Journy to the tree of bats

I was sitting with Mohamed on the "ahwa"(cafe), arguing about a theory of degenerating back to the primitive. And while we were trying to convince a friend of ours - amidst his protests - to smash his phone so he can be better attuned with nature, Mohamed told me about a story of a tree where bats lurked in huge numbers.
Let me tell you something, when you live in cairo, it's not everyday that you come across a tree full of bats, so i was definitely giving it a try.
It was a dark quite street, and in the middle there was this huge tree that seemed so normaly innocent and still. We parked the car a few paces ahead and me and Mohamed got out and headed for the tree while our friend stayed in the car:
"There are no bats here" he told us.
"Ok, if there aren't any bats then why don't you come out of the car then?"
"Why should i, there aren't any bats afterall" he said meekly.
Arriving by the tree we whistled to nobody in particular while looking up.
There was nothing but the rustling of the leaves in the breeze .......... and then we saw it, a bat flew out of the tree and right past us, then a whole wave of bats followed it and the whole area was alive with bats.
We stood there for a while, the bats circling us like a shrine. We whistled and the bats whistled back at us, till one by one they all went back from where they came from and we stood in darkness.
"Why are bats considered scary?" I asked.
"Because they are blind, they can crash into you"
"Bats are not blind, they just don't see like me and you do, and they don't just 'crash' into people" I said, puzzled.
"You mean they can't hit us while we are standing?"
"Not of they don't want to" I replied.
"I still think they are scary"
"lets get outta here" i said, and we were on our way.

289 is an ugly no.

At least that's what the savant said.
On the other hand he did think well of most of the other numbers.

Starry Night

A rip-off of Vincent van Gogh's "Starry Night"?....

Nah, it's just Hubble.

The Oracle

"You will have a dark future, you will never find peace or rest. Even my words now will not sway your mind." he said.....
I listened to this as i was sipping my "helba" (which is a drink btw) and wondered why he chose to tell me words that seemed to come from "kare'at el fengan" (inn sama'ak momteraton wa tare'oka masdoodon masdood.....ya wallady, yaaaaa wallady!).
ok, so he seemed to know what he was talking about but i was in the middle of a "helba" that was the fourth in line just after 2 cups of tea and one large glass of water and frankly i had only one thing on my mind and it definitely wasn't my future.
"...... my words will not sway your mind...... because you don't know what you want. If you did, this conversation would have been over by now..."
"oh but i do," i thought...... "i want to go to the bathroom."
"Excuse me." i said.

Retaliation, retribution and revenge :

“Research shows that while people think of their own actions as the consequences of what came before, they think of other people’s actions as the causes of what came later”

Daniel Gilbert / IHT article

Sayings, Rodents and Development

It's been said before, "there is nothing that will work for this country, the only solution is to blow everything up and start over from scratch"
I've heard it time and time again...... and i'm sure it has been said even more in every developed country. An understandable feeling i suppose, one of unholiness when everything around you is not the way its supposed to be, it's the feeling that you need to destroy the old to be able to move forward. The same when you have a house full of rodents, there is always this undeniable urge to bring the place to the ground and then build a beautiful clean house.
Only things don't quite work this way........ life teaches us to live with what you have and never throw it away. You use what you can, there can never be solace in destruction.
ok, so lets be frank, almost everyone agrees that this a rodent infested country and the rat holes are just too many for anyone to miss. we can start from there. I say, we can either drive them out or just kill the damn pesky animals.

Two from Dune

Every judgment teeters on the brink of error. To claim absolute knowledge is to become monstrous. Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty.
- LETO ATREIDES II, the God Emperor


Do our enemies occur naturally, or do we create them through our own actions?
- MOTHER SUPERIOR ALMA MAVIS TARAZA, Bene Gesserit Archives, open records for acolytes

Aliens from mars and the man-eating bunnies

“They’ll believe anything.” E. sighed. “No matter what sort of absurdity they are fed, they’ll believe it. Think up the most outrageous lie… They have people who’ll believe it.”

