Author: Mohamed Marwen Meddah

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

The Mafia’s Ten Commandments

Italian police have found what they say is a “Ten Commandments”-style code of behaviour for Mafia members, at the hideout of a captured Mafia boss.

The list of commandments goes as follows:

1. No one can present himself directly to another of our friends. There must be a third person to do it.
2. Never look at the wives of friends.
3. Never be seen with cops.
4. Don’t go to pubs and clubs.
5. Always being available for Cosa Nostra is a duty – even if your wife’s about to give birth.
6. Appointments must absolutely be respected.
7. Wives must be treated with respect.
8. When asked for any information, the answer must be the truth.
9. Money cannot be appropriated if it belongs to others or to other families.
10. People who can’t be part of Cosa Nostra: anyone who has a close relative in the police, anyone with a two-timing relative in the family, anyone who behaves badly and doesn’t hold to moral values.

The list was found during the arrest of Salvatore Lo Piccolo, the reputed new boss of the Sicilian Mafia.

Interesting stuff… Next: Chicken soup for the mafioso soul…

[Source: BBC News]

The Simple Life

The simple life…

“The best things in life are nearest: Breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of right just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life’s plain, common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life.”

~ Robert Louis Stevenson

So many people dream of a simple life, or at least that’s what they say. In fact I haven’t met a person yet who doesn’t seem to have this sense of nostalgia for the good old days when life was simple and beautiful, even if they never actually witnessed those days.

But in most people’s cases it’s just talk… They finish the passionate discussion and then they go back to their ever-so-complicated lives, doing their inexplicable detailed jobs, piling up ever more gadgets that are supposed to simplify their lives by complicating them even more, building more stress upon stress from their fast paced lives.

If we just think about it a little bit, we’d see that if a person really wanted to, a switch to a really simple life would be pretty easy. Moving to some place out of the city, and nearer to the country-side, brings a lot of advantages with it: cheaper property prices/rent, cleaner air, calmer environs, beautiful relaxing scenery…etc. And it’s pretty easy to find a good place and move there.
Now for work, it depends what a person is more inclined to do, and what they enjoy the most, it could be fishing, farming, carpentry, or any other activity; they could open up a small shop/atelier for their work in their garage or rent a small place in the town center.
I could go on with more details, but my point is that it’s possible and easy to make such a move if a person really wanted to.

But why don’t we see much people making such moves?
Is it that all the talk about how they would love a simple life and how life was much more beautiful in the old days is nothing but just that: talk?
Or is it that they’ve gotten too used to their hectic everyday lifestyles they don’t think they’ll be able to live a simpler life away from all the rotating bits and pieces around them?
Is it that they feel like the simple life is too hard for them and that they wouldn’t be able to make a living leading a simple life and going back to the basics?
Is it that they have higher standards of living in mind now that living in the country-side wouldn’t give them?

I think it’s a combination of all the above and more, with the complex paradoxal human psyche playing a role in it, having contradictory inclinations towards both sides of the spectrum: the simple basic life and the hectic complicated counterpart; wanting one without having to give up on the other.

I too am guilty of the same contradiction; I believe that simple is beautiful, and that it’s the simpler, more basic things in life that really count and make a life worth living, but I’m still too involved with life in the city and all that revolves around it to disengage and move away. Eventually, one day, I hope I will get to take such a step, but I like to believe that for the time being I still have some personally set objectives to realize in the hectic sphere we live in, and that once I’m done with them, I’ll be free to disappear into a calm relaxed life away from all the hustle and bustle of the city.

Tunisia’s Le Belvedere Zoo

Last week, we found ourselves with some free time on our hands and so we thought we’d go ahead and take Adam to the zoo in downtown Tunis, the one in the Le Belvedere area. He seems to like animals, so we thought it’d be really good fun.

The last time I personally visited the zoo prior to last week was about 5 years ago, and it was already heart-breaking then; the images I carried on from my dear childhood memories and the magic of the place were almost all gone.

BearsBut last week was even more painful: so many cages and animal areas were empty, mostly the ones I loved most; the animals that were left looked tired, underfed and depressed; the whole place just seemed like it was stripped of the life, beauty and magic it once had; there were still children there with their families, but not as happy as we used to be, and not as many either; the place had become yet another cheap place for couples to go on their dates; in short, our national zoo is in a sorry state.

Personally, I think it’s a shame that such a historical establishment is doing so bad nowadays, not getting the proper care and funding.
I’ve already written before about the Fish Aquarium in Carthage and how it’s not doing any better.

Entrance fee is around 1/2 Dinar for adults and 300 millimes for kids. You also have to pay another 300 millimes if you want to use a camera.

These low prices show that the zoo is clearly subsidized by the government, because it wouldn’t be able to operate on such low entrance fees. It’s great of the government to take onto its shoulders such institutions, but it’s also obvious and normal that its priorities are elsewhere, and that maybe other ways should be explored to fund such cultural establishments, to keep them going and growing.

