Open Your Eyes…

“War prisoners apart, the average citizen of Oceania never sets eyes on a citizen of either Eurasia or Eastasia, and he is forbidden the knowledge of foreign languages. If he were allowed contact with foreigners he would discover that they are creatures similar to himself and that most of what he has been told about them is lies. The sealed world in which he lives would be broken, and the fear, hatred, and self-righteousness on which his morale depends might evaporate. It is therefore realized on all sides that however often Persia, or Egypt, or Java, or Ceylon may change hands, the main frontiers must never be crossed by anything except bombs.”

— George Orwell, 1984.

Don’t Do It, Mr. President, Don’t Bomb Iran!

Before the U.S. House of Representatives on February 6, 2007; Ron Paul, a Republican member of Congress from Texas, had these words for the President of the United States of America regarding the possibility of striking Iran:

It’s a bad idea.
There’s no need for it.
There’s great danger in doing it.
America is against it, and Congress should be.
The United Nations is against it.
The Russians, the Chinese, the Indians, and the Pakistanis are against it.
The whole world is against it.
Our allies are against it.
Our enemies are against it.
The Arabs are against it.
The Europeans are against it.
The Muslims are against it.
We don’t need to do this.
The threat is overblown.
The plan is an hysterical reaction to a problem that does not yet exist.
Hysteria is never a good basis for foreign policy.
Don’t we ever learn?
Have we already forgotten Iraq?
The plan defies common sense.
If it’s carried out, the Middle East, and possibly the world, will explode.
Oil will soar to over $100 a barrel, and gasoline will be over $5 a gallon.
Despite what some think, it won’t serve the interests of Israel.
Besides

Back In Tunis

Home Sweet Home…

I got back Sunday evening; my plane landed at 9PM but I only got out of the airport slightly before 11PM, that’s because the lazy guys at the airport chose to put the luggage from 3 planes onto one conveyor belt, even though all the rest of the belts were empty.

My flight back was on Tunisair too, and it was quite a pleasant one, the leg space was pretty comfortable, the food was quite good, the service was ok (they should learn to smile more); anyway, in the end, Tunisair beats Air France hands down on this route. I’ll be doing my best to only travel on Tunisair whenever I have to go to France.

I’m back with my dear wife and son, whom I missed so much. Adam’s doing better, he’s coughing less now; It’s amazing how much I feel he grew up after just one week away from him, and it sucks that I wasn’t there to see it happen.

I didn’t get to do much in Paris this time around, I had a lot of work to do, and in the evenings I was mostly too tired to really do much but take a few walks, eat and maybe catch a movie.
I did get to meet Mochekes who works in Paris now, and we had a nice dinner at Pizza Pino on the Champs

Apocalypto

On monday night, a friend of mine and I went to see Mel Gibson’s latest movie, as a director/producer, Apocalypto.

The story is set in the Mayan era; A small village in the jungle is attacked and brutally overrun, its residents slaughtered and abducted by a ruling tribe that needs a bunch of slaves and human sacrifices. We follow the steps of the warrior Jaguar Paw as he tries to get away to go back and save his pregnant wife and son.

Most of the film is set in the dense jungle, with the middle of the movie being in a grand Mayan city. The dialogue is in a Mayan dialect, with subtitles of course.

The movie is very well made and feels like it captured the era it’s set in perfectly; the design of the sets and costumes is dazzling, the acting is great, the character development very successful, the action really good; in short, this is one great movie overall.

Still this movie might not be for the faint of heart, it’s quite violent, there’s a lot of blood involved, a lot of dead bodies lying around, along with decapitation, impalement, disembowelment, snakebite, and what not. Personally, I thought it all played well into the story, and didn’t find anything to be just violence for the sake of violence.

Anyway, I truly recommend seeing this movie to everyone, even the faint of heart (just take a barf bag with you), it’s really worth every second of the 139 minutes. I applaud Mel Gibson for what is one of the best movies of the year.

ReBonjour Paris

As the title of this entry suggests, I’m back in Paris again. Just like last year, I’m here for work, so most of my time will be at the office or in meetings with clients.

I got here yesterday evening at the Orly airport; Orly not Charles de Gaulle because this time I chose to fly Tunisair instead of Air France, and I thank God that I did, the seating was a bit more comfortable, the food was so much better, I got here on time and I didn’t have that back-ache I always get when flying Air France.

