Author: Mohamed Marwen Meddah

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

Muslim Girl Wins School Dress Case

This is good news…

A 16-year-old British Muslim girl has won the right to wear full Islamic dress at school.

Britain’s Court of Appeal ruled Wednesday that Shabina Begum had been “unlawfully denied … the right to manifest her religion.”

Begum was sent home from Denbigh High School in Luton, north of London, in September 2002 for wearing a jilbab, which covers the body except for the hands and face.

The school said the jilbab posed a health and safety risk and might cause divisions among pupils.

[Source: CNN]

I think everyone should be free to wear whatever they want to wear as long as it’s respectful.

Different people from the same society have different religions and faiths, and there should always be mutual respect for their different beliefs and ways of life.
If a person’s religion tells them to follow a certain dress code or food code, then it’s their business only and no one has the right to interfere.

First 10 Windows Programs on New Install

What are your first 10 installed programs on a new Windows computer?

Well, with a format planned for my laptop soon, here are the 10 programs that would make it on to it first.

Of course other stuff like Dreamweaver, MS Office, DivX, Adobe Reader…etc follow after that.

Mel Gibson Buys Fiji Island

I wish I could do something like this…

Hollywood star and director Mel Gibson has purchased a Pacific island hideaway in northern Fiji.

The director of “The Passion of the Christ” and star of the “Mad Max” films purchased the 5,411-acre (2,164-hectare) Mago Island from Japan’s Tokyu Corp. for about US$15 million (euro11 million).

The Fiji government’s Cabinet approved the sale last month, principal lands officer Laisa Raratabu said Wednesday.

[Source: CNN]

WOW…
Anyways, if I had the kind of money he had, I would have bought an island a long time ago. The guy is filthy rich!

This reminds me of this show I saw on TV last week about this Australian guy who bought this beautiful island for only $10,000 and turned it into this high society tourist getaway destination.
He’s making tons of money out of it and it only cost him peanuts to start with.
Now that’s a very cool investment.

It also reminds me of this rumour that circulated in Tunisia after Michael Jackson came for a concert back in 1996. The rumour was that Michael wanted to buy the Tunisian island of Djerba.
Turned out to be a load of bull (as usual).

Syria Hands Over Saddam Half-Brother

Iraqi officials said Sunday that Syria captured and handed over Saddam Hussein’s half brother…

” Ok great!! yay!!!! So we’ve captured Saddam, his half-brother, killed his 2 sons and his grandson, and we’re hot on the trail of Al-Zarqawi. *applause and whistles here* And we did it all in 2 years!!!! Now, can someone please explain to me how in the name of all that is holy, how we still, after 4 freaking years, have no idea where in the hell Bin-Laden (you know the guy that flew planes into the twin towers) is???? Oh that’s right. I almost forgot that we aren’t really looking for him, since he has no oil.”

— Pourquoi Pas?

[Via: Je Blog]

Lebanese Government Resigns

After demonstrators defied a government ban and poured into Beirut’s city center to protest against Syria’s military presence in Lebanon…

The Lebanese government abruptly resigned Monday during a stormy parliamentary debate, prompting a tremendous roar from tens of thousands of anti-government protesters in central Beirut.

The demonstrators, awash in a sea of red, white and green Lebanese flags, had demanded the pro-Syrian government’s resignation — and the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon — since this month’s assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

The country’s pro-Syrian president, Emile Lahoud, now must pick a prime minister to form a new government until scheduled elections in May.

In his speech, Karami said he would have won a no-confidence vote scheduled for later in the day, but was resigning to avoid making his government a stumbling block to peace.
[Source: CNN]

I totally respect the people speaking out for what they want and putting the necessary pressure to get it.
I just hope things don’t get out of control and turn sour.
Some people are afraid of all this leading to another civil war. I hope they’re wrong and that it never happens.

Ariel Sharon Invited to Tunisia

So Ariel Sharon was invited to Tunisia for the WSIS 2005 (World Summit on the Information Society) and apparently he accepted the invitation.

This was met with mixed reactions by Tunisians and Arabs alike. Some people are totally against it and feel that it is wrong to host the man behind the Sabra and Chatila massacres and all the Palestinian bloodshed.
Others think that it’s a very normal thing and that it shouldn’t be taken out of context as the WSIS is a world summit and many leaders from all over the world will be attending.

