Vertigo

Life goes on, and i'll never regret

2009-06-26T03:45:00.002+04:00

In a time of letting go, leaving a big part of life behind and of new experiences that have surpassed and that are yet to come, I write that...

Life goes on and ill never regret

The times that i ventured the times that i spent

And as i go on ill make new memmories

But i wouldn't forget the days that i had

With company

And as the clockhand turns time goes by

That we cant replace

And we musn't look back

Only look back to appreciate

Cuz if one looks back only to regret

Then one will only start to neglect

They say life is short but this aint true

Life is full of memmories that we just forget

And people think its short cuz they never knew

That they forget and so it seems like life is a few

Chickenpox!

2009-03-23T20:29:00.002+04:00

The Chicken Pox,

A couple of weeks back my younger brother, 14, had the chicken pox. I do not know how or where he got it, probably at some pool or something. Anyways i stayed at least a few metres away I did not even sit in the T.V. room, speak directly with him, and guess what? Now I have it. Chicken Pox at 17 is definitely greatly agitating, it's my final year of I.B. and things at school are pretty important now, and so I'm resenting this completely. I discovered I had the chickenpox when I got back from school yesterday. In the morning I noticed my back was a bit overloaded with spots, and I said to myself 'wow, what kind of acne is this, is this a bit too much?’ Well I ignored it. When I got back home I found much on my chest and back and then asked 'the dad' and confirmed the chickenpox. What a bad time to get this horrible virus.

Today...

Got up from bed and immediately went to Starbucks Shatti with my older brother, we sat outside where there was no one, and had coffee and chatted for about an hour. Then it was back home, where I engaged in some organic chemistry revision, I had the energy. A movie, Batman Begins, followed and then lunch, more T.V., PC, and napping. Not a bad day except for the spells of fatigue and dizziness.

Hatem-Out

PS. Resisting to scratch (it's hard), but I haven’t done it yet.

Leaving you with a picture of my face (viewer discretion is advised)

B + F Roadside Diner...Review

2009-03-13T00:32:00.002+04:00

A couple of friends and I decided to go and checkout this new hotspot in town at Shining Shatti (Bareeq Shatti). I have seen that they have been working on it for a while now, getting the place ready for opening, it sure did take a while and it's still a soft opening too ( The Grand Opening is in April). As we walked in we were greeted happily, albeit a bit too much, by the staff as they were eager to sit us down, at an already filled up restaurant. The place is not your traditional burger joint, mainly modelled with steel walls, and all sorts of accessories and unorthodox design, that gives the place a unique ambience. The menu itself was luring, with it's thick metal like cover and the wide choice of variety as you flip the pages (although they still do not serve milk shakes, smoothies, or any other juices or drinks apart from your regular soda). You can try some interesting starters such as chilli cheese fries, or nachos, and indulge into a classic burger or gourmet burger add some accessories such as fries to that and you have yourself a great meal! Overall the meat that they used was really juicy and tasty far better than your regular McDonalds. The only drawback I experienced was the fact that when I wanted to pay using my credit card they did not have that option available.

BOR-FUN

2009-03-11T15:54:00.005+04:00

Yesterday was a chill day. Although it started off as boring, with me sitting on the sand at the beach, headphones on listening to some music, alone, it was pretty cool. I went over to my friend’s house. It kind of feels like your being watched over there. His family is pretty rigorously religious and you always feel self conscious, as you might expect. Well we managed to ditch the place, and head on over to the sand dunes. Of course we stopped at Haider's house so that he can change, and amazingly he was quite quick considering the deliberately sluggish way in which he moves and gets things done. Anyway we were on our way and it was my first time dune biking so it was amazing as you might expect. Not the first time biking, the first dune biking! :P All I can report is sand, speed, and recklessness. Oh yeah I think I also spoilt the rear brakes, maybe?

The day ended as usual with us in M.Q. at Starbucks, just sitting there and not ordering anything, while my friend protested the fact that we will order nothing because Starbucks supports the Zionist Israelis, and sitting there so no one else can?!!! WEIRD i must say. Then I was back home, just me, to my secluded room to relax and watch "Role Models", which I would definitely recommend, McLovin is inít:P. So yeah I'm out with this latest update from Oh!man on VERTIGO

A good friend!

2009-03-06T13:13:00.004+04:00

(Haider Al Zaabi)

My friend Haider is a person I admire, he's got a great sense of humour weird ideas, and great fun to talk to. He stands out in a crowd, just look at his hair and then big head of his, postured on top of that short body of his (:P). 2 nights ago was Haider's birthday and instead of us surprising him, he surprised us. We were standing in the school car park and a limo passes by and he's like get in, but I didnt believe him, and then he went up to it and we all got in, drove around Muscat for 2 hours and had a great time. Good Idea Haider I must say. Yesterday Haider was also carageous enough to jump off the bridge in the Qurm beach road into the water(which we all did) but didn't think Haider would! He also likes to take my clothes to wear. He loves punck rock, a lot of other rock, Panic at the Disco I must mention, like them too. Haider has just turned 17! So Happy 17th Birthday Haider! One of my best friends :P:D!

