Author: Mohamed Marwen Meddah

Mohamed Marwen Meddah is a Tunisian-Canadian, web aficionado, software engineering leader, blogger, and amateur photographer.

The Arab Beyond

I just found this interesting new blog called “The Arab Beyond” by a Palestinian in the U.S.

The Arab Beyond. It is the Arab beyond stereotypes, beyond fear, and importantly, that Arab on the beyond: acting now, guided by a secular, progressive and determined vision of the future. Progressive Arabs have a triple responsibility: 1) to actively join the toiling classes and communities

Book Fair

We just came back from the international book fair, and man are we tired, we’re just exhausted.
It was full of people as usual, although more bearable than the first days of its opening.

There were basically the same countries that come with their books every year, but I did notice a little change in the type of books that were being exhibited. Religious books are still dominating, although less then last year, and the two new types of books that are coming strongly into center stage are children’s books and books about health, beauty and macrobiotics.

The thing that brings me down though is that most of the Arab books are either old re-issued books or translated ones. It’s as if there are little to no new Arab writers nowadays, which is a big shame.
Each year I keep hoping it will change and that there will be some kind of revolution in Arab literature, but it hasn’t happened yet. Still I remain optimistic that the day will come.

I came out of the whole thing with two novels: Pattern Recognition and Secret Smile. They seem like 2 good reads.
I’ll let you know when I get around to reading them after finishing the book I already have in hand.

All in all, it was great visiting the book fair, as always. It’s good to see that people still read and that they’re encouraging their children to read.

What Does My Birth Date Mean?

I just came across this little thingie that tells you what your birth date means. I tried it out for my birthday, March 11th, and this is what I got:

Your birth on the 11th day of the month makes you something of a dreamer and an idealist.
You work well with people because you know how to use persuasion rather than force.
There is a strong spiritual side to your nature, and you may have intuitive qualities inherent in your make up, too.

You are very aware and sensitive, though often temperamental.
Although you have a good mind and you are very analytical, you may not be comfortable in the business world.
You are definitely creative and this influence tends to make you more of a dreamer than a doer.

It’s weird, but a lot of what they said is right.
I don’t know, I don’t really believe in horoscopes and stuff like this, but well it amazes me how sometimes they’re really close to reality.

Anyway, try it out yourself. What Does Your Birth Date Mean?.

Human Nature / Animal Instinct

A thought that crossed my mind a while ago is: Where is the thin line between what’s human nature and what is actually animal instinct drawn in us people?

Even though I do believe in some aspects of the theory of evolution, especially when it comes to the evolution of some creatures into different breeds of the same creature depending on different factors such as the environment they’re in, and even though I do believe that we humans have actually evolved over time, I don’t really believe that we humans evolved from monkeys.

Anyway, I also believe that a lot of the things we regard as human nature can be classified as animal instinct too. For example, the need to exist in groups, the bond between a mother and her children, the attraction to the opposite sex, self defense and preservation …etc. These are all things that are in every living creature.

What I’m saying is that what we call human nature isn’t in fact just that, a lot of it is animal instinct, that we share with all members of the animal kingdom. And what comes on top of that is what is really human nature and what actually makes us special.

So my question is where does animal instinct end and human nature begin?
Is it just at the brain level and how we process things in a more advanced way?
Is it in our ability to follow logic?
Or is there this whole set of feelings that only we feel?
Where exactly is it?

A lot of people, when frustrated, describe others as animals. And sometimes others say it when they’re disgusted by something someone is doing.
How true are their accusations?
Is there really something that, if lost in a person, strips them of their superiority to animals?
I wonder…

URL ABCs

This is an interesting meme started by Defective Yeti.
The following are the first urls that come up in my browser’s address bar for every letter in the alphabet.

A is for aquacool.blogspot.com – Of course, my wife’s great blog 🙂

B is for blogdex.net – The best blog diffusion index out there.

C is for chanadbahrain.blogspot.com – A great Bahraini blogger.

D is for del.icio.us/subzeroblue – My del.icio.us page.

E is for edition.cnn.com – CNN International edition for news and stuff.

F is for flickr.com – The amazing flickr.

G is for google.com – Duh!

H is for hamoudy.com – A Lebanese blogger in the US.

I is for imdb.com – The greatest source of information on movies.

J is for jordanplanet.net – The Jordanian blogger aggregator.

K is for kuwaitblogs.com/users/nibaq – A great Kuwaiti blogger.

L is for lafayettestory.blogspot.com – Newest Tunisian blogger.

M is for mail.yahoo.com – To check my Yahoo mail every once in a while.

N is for news.google.com – Google again, this time for news…

O is for omars2cents.blogspot.com – Syrian blogger in Canada.

P is for ping.net – Service to add a fan faceroll to your blog.

Q is for quirksmode.org/blog/archives/2005/03/ajax_promise_or.html – Article: Ajax, promise or hype?

R is for rundom.com/houssein – A great Tunisian blogger in Canada.

S is for subzeroblue.com – My blog, of course 🙂

T is for technorati.com/cosmos/search.html?rank=&url=subzeroblue.com – My Technorati

U is for upcoming.org – Cool social event calendar.

V is for veer.com/ideas/wallpaper/ – Some really cool wallpapers.

W is for whispers.hautetfort.com – A Tunisian blogger.

X is for xanga.com/skin.asp?user=Sociopath – A friend blogger from the US.

Y is for yahoo.com – They’re becoming cool again.

Z is for zizoufromdjerba.blogspot.com – Another new Tunisian blogger.

links for 2005-04-28