Personally, I think a diversified approach should be taken: increasing the entrance fees a bit to help really cover part of the costs; seeking sponsorships, grants, patronage or whatever other form of financial backing by wealthy culture-oriented organizations or funds; building the zoo up as an unforgettable experience and a lasting brand and maybe getting into merchandising…etc.
These are just some ideas off the top of my head, but it’s all to try and say that every possible option should be explored to save the zoo and other important cultural establishments like it that are facing similar problems.

I truly dream of a day when our Zoo is one of the greatest in the region, that future generations of Tunisians and even tourists will cherish as a dear experience and memory they’ll want to relive time and again.

How To Provoke Thought

I was just chatting with a friend of mine on Gtalk, when they asked me to write another one of my posts that make a person think.

So me being in the mood, that got me thinking, what is it that makes people think? In other words, how do you provoke thought?

I mean, for me and for a lot of other people, when you write something, you post a photograph you’ve taken, you quote somebody, …etc; your absolute goal is mostly to get people to think about a certain something, and maybe even eventually get to a certain destination you had in mind.
Sometimes you help guide them into the thought you’re trying to pass on and that you want them to carry on with, and sometimes you leave it open for them to interpret and think as they wish.

But generally speaking, what is it that triggers that thinking process for the person that is consuming what you’ve just published?
In short, are there any universally applicable guidelines to provoke thought?

Here are some of my thoughts and ideas on ways thought can be provoked:

– Get to know the crowd you’re talking to and pick a topic they’re already pretty interested in.
– Present the issue in a way that exposes all the important and necessary points but still leaves a number of open questions for the people to ponder on.
– Cast doubt on a subject that most people already take for granted, making them go back and reconsider what they thought they already knew.
– Show how important the point is and how they’re directly touched and involved in it.
– Don’t make it feel like you’re just handing out hard information, but rather like initial pointers for a discussion.
– One of the easier ways is to somehow get into a debate that touches upon existentialism.
– One of the harder ways is to come up with a different point of view on a subject that’s rarely discussed and expose it for people to ponder.
– Ask questions. There’s nothing easier to make someone think than actually asking them to.

I’m sure there are many other ways and approaches that I haven’t mentionned here. Please do feel free to share your thoughts and ideas, what you think about all this, and what makes you think.

Mezed, A Tunisian Auction Site

MezedMezed is a new Tunisian auction site that recently surfaced into the arena of online startups in Tunisia.

A number of Tunisian startups/websites have already been launched to try and push through the idea of online auctions in Tunisia, get it popular, and attempt to make some money out of it. Examples off the top of my head are sites like: MoncefBay and EchriBay.
A lot of these services hang on for a while before fading away into Tunisian internet history now. The auction model just hasn’t taken off and worked up to now, for one reason or another.

Websites that approach the whole buying/selling thing through small classified ads seem to be doing a little better maybe, but nothing we can be proud of and call e-commerce yet, I guess.

Anyway, back to Mezed, the website takes on a new and different approach to the whole auctions system, re-inventing the wheel, and generating a lot of buzz along the way.

Mezed’s system revolves solely around buyers; people can’t sell their stuff on the website, they can only buy stuff that Mezed is selling, products it gets at cheap prices from its partners.

Continue reading Mezed, A Tunisian Auction Site

Tunisian Island Of Djerba: Top Holiday Destination In 2008

Some interesting news about Tunisian Tourism…

An annual survey conducted by the travel website “TripAdvisor” on more than 2500 travellers from around the world, found that the island of Djerba is set to be the top holiday destination in the world in 2008.

Djerba is followed by Makadi Bay, Egypt; Phangnga, Thailand; Kovalam, India; and Sabaudia, Italy.

The survey also shows that beach trips are still a hit with travellers, with 64% of the people saying that they would prefer to relax by the sea than do anything else on holiday.

The Island of Djerba , off the Tunisian coast and some 500 kilometers away from the capital, is already one of the Mediterranean’s favourite tourist locations, thanks to its pristine beaches and rich culture.

[Source: All Africa]

Well, that’s good to hear, Djerba is a beautiful place that I personally love to visit whenever I get the chance to.

And all I can say is “Welcome” to everyone who chooses to visit Djerba, the island of dreams, I hope you al have a wonderful time.

Mukesh Ambani Becomes World

Mukesh AmbaniIndian billionaire industrialist Mukesh Ambani, 50, became the world’s richest man yesterday, overtaking Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim Helu, as the value of his stake in refinery-to-textiles giant Reliance Industries and two other group companies swelled, a direct result of the strong performance witnessed in the Indian stock markets recently.

Only last month, he overtook steel czar Lakshmi Mittal to become the richest Indian in the world.

The list of the five richest people in the world and their net worths is as follows now:

1. Mukesh Ambani ($63.2 billion)
2. Carlos Slim Helu ($62.2993 billion)
3. Bill Gates ($62.29 billion)
4. Warren Buffett ($55.9 billion)
5. Lakshmi Mittal ($50.9 billion)

How long he’ll be able to hold onto the title of ‘Richest man in the world’ is another matter that remains to be seen. Poor Carlos Slim didn’t hold on to it for too long.