The cousin sat up at this, his interest piqued. “The most outrageous lie? How about that Iraq was amassing aliens from Mareekh [Mars] and training them in the battle art of kung-fu to attack America in 2010!”

“They’d believe it.” E. nodded in the affirmative. “Or that Iraq was developing a mutant breed of rabid, man-eating bunnies to unleash upon the Western world. They’d believe that too.”


posted by river @ 3:21 AM

Of Bunnies and Shit

"first we need to address a certain question,which is..... why are bunnies so cute?
well, bunnies are cute to attract predators............ thats why."


Funny thing is nobody would say it out loud, nobody dared. The truth, or the lie. A case of disagreement among those who believe they are the same, they fear it beyond anything else, to simply disagree.
Avoid confrontation, avoid variety, avoid fractures.
listen to your creative conscience... it will tell u "go away, i'm sleeping".
Graves within graves, dead trunks in the middle of the stream... not dormant but stagnant.
Relics of the past, solid objects, mindless beyond compare. Primal fear of the future, phobic of change.

Riverbend

"I hope Americans feel good about taking their war on terror to foreign soil. For bringing the terrorists to Iraq- Chalabi, Allawi, Zarqawi, the Hakeems… How is our current situation going to secure America? How is a complete generation that is growing up in fear and chaos going to view Americans ten years from now? Does anyone ask that? After September 11, because of what a few fanatics did, Americans decided to become infected with a collective case of xenophobia… Yet after all Iraqis have been through under the occupation, we're expected to be tolerant and grateful. Why? Because we get more wheat in our diets?"

posted by riverbend @ 10:53 PM

War

As I write, highly civilized human beings are flying overhead trying to kill me. They do not feel any enmity against me as an individual, nor I against them. They are only doing their duty, as the saying goes. Most of them, I have no doubt, are kind-hearted law abiding men who would never dream of committing murder in private life.

On the other hand, if one of them succeeds in blowing me to pieces with a well-placed bomb, he will never sleep any worse for it. He is serving his country, which has the power to absolve him from evil.

George Orwell, London, UK, 1941

Educated

Two black guys get onto the train with congo drums and play.

Drums guy #1: Yo, thanks y'all for listenin'. We hope you can donate something to our cause to support our music. Let me tell y'all something...I'm gonna teach you something you ain't gonna get from no college, from no book, from no studyin', from no professor...you could have all the money and richness in the world, but if you have compassion, then you are the richest person in the world. You gotta have compassion for your fellow human beings--man, everything is relative--and once you realize that, then you understand compassion!...See, this gentleman here, he didn't like our music and that's cool. You didn't like it, did you sir?
Suit: Actually, I did.
Drums guy #1: Aw, man! You shouldn't have said that! That makes it worse that you don't wanna help support our music! You don't understand what it's like out here.
Suit: Yes, I do. I'm a musician too. We're all trying to make it.
Drums guy #1: Man! How can you say that? We like brothers, man. We connected. You know...you like my brother and you don't wanna help a brother out...That's rude...It's like if you get a band and you got all your instruments and like, the curtain goes up, and you conducting them and shit, and you tell them to play and then there's no sound! Man, we connected; don't you know what that means?
Suit: It means I have a college degree and you don't.

Flipped

i'm tired of all this, its not because i was coughing like crazy all day long and i'm not talkin bout the bashing the Chinese are getting for no reason these days either.
It's not about the americans being so haughty, and it's not about the europeans being so cold. It's not about the japanese being so respectful or the chinese so productive, and its not about the rest of the world being so damn poor......
It's something more subtle, more basic and that's what makes it more terrifying.
It's the bad acting you see on t.v. It's the unhumorous remarks that get thrown at you from everywhere, meant to be funny. It's the indifference of everyone, the apathy.
It's the horrible songs, so uncreative. its the prejudice, thinking you know. It's how people are exploited every single day, defenseless. It's the passiveness, how guilty are those who waste?
It's the hypocrisy, saying what you never do. It's the lies, to yourself and then to others. It's the tyranny, how shameful are the powerful?
It's the poverty, the ignorance, and the sickness.
It's all that which leaks from the human bag of wonders, corrupt.
Now i know what you' r thinking, "the dude has flipped".......that might be true but i know while most people do not openly acknowledge it.......it exists.
Every analysis is irrational, steaming from some mental need in the mind, to say its not biased is to say its not the product of human thought.....