I’ll be here for only one week this time, and even that feels like a really really long time for me be away from my wife and son, especially that Adam is sick, plus I just got back from my trip to Manchester a few days ago.
I can’t wait to get home again.

I’ll be trying to meet up with a number of friends who live and work here now; I’m quite sure I’ll end up going to a movie or two in the evenings; I don’t think I’ll have much time for shopping, just something quick maybe to pick up some gifts or souvenirs.

I’ll be taking it easy with the fast food this time around as I’m trying to eat healthier; last night’s dinner at McDonald’s should be enough unhealthiness for this trip.

I might be looking for a good and affordable DSLR camera, like a Nikon d50 or d70, so if anyone knows where I can look in Paris to find a good deal, please do let me know.

And finally, as usual, I’ll be taking some photos of Paris here and there to share later.

Stay tuned for more from the city of lights, where almost everything shuts down at 8pm. Still the lights stay on.

Al Gore Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

Former US Vice President Al Gore, who should have become President in 2000 instead of the miserable failure that is Bush, was nominated for the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for his wide-reaching efforts to draw the world’s attention to the dangers of global warming, a Norwegian lawmaker announced yesterday.

During his eight years as Bill Clinton’s vice president, Al Gore pushed for climate measures, including for the Kyoto Treaty, that Bush flushed down the drain. Since leaving office in 2001 has campaigned worldwide on climate issues, including with his documentary on climate change called “An Inconvenient Truth,” which is nominated for an Oscar this year.

We’ll know if he wins the Nobel Peace Prize in mid-October, when the results are traditionally announced. The prize is then presented on December 10th.

Personally, I wanted Al Gore to win the US presidency back in 2000, wished he would’ve run again and won it in 2004, and would’ve hoped for him to consider running in 2008, but everything points towards the fact that he won’t.
I honestly think the world would be a slightly better and safer place if he was president of the US.

The Lord Of The Rings Online – Shadows Of Angmar

The Lord Of The Rings Online - Shadows Of AngmarA new interesting game is out, aiming to eat away at World of Warcraft’s domination of the MMORPG market, and it goes by the name: The Lord Of The Rings Online – Shadows Of Angmar.
I guess the name says it all; it’s simply a multi-player game, read online middle-earth, based on the amazing trilogy of J.R.R. Tolkien.

You get to create a unique character that can be either a Man, Elf, Dwarf or Hobbit; you choose what class you want it to be from (Champion, Guardian, Burglar, Captain, Hunter, Minstrel, or Lore-master), and where it hails from, his/her skin, hair, eye color, and more; and you equip yourself with all the items you need like sturdy Dwarven armor, intricate Elven mail, or weapons created with the knowledge of past Ages.

Then you can join with the Fellowship to fight against the forces of Sauron, confront the forces of the Nazg

Numbers On Tunisian Youth

For about three years, the Ministry of Youth and Sports has been conducting a survey of around 10,000 young people ranging in age from 15 to 25. The survey encompasses five areas of focus: youth and participation; youth, identity and the values scale; youth and development; youth and the information society; and youth and the Tunisia of tomorrow.

Some of the numbers that came out of this study are very interesting:

– More than 72% of respondents said they refuse to engage in politics or join political and social parties.

– Only 16% said they belong to NGOs.

– Only 9% follow domestic media regularly, while 22% do not follow it at all.

– 92% of Tunisian young people reject religious extremism, and they regard the religion they identify with to be “the Islam of moderation and the middle way”.

– 59% were optimistic about the future.

– 69% refuse to work within the short-term contract system.

– More than 71% of respondents view their physical health as good, but 81% say they find it hard to practice sports due to limited time and insufficient areas designated for sports.

– Only 13.7% said they have good knowledge of the Internet.

Another study, the results of which were published by the National Office for the Family and Population, produced some equally interesting numbers:

– Aversion to marriage has risen to 65% in 2006, as compared to 35.9% in 2001.

– The percentage of single women rose from 80% in 2001 to 85% in 2006 within the 15 to 29-year-old age group, and from 16% to 20% during the same period within the 30 to 49-year-old age group.

[Source: Magharebia]
[Via: HouBlog]