attached from their balconies down onto the road.

To appreciate the somewhat frightening nature of this you have to know that the area where I live is very densely built with high-rising towers facing each other. After a couple of water-bombs almost hit me on the head on their way down to the road, I had to stand back from edge of the balcony to avoid any unpleasant experiences. With fireworks flying towards my flat from opposing buildings, I finally decided to call it a night and left my balcony. I am really glad there were no incidents or fires - 'cause it looked ripe for disaster.