Update :P

2009-03-02T23:03:00.002+04:00

This week as been a very awkward week for me personally with all the work at school and the mind boggling course called I.B. Not just that but personal issues. I finally got to the that blog everyone was talking about, and all the bullshit that people were gossipping about wasn't really there so to speak, but nevertheless, it was quite an entertaining read, got me reading! Hamdan and Nizar HAHA!

Besides that the Mocks were alright did as expected with a few minor exceptions! Oh yeah and paintball is out in town at last, can't wait to try it out, but i know it would be as good as that which i tried in England. But oh wtf!

I do hope this weekend is far better than last week's, which wasn't really one. Got a high fever missed a concert in Oman, James Blunt, you might think why does he care about that? Well we don't really get award winning artist in Oman...EVER! So yeah pretty pissed about that.

That dude yeah Modee, warning you, is acting a bit weird these days with his , i dont give a shit attitude and your so infintile accusations, guess he'll get over that. I asked him for 3 Rials today, he went crazy and started coming up with some weird ass shit. Oh well the world never ceases to amaze me.

A very interesting article I read!

2009-02-05T19:13:00.002+04:00

WHILE many institutions collapsed during the Great Depression that began in 1929, one kind did rather well. During this leanest of times, the strictest, most authoritarian churches saw a surge in attendance.

This anomaly was documented in the early 1970s, but only now is science beginning to tell us why. It turns out that human beings have a natural inclination for religious belief, especially during hard times. Our brains effortlessly conjure up an imaginary world of spirits, gods and monsters, and the more insecure we feel, the harder it is to resist the pull of this supernatural world. It seems that our minds are finely tuned to believe in gods.

Religious ideas are common to all cultures: like language and music, they seem to be part of what it is to be human. Until recently, science has largely shied away from asking why. "It's not that religion is not important," says Paul Bloom, a psychologist at Yale University, "it's that the taboo nature of the topic has meant there has been little progress."

The origin of religious belief is something of a mystery, but in recent years scientists have started to make suggestions. One leading idea is that religion is an evolutionary adaptation that makes people more likely to survive and pass their genes onto the next generation. In this view, shared religious belief helped our ancestors form tightly knit groups that cooperated in hunting, foraging and childcare, enabling these groups to outcompete others. In this way, the theory goes, religion was selected for by evolution, and eventually permeated every human society (New Scientist, 28 January 2006, p 30)

The religion-as-an-adaptation theory doesn't wash with everybody, however. As anthropologist Scott Atran of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor points out, the benefits of holding such unfounded beliefs are questionable, in terms of evolutionary fitness. "I don't think the idea makes much sense, given the kinds of things you find in religion," he says. A belief in life after death, for example, is hardly compatible with surviving in the here-and-now and propagating your genes. Moreover, if there are adaptive advantages of religion, they do not explain its origin, but simply how it spread.

An alternative being put forward by Atran and others is that religion emerges as a natural by-product of the way the human mind works.

That's not to say that the human brain has a "god module" in the same way that it has a language module that evolved specifically for acquiring language. Rather, some of the unique cognitive capacities that have made us so successful as a species also work together to create a tendency for supernatural thinking. "There's now a lot of evidence that some of the foundations for our religious beliefs are hard-wired," says Bloom.

Much of that evidence comes from experiments carried out on children, who are seen as revealing a "default state" of the mind that persists, albeit in modified form, into adulthood. "Children the world over have a strong natural receptivity to believing in gods because of the way their minds work, and this early developing receptivity continues to anchor our intuitive thinking throughout life," says anthropologist Justin Barrett of the University of Oxford.
So how does the brain conjure up gods? One of the key factors, says Bloom, is the fact that our brains have separate cognitive systems for dealing with living things - things with minds, or at least volition - and inanimate objects.

This separation happens very early in life. Bloom and colleagues have shown that babies as young as five months make a distinction between inanimate objects and people. Shown a box moving in a stop-start way, babies show surprise. But a person moving in the same way elicits no surprise. To babies, objects ought to obey the laws of physics and move in a predictable way. People, on the other hand, have their own intentions and goals, and move however they choose.

Mind and matter
Bloom says the two systems are autonomous, leaving us with two viewpoints on the world: one that deals with minds, and one that handles physical aspects of the world. He calls this innate assumption that mind and matter are distinct "common-sense dualism". The body is for physical processes, like eating and moving, while the mind carries our consciousness in a separate - and separable - package. "We very naturally accept you can leave your body in a dream, or in astral projection or some sort of magic," Bloom says. "These are universal views."