The Lie

Go, soul, the body's guest,
Upon a thankless arrant;
Fear not to touch the best;
The truth shall be thy warrant.
Go, since I needs must die,
And give the world the lie.

Say to the court, it glows
And shines like rotten wood;
Say to the church, it shows
What's good, and doth no good:
If church and court reply,
Then give them both the lie.

Tell potentates, they live
Acting by others' action,
Not loved unless they give,
Not strong but by affection:
If potentates reply,
Give potentates the lie.

Tell men of high condition
That manage the estate,
Their purpose is ambition,
Their practice only hate:
And if they once reply,
Then give them all the lie.

Tell them that brave it most,
They beg for more by spending,
Who, in their greatest cost,
Seek nothing but commending:
And if they make reply,
Then give them all the lie.

Tell zeal it wants devotion;
Tell love it is but lust;
Tell time it metes but motion;
Tell flesh it is but dust:
And wish them not reply,
For thou must give the lie.

Tell age it daily wasteth;
Tell honour how it alters;
Tell beauty how she blasteth;
Tell favour how it falters:
And as they shall reply,
Give every one the lie.

Tell wit how much it wrangles
In tickle points of niceness;
Tell wisdom she entangles
Herself in over-wiseness:
And when they do reply,
Straight give them both the lie.

Tell physic of her boldness;
Tell skill it is prevention;
Tell charity of coldness;
Tell law it is contention:
And as they do reply,
So give them still the lie.

Tell fortune of her blindness;
Tell nature of decay;
Tell friendship of unkindness;
Tell justice of delay:
And if they will reply,
Then give them all the lie.

Tell arts they have no soundness,
But vary by esteeming;
Tell schools they want profoundness,
And stand too much on seeming:
If arts and schools reply,
Give arts and schools the lie.

Tell faith it's fled the city;
Tell how the country erreth;
Tell, manhood shakes off pity;
Tell, virtue least preferreth:
And if they do reply,
Spare not to give the lie.

So when thou hast, as I
Commanded thee, done blabbing,
Although to give the lie
Deserved no less than stabbing,
Stab at thee he that will,
No stab thy soul can kill.

Sir WALTER RALIEGH

Disoriented

I'm tired, barely can stay on my feet, the combination between a cold and too little sleep is not healthy, and i'm not sure of this but i think there is a strong possibility that there are 8 to 10 monkeys having a party rite now in my head......
tomorrow is the second maersk interview, I do fine on assessments, even when i'm in this shape.
I only have to worry about the interview itself, i'm not sure if it will be a simple screening or the whole nine yards, so i have to read a bit about the maersk group, why the hell did they have to have so many companies?
I have a strong doubt that i'll make it through the day, or the night for that matter......

Evangelion

so i'v finally watched "Neon Genesis Evangelion".........I remember its been years since i first saw it and knew i just had to watch it.
Why didn't i see it through all those years?............
i dunno, maybe i needed to feel that there is something out there that i still want to see, or maybe i wanted to feel that there is something out there that i still need to see.
Are these days the ones that are marked to see me fulfilling my old lost dreams?
oh please........stop the drama, its killing me.

Stiff

ok, so i didn't know her but she opens the door, looks around searching. I give her a point of a finger in the left direction where the other woman is standing out of view and then i give her a phone sign, meaning to say that she was on her mobile......
she looks at me like i just escaped from the zoo and just stares........
I give her another point of finger followed by a slight tilting of the head in the same direction to make a stronger emphasis.....
she's silent but her features toke very tight curves in just a few seconds.
"she is over there" i finally say after giving up on the whole simple sign issue.
she's still looking at me like I'm the last living sample of the dodo bird, but she finally speaks :
"who's there?" she asked, shaking her head.......i could tell she didn't expect a very bright answer.
"the one you are looking for" I say, turn around and head directly outa the room......just in time to hear her say, "there you are!".....
"splendid" I say to myself while walkin'.................

