Year: 2007

Fascist America In 10 Easy Steps

An interesting article by Naomi Wolf in The Guardian:

… If you look at history, you can see that there is essentially a blueprint for turning an open society into a dictatorship. That blueprint has been used again and again in more and less bloody, more and less terrifying ways. But it is always effective. It is very difficult and arduous to create and sustain a democracy – but history shows that closing one down is much simpler. You simply have to be willing to take the 10 steps.

[…]

1. Invoke a terrifying internal and external enemy
2. Create a gulag
3. Develop a thug caste
4. Set up an internal surveillance system
5. Harass citizens’ groups
6. Engage in arbitrary detention and release
7. Target key individuals
8. Control the press
9. Dissent equals treason
10. Suspend the rule of law

[Source: The Guardian]

[Via: Hou-Hou Blog]

How To Have A Better Life

I was just surfing around Scribd when I came across a really interesting post by Joe Mazzella, called “A Better Life“.

I’ve been thinking about the issue of happiness and what a person can do to have a better life quite often lately, and I think Joe sums it up really well and in a beautiful way.

…the only way to have a better life is to live a better life, and only way to give your children a better life is to show them how to live a better life as well.

How do you live a better life? You start by living more for your soul and less for your wallet. You spend more time hugging and less time buying.

You turn off the television and take a walk with your children. You smile more and worry less. You spend more time with your loved ones and less time at the office. You laugh longer and more often.

You look in your heart more and in the mirror less. You make your first job spreading joy rather than earning money. You realize just how much God loves you and you spend your days sharing that love with everyone you meet. And you always remember that your life is a gift from God and how you live it is your gift back.

I couldn’t agree more…

Arab Firms Project to be launched in Tunisia

Interesting news…

AIESEC, an international platform for young people
to discover and develop their potential, announced that the Arab Firms project will be launched soon in Tunisia.

Including the economic, international cooperation, high education ministries as well as Arab embassies in Tunisia, the project will attempt at creating possibilities of cooperation between Arab firms and offering opportunities to Arab students to get a training in one of the different countries in which AIESEC is operating (Morocco, Egypt, UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan).

The concept of “Arab Firms” is centered on the idea that there should be a mutual interaction between the various Arab firms in order to attract investors and further enhance economic ties between the Arab states.

[Source: Al Arab Online]

I think the keyword in this article is “cooperation”, and whenever it’s for a good cause and wherever it can be inserted between the Arab countries, it is always more than welcome.

Google Web History

Google has just announced the launch of Web History, a new feature for Google Account users that makes it easy to view and search across the pages they previously visited. This will help users find things they remember seeing online a lot faster from anywhere.

To use this new feature, all that’s needed is a Google Account and the Google Toolbar with PageRank enabled.

Search History users will notice that it has been renamed to Web History to reflect this new functionality, where they will find both their search history and their browsing history.

Of course a number of people have their usual privacy concerns, but personally I think the benefits of this service outweigh the concerns.

If you’re interested, you can check it out here: Google Web History.

The Top 10 Nutrition Myths

10. Eating carbohydrates makes you fat.
9. Drink eight, 8-oz. glasses of water per day.
8. Brown grain products are whole grain products.
7. Eating eggs will raise your cholesterol.
6. All alcohol is bad for you.
5. Vitamin supplements are necessary for everyone.
4. Consuming extra protein is necessary to build muscle mass.
3. Eating fiber causes problems if you have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
2. Eating immediately after a workout will improve recovery.
1. Type 2 diabetes can be prevented by eating foods low on the glycemic index.

For more details, read the article: Dispelling The Top 10 Nutrition Myths.

[Via: LifeHack]

The Pursuit Of Happiness

… And it was at that time that I thought about Thomas Jefferson writing that Declaration of Independence. Him saying that we have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And I thought about how he knew to put the ‘pursuit’ in there, like no one can actually have happiness. We can only pursue it.

— Christopher Gardner (The Pursuit Of Happyness)

Do you really think that no matter what we do, we can never really attain happiness; we can only pursue it?

Prison vs. Work

IN PRISON: You spend the majority of your time in a 10X10 cell.
AT WORK: You spend the majority of your time in an 8X8 cubicle.

IN PRISON: You get three meals a day.
AT WORK: You get a break for one meal and you have to pay for it.

IN PRISON: You get time off for good behavior.
AT WORK: You get more work for good behavior.

IN PRISON: The guard locks and unlocks all the doors for you.
AT WORK: You must often carry a security card and open all the doors for yourself.

IN PRISON: You can watch TV and play games.
AT WORK: You could get fired for watching TV and playing games.

IN PRISON: You get your own toilet.
AT WORK: You have to share the toilet with some people who pee on the seat.

IN PRISON: They allow your family and friends to visit.
AT WORK: You aren

100 Megabits At Home By 2015?

According to a post on GigaOm, FTTH Council is pushing the US government to adopt a 100 Megabit Nation policy with the goal of extending, through both private and public sector initiatives, affordable next-generation broadband (100-megabit-per-second connection) to a majority of Americans by 2010, with universal US availability by 2015.

Hmmm…
On the other hand, over here in Tunisia:
I had to wait for over 3 months for Tunisie Telecom to give me a crappy phone line…
During the first two years, my phone line worked only a quarter of the time…
I’ve been waiting for over 7 months to get a simple 256Kbps ADSL connection at home, and I expect the wait to go on for several more months…

Some of my friends already went through the waiting periods and got their ADSL connections, and a few of them are actually happy with their connections, but still we’re a long way behind, and it all affects how competitive we can be and limits our chances to innovate or become noticeable players on the world level.

I know that there are a lot of factors behind this, I also know that the Tunisian government gives a lot of importance to this, doing all its possible to extend access to faster connections, but we’re still trailing in this area, and maybe it’s time to try a new approach at this and open more doors for some big private players to enter the market and push the country forward in broadband access. It can only be of benefit to everyone: public entities, private companies and individuals.