There is plenty of evidence that thinking about disembodied minds comes naturally. People readily form relationships with non-existent others: roughly half of all 4-year-olds have had an imaginary friend, and adults often form and maintain relationships with dead relatives, fictional characters and fantasy partners. As Barrett points out, this is an evolutionarily useful skill. Without it we would be unable to maintain large social hierarchies and alliances or anticipate what an unseen enemy might be planning. "Requiring a body around to think about its mind would be a great liability," he says.

Useful as it is, common-sense dualism also appears to prime the brain for supernatural concepts such as life after death. In 2004, Jesse Bering of Queen's University Belfast, UK, put on a puppet show for a group of pre-school children. During the show, an alligator ate a mouse. The researchers then asked the children questions about the physical existence of the mouse, such as: "Can the mouse still be sick? Does it need to eat or drink?" The children said no. But when asked more "spiritual" questions, such as "does the mouse think and know things?", the children answered yes.

Default to god
Based on these and other experiments, Bering considers a belief in some form of life apart from that experienced in the body to be the default setting of the human brain. Education and experience teach us to override it, but it never truly leaves us, he says. From there it is only a short step to conceptualising spirits, dead ancestors and, of course, gods, says Pascal Boyer, a psychologist at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri. Boyer points out that people expect their gods' minds to work very much like human minds, suggesting they spring from the same brain system that enables us to think about absent or non-existent people.

The ability to conceive of gods, however, is not sufficient to give rise to religion. The mind has another essential attribute: an overdeveloped sense of cause and effect which primes us to see purpose and design everywhere, even where there is none. "You see bushes rustle, you assume there's somebody or something there," Bloom says.

This over-attribution of cause and effect probably evolved for survival. If there are predators around, it is no good spotting them 9 times out of 10. Running away when you don't have to is a small price to pay for avoiding danger when the threat is real.

Again, experiments on young children reveal this default state of the mind. Children as young as three readily attribute design and purpose to inanimate objects. When Deborah Kelemen of the University of Arizona in Tucson asked 7 and 8-year-old children questions about inanimate objects and animals, she found that most believed they were created for a specific purpose. Pointy rocks are there for animals to scratch themselves on. Birds exist "to make nice music", while rivers exist so boats have something to float on. "It was extraordinary to hear children saying that things like mountains and clouds were 'for' a purpose and appearing highly resistant to any counter-suggestion," says Kelemen.

In similar experiments, Olivera Petrovich of the University of Oxford asked pre-school children about the origins of natural things such as plants and animals. She found they were seven times as likely to answer that they were made by god than made by people.

These cognitive biases are so strong, says Petrovich, that children tend to spontaneously invent the concept of god without adult intervention: "They rely on their everyday experience of the physical world and construct the concept of god on the basis of this experience." Because of this, when children hear the claims of religion they seem to make perfect sense.

Our predisposition to believe in a supernatural world stays with us as we get older. Kelemen has found that adults are just as inclined to see design and intention where there is none. Put under pressure to explain natural phenomena, adults often fall back on teleological arguments, such as "trees produce oxygen so that animals can breathe" or "the sun is hot because warmth nurtures life". Though she doesn't yet have evidence that this tendency is linked to belief in god, Kelemen does have results showing that most adults tacitly believe they have souls.

Boyer is keen to point out that religious adults are not childish or weak-minded. Studies reveal that religious adults have very different mindsets from children, concentrating more on the moral dimensions of their faith and less on its supernatural attributes.

Even so, religion is an inescapable artefact of the wiring in our brain, says Bloom. "All humans possess the brain circuitry and that never goes away." Petrovich adds that even adults who describe themselves as atheists and agnostics are prone to supernatural thinking. Bering has seen this too. When one of his students carried out interviews with atheists, it became clear that they often tacitly attribute purpose to significant or traumatic moments in their lives, as if some agency were intervening to make it happen. "They don't completely exorcise the ghost of god - they just muzzle it," Bering says.

The fact that trauma is so often responsible for these slips gives a clue as to why adults find it so difficult to jettison their innate belief in gods, Atran says. The problem is something he calls "the tragedy of cognition". Humans can anticipate future events, remember the past and conceive of how things could go wrong - including their own death, which is hard to deal with. "You've got to figure out a solution, otherwise you're overwhelmed," Atran says. When natural brain processes give us a get-out-of-jail card, we take it.

That view is backed up by an experiment published late last year (Science, vol 322, p 115). Jennifer Whitson of the University of Texas in Austin and Adam Galinsky of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, asked people what patterns they could see in arrangements of dots or stock market information. Before asking, Whitson and Galinsky made half their participants feel a lack of control, either by giving them feedback unrelated to their performance or by having them recall experiences where they