Revelation

Comes the night, the soul of man cries 4 redemption, just as the soul of a child cries 4 laughter. The making of a curse vibrant in the night, promising all who follow it doom and despair. This is the true legacy.......time gone in vain, taunting. The essence of humankind, the variance of thought, the creative tendencies brings true power and in turn tyranny of oneself. Understanding is the refuge of the troubled, the world demands faith. The dependence on absolutes, the abstractions, always hanging on extremes, poor judgment in a universe governed by balanced forces. The need for perfection is unforgivable, who tolerates the vulgar disregard for reality?
The stars shine bright in the night, while the thought of man lies under his own feet.
The illusion of security, convincing oneself that everything is normal while the gap of normality is a chasm readily fallen into.
A classical variation of your everyday misfit, just one of many aspects of a rotten philosophy?, useless intoxications of a madman..... that is probably the case here. The intense fumes of the night, a present danger even to the most wary.
Figurative annotations, proud as the moon on a clear summer night, who would stand in the face of a never ending flux of emotions?.
Like hidden desires within dreams promising salvation.
.......This is not revelation, this is not wisdom, this is the product of random thought.
As vast as the oceans and as unyielding as the will of god, waves upon waves of silence follow.

Truth

ok....so i'll be honest, i always wanted to write my own blog ever since i saw the blog of this syrian guy who was living in dubai a few years ago, but never did. I can remember thinking how entirely unrewarding this whole deal is, he was talking about how he got 10 e-mails and 2 fone nos. from girls in a sum sort of fair in just 1 day, and he didn't even explain how he did it.
Now a few days ago i got a job interview at maersk, which kinda resulted from me leaving my last job last month....anyho, i was searching for info bout the maersk assessment when i came by this blog of a lady ho just happens 2 get accepted there just a week ago, and she had her recruitment experience described, so i read on........and then i read on a little more.....
And at the end of the night i discovered that i knew virtually everything about this girl that i never met before and only a few hours ago had never even heard of, from the scar on her back, the result of surgery, to the fact that she has 19 cousins, eats a lot of pasta, and just luvs pistachios(whatever they may be)......
Moral point of this poorly written story is that it clicked, the heavens have spoken.......and this was the time to start a blog of my own!
All this drama aside, i absolutely have no idea how i'll keep up with this blog of mine.

Alpha

i was just reading "Report on the investigation of the machinery break down and subsequent fire onboard Maersk Doha", when i thought that this might be a good time to start a blog, after all i'v never fully understood why people tend to write blogs, it just takes a lot of time and effort so here i'm investigating this phenomena.....

If anybody is interested about the Maersk Doha, here's what the report says happened :

"The container vessel Maersk Doha sailed from Norfolk, Virginia, in the USA shortly after midnight on 2 October 2006. At 0030 an engine room alarm sounded indicating that pressure in the steam system was low. The crew investigated the cause of the alarm and discovered that steam was escaping from the auxiliary boiler air intake. They shut down the burner and opened the furnace door. Steam escaped, and when it had cleared they could see that the furnace tube was severely distorted and cracked.There was some delay before the chief engineer was informed about the breakdown, and further delay before the problem was reported to the master on the bridge. Although the vessel could have anchored safely to investigate the situation, it was agreed that the main engine could continue to run at low power, and the vessel proceeded to sea.An Exhaust Gas Economiser (EGE) was fitted in the funnel uptakes to generate steam from the waste heat contained in the main engine exhaust gases, using water circulated from the auxiliary boiler. At about 0200, a rapid rise in the temperature of the EGE was noticed and the chief engineer realised that there was a fire inside the EGE casing. The bridge was alerted at 0230 and the vessel’s emergency alarm was activated. Radiant heat from the EGE ignited light fittings, cables and paint on bulkheads in the funnel uptakes, and the crew attempted to fight the fire with a water hose and a fire extinguisher. They were beaten and.......