Some people try to look a bit deeper and think it’s a step closer to normalization of ties between Tunisia and Israel, after the mood was set with the Sharm El Sheikh summit and the Egyptian and Jordanian ambassadors returning to Tel Aviv.

Of course Ariel Sharon is a horrible man and he was behind a lot of Palestinian bloodshed, but when he comes to Tunisia in November he comes as a leader of a country that is recognized by the UN in a summit that is organized by the UN.

And I think that’s how the Tunisian government looked at it when the decision to invite Sharon was made.

More on the subject: AquaCool, Je Blog, Hou-Hou (FR).

Oscars 2005, 77th Academy Awards Winners

So the Oscars are over and the winners in the main categories are:

– Actor in a leading role: Jamie Foxx (Ray)
– Actor in a supporting role: Morgan Freeman (Million Dollar Baby)
– Actress in a leading role: Hilary Swank (Million Dollar Baby)
– Actress in a supporting role: Cate Blanchett (The Aviator)
– Animated feature film: The Incredibles (Brad Bird)
– Best Picture: Million Dollar Baby (Clint Eastwood, Albert S. Ruddy and Tom Rosenberg)
– Directing: Million Dollar Baby (Clint Eastwood)
– Music: Finding Neverland (Jan A.P. Kaczmarek)
– Visual Effects: Spider-man 2 (John Dykstra, Scott Stokdyk, Anthony LaMolinara and John Frazier)

And for the rest check out the Oscar Winner List.

I’m very happy Jamie Foxx got the Oscar for best actor, he truly deserves it. He was awesome as Ray Charles. Nobody could have deserved that award more than he did.

I must see Million Dollar Baby, it seems like one great movie.
Congrats to Clint Eastwood for taking the best director Oscar. Tough luck for Scorcese. (I can’t believe Martin Scorcese has never won an Oscar up to now.)

Ray

Today we watched “Ray”, the movie about the extraordinary life of Ray Charles.

This is one great movie. Jamie Foxx did an amazing job as Ray Charles. He truly deserves an Oscar for this role. He wasn’t acting, he simply became Ray Charles. Awesome acting.

I’ve always been a fan of Ray Charles and seeing this movie gave me insight into his life, music and genius. I truly enjoyed every moment of it.

The soundtrack was beautiful too, full of great Ray Charles songs. I’ll sure be getting it and enjoying it time and again.

This movie is a must see. It will satisfy both the music and cinema fan in you all.

My score for it would be: 10/10.
One of the very best movies of the year 2004.

The Gardens Of Light

I just finished reading “The Gardens Of Light” by Amin Maalouf.

The book tells the story of Mani – the painter, mystic, physician and prophet – exploring his life and journey.

It’s a very interesting book that takes the reader back to those times when the great Roman and Persian empires were in their battle to control the Middle East, and followers of different religions were fighting against each other for ascendancy.
It lets you live the journey of Mani while he preached his doctrine of humility, tolerance and love.

I really liked the way the story was told and how you really start feeling and understanding the characters.
I wish there were a bit more details about Mani’s teachings, as the book only hinted at some of the ideas.

Anyway, it was very interesting to me reading about Mani, learning about his life, beliefs and religion.
I thought his message of tolerance and love between all people, no matter what their religion is, no matter their caste and race is a very powerful and important one that we really need nowadays.

Egypt Election Reform

Good news from Egypt…

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak ordered the constitution changed to allow multi-candidate presidential elections in September, making a surprise reversal Saturday that could mean he will face a challenger for the first time since taking power in 1981.

It was the first significant move toward political reform in decades in Egypt, a powerhouse in the Arab world that has had one-party rule for more than half a century.

The announcement came amid increasing calls for political reform from the domestic opposition and from the United States and after historic Iraqi and Palestinian elections that brought a taste of democracy to the region.

[Source: CNN]

I think this is really good news for all Egyptians.

In a matter of fact, just earlier today we were talking about the Kifaya demonstrations in Egypt, how currently the elections are only a referendum in which Egyptians vote yes or no for their president and how there should be change.

Hopefully this change, allowing more than one candidate to run for presidency, will be a good step towards more choice and more democracy in Egypt.