Author: Mohamed Marwen Meddah

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

Life On Mars?!

Could be…

A pair of NASA scientists told a group of space officials at a private meeting here Sunday that they have found strong evidence that life may exist today on Mars, hidden away in caves and sustained by pockets of water.

What was found, according to several attendees of the private meeting, is not direct proof of life on Mars, but methane signatures and other signs of possible biological activity remarkably similar to those recently discovered in caves here on Earth.

[Source: Space.com]

My thoughts on this issue have always been mixed although most of the times I’m more inclined to believe that there must be life on other planets than earth.

I mean, come on, with all the planets, solar systems, galaxies and never-ending space, how can it be that life only exists on this little planet earth.

What do you think?

George Michael Quits Pop Music

Unfortunately…

George Michael says he is saying farewell to the world of pop music, using a candid documentary about his life to put the record straight before he “disappeared.”

He also declared the genre that brought him fame and riches, as well as unwanted media attention, was dead.

“George Michael: A Different Story” traces a rags-to-riches journey that made Michael one of the biggest selling artists of the 1980s and 1990s but which was not without tragedy along the way.

“I just thought it was very important to explain myself before I disappear,” the 41-year-old said. “I truly believe that there’s a life for me that is not this one.”

[Source: CNN]

It’s a shame that George Michael will be quitting pop music. His songs and albums were always something great to look out for.

He’s given so much to the music world over the years, and has been one of the few who have managed to keep rolling out amazing hits.

Although I never classified myself as a George Michael fan, I just love his music.
I hope he changes his mind and comes back with another one of his great albums.

Kyoto Accord Takes Effect

After years of delays, the Kyoto global warming pact is now in effect, requiring dozens of industrial nations to reduce emissions of “greenhouse” gases believed linked to climate change.

The agreement, negotiated in the Japanese city of Kyoto in 1997 and ratified by 140 nations, calls on 35 industrialized countries to rein in the release of carbon dioxide and five other gases from the burning of oil and coal and other processes.

Its impact, however, will be limited by the absence of the United States, the world’s leader in greenhouse gas emissions. Australia has also rejected the plan.

Of course the US government wants out of this accord.
How else would they burn all the oil they’ll be getting out of Iraq?!

[Source: CNN]
[Via: AquaCool]

Cory Doctorow’s “I, Robot”

Cory Doctorow has a new short story called “I, Robot”. Why? Here’s what he says:

Last spring, in the wake of Ray Bradbury pitching a tantrum over Michael Moore appropriating the title of Fahrenheit 451 to make Fahrenheit 9/11, I conceived of a plan to write a series of stories with the same titles as famous sf shorts, which would pick apart the totalitarian assumptions underpinning some of sf’s classic narratives.

Today, Infinite Matrix magazine published the latest of these, a story called “I, Robot”, which describes the police state that would have to obtain if you were going to have a world where there was only one kind of robot allowed and only one company was allowed to make it.

I think this should be very interesting.
I really liked Cory’s last novel “Eastern Standard Tribe”, and will sure be reading this short story.

[Via: Boing Boing]

The Forgotten

Last night we watched “The Forgotten” featuring Julianne Moore and Anthony Edwards.

It’s a suspense mystery thriller about a man and a woman who are told that their children never existed and that they made up memories of them, only to discover that there’s a much bigger enemy at work.

The movie was very promising at the beginning. It started powerfully and kept getting better and better until halfway through the movie, but then it degraded and dissapointed me.
Why? Because it turned sci-fi.
Now, I love sci-fi movies, but I believe this movie would have been much better if it steered clear of it.
I kept wishing for a twist that would bring the movie back to the great track it started on, but that didn’t come.

So in my mind, I’ve built my own alternate ending so that I can love the movie.

I still think the movie is pretty good though, and the acting was very nice.
I do recommend seeing it if there’s nothing better to watch, especially the first half.

My score for it is: 7.5/10.

Train Ride

A little joke…

A man and a woman, who have never met before, find themselves assigned to the same sleeping room on a transcontinental train.

Though initially embarrassed and uneasy over sharing a room, the two are tired and fall asleep quickly…he in the upper bunk and she in the lower.

At 1:00 a.m., he leans over and gently wakes the woman saying “Madam I’m sorry to bother you, but would you be willing to reach into the closet to get me a second blanket? I’m awfully cold.”

“I have a better idea,” she replies. “Just for tonight, let’s pretend that we’re married. “Wow!, That’s a great idea!!” he exclaims.

“Good,” she replies. “Get your own darn blanket!”

After a moment of silence, he farted…

loooool…

Woman Finds Penis In Ketchup Bottle

Now this is extra disgusting and disturbing…

A Swedish woman said on Sunday that she had found a penis in a bottle of ketchup.

Viktoria Ed said she was lucky enough to discover the organ before putting the sauce on her bread rolls, unlike her husband Stefan and their children, Madeleine and Simon.

The Godegaarden brand ketchup was made in Turkey and distributed in Sweden by the company Axfood.

[Source: IOL]

I can’t believe this, It’s so so disgusting!
Thank God I don’t really like ketchup in the first place.

This ketchup company should be shutdown for good and they should be sued for every penny.

And hey, sorry if you just had lunch or dinner like I did. I know how you feel.

[Via: Khalil’s Musings]

HIV Aids vs. Cancer

Sometimes two wrongs can make a right…

US scientists hope to be able to use a harmless form of the Aids virus to seek and destroy cancer cells.

In the laboratory, the scientists took HIV and removed the parts of the virus that causes disease.

They then stripped off the virus’ outer coat and redressed it with the outer suit of another virus. By doing this, the researchers had changed the target of the virus.
HIV normally infects immune cells called T cells. The new outer coat instead directed HIV to hunt down molecules present on cancer cells, called P-glycoproteins.

The next step would be to insert a gene into the virus that would kill the cancer upon contact.

[Source: BBC News]

I always believed there was a lot of medical promise in genetics, and hopefully great scientists like these will use it to come up with ways to cure these haunting diseases and illnesses without turning people into mutants.

The Future of Al-Jazeera

Al-Jazeera, the Arab news TV channel that emerged back in 1996 as the only bastion of free press in an authoritarian Middle East, is now approaching an important crossroads in it’s life.

Al-Jazeera has been a government owned and funded station ever since it’s creation. Qatar spends roughly $100 million a year in funds for the TV station, and even though it generates other revenue from advertisements, sponsorships, program sales and subscriptions in Europe and North America, it still remains a losing enterprise.

So lately, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani (Emir of Qatar), ordered the government to produce a privatization plan for the channel, which has pushed many people to wonder about who will buy it, and what the station will look like in the future.

The main concern is that whoever takes over control of the channel could change the editorial policy and bring to an end the freedom of press that is enjoyed in it’s newsroom today.

I think this is very important and critical. Al-Jazeera launched a revolution in the Arab media market, uncovering the facts and telling the news from all sides of the story, breaking out of the mold of state controlled media in the Arab world.
It was an eye opener for a lot of people and for it to be stripped of it’s freedom is such a great loss.

Al-Jazeera has plans to launch an English language news channel this year, which I think is a great and very necessary project to show the world a side of the news that they don’t usually see.

I truly hope that the future is a very bright one for the channel and that it goes from success to even greater success.