Author: Mohamed Marwen Meddah

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

Will Life Be Worth Living In 2000 AD?!

July 22, 1961, Weekend Magazine

What sort of life will you be living 39 years from now? Scientists have looked into the future and they can tell you.

You will be whisked around in monorail vehicles at 200 miles an hour and you will think nothing of taking a fortnight’s holiday in outer space. (I wish!).

At work, Dad will operate on a 24 hour week. The office will be air-conditioned with stimulating scents and extra oxygen – to give a physical and psychological lift. (Yeah Right!).

In commercial transportation, there will be travel at 1000 m.p.h. at a penny a mile. Hypersonic passenger planes, using solid fuels, will reach any part of the world in an hour. (Oh Yeah!).

Read More: Will Life Be Worth Living In 2000 AD?.

Muslims In The West

Tariq Ramadan has written a great new article on the role of Muslims in the west in the evolution of Islam worldwide and in the new reform movement that is being born.

“The reform movement that is in the process of being born has as its first requirement knowledge of the comprehensive message of Islam, its universal principles, and the tools available to help human beings to adapt themselves to their society as well as to change the world.”

[…]

“Western Muslims will play a decisive role in the evolution of Islam worldwide because of the nature and complexity of the challenges they face, and in this their responsibility is doubly essential. By reflecting on their faith, their principles, and their identity within industrialized, secularized societies, they participate in the reflection the Muslim world must undertake on its relationship with the modern world, its order, and its disorder.”

I totally agree that the Muslims living in the west have a very big responsibility to take a more active and positive role in the dialogue between civilizations and in the evolution of Islam.

These muslims should stop identifying themselves as

Iraq Was Free of WMDs

The White House has confirmed that the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has been given up by the United States.

Contradicting the main argument for a war that has cost the lives of more than 15,000 Iraqis and over 1000 US soldiers, the US’ top weapons inspector has declared that Iraq was free of WMDs before last year’s invasion.

So there you go, as everyone already knew, over 16,000 lost lives for nothing!
Oh of course, we’ll be hearing all that talk about the removal of Saddam Hussein from power being for the good of the whole world, but try telling that to the families of the people who died in this war!
Was the removal of one man worth all those lost lives?
Is Iraq any better now than when Saddam was in power?
Is the world any safer now than before the war?
I honestly don’t think so!

[News Source: Al Jazeera]

PeerCast, P2P broadcasting for everyone

I just found PeerCast, a P2P (Peer to peer) program that enables anyone to become an online audio and video broadcaster without the costs of traditional streaming.

So basically anyone can download this, throw it on their server and start their own online radio or tv station, creating more options for people than is normally found on commercially funded sites.

It’s open source, has a low memory footprint and CPU load.
It streams a number of formats (MP3, OGG Theora/Vorbis, WMA, WMV, NSV) and supports all popular media players (WinAmp, XMMS etc…).

I think this is a great and really interesting tool that makes setting up projects like this cheaper and more accessible.
I hope we see some Arab online radio and tv stations popping up here and there in the near future.

I’ll try playing around with it a bit when I find time to, but I don’t think I’ll be starting a station of my own anytime soon.

Our Advice & Us

It’s amazing how easy it is to give people the right advice, and how hard it is to follow that advice yourself.

How many times do you find yourself giving people advice you wish in the bottom of your heart that you could follow but just don’t have enough courage to.

If we believe so much in the advice that we give and are so certain that it is the road to ultimate happiness, how come we can’t force ourselves to go down that road too?!

Continue reading Our Advice & Us

Quote Of The Week

“One day when the peace treaty is achieved, and the Palestinian ambassador presents his credentials to the president of Israel in the Western section of Jerusalem, while the Israeli ambassador presents his to the Palestinian president in East Jerusalem, we shall all have to laugh at the stupidities of our past.

Even as we laugh, we shall have to answer for the spilling of so much innocent blood. But the mothers and fathers of the dead will not be laughing.”

— Amos Oz, Two Stubborn Men, and Many Dead; NY Times, 12th March 2002.

[Via: Lawrence Of Cyberia]

Success

“Real success is finding your lifework in the work that you love.”
— David McCullough

and…

“If your success is not on your own terms, if it looks good to the world but does not feel good in your heart, it is not success at all.”
— Anna Quindlen

but keep in mind…

“I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.”
— Bill Cosby

TN Blogs

Houssein has gone on and started a directory for Tunisian blogs at TN Blogs.

I think it’s a great idea and a great way to group and promote Tunisian blogs.

An aggregator for Tunisian blogs could be in the works too. That’d be really cool.

Thank you Houssein, great work 🙂

Microsoft AntiSpyware & AntiVirus

Microsoft is now offering a new and free anti spyware tool to help protect PCs from spyware and other potentially unwanted software that secretly monitors the activities of Internet users and can cause sluggish computer performance or popup ads.

Another free piece of software Microsoft will start offering soon is a new security program, that will protect PCs from viruses and worms. Updated versions of this program will be offered automatically and free each month from the Microsoft website.

The weird thing though is that Microsoft says that the virus-removal program will not prevent computer infections and was never intended to replace the need for traditional antivirus software.
So if I’m getting it right, this software doesn’t prevent viruses from wrecking havoc on your computers, it just helps you remove them after the damage is done.

Microsoft will also be launching a full anti virus software later on, that should compete against flagship products from McAfee, Symantec and others.
That one should be able to try and prevent viruses, I guess.

Anyway, if you’re interested, pass by the Microsoft Website and download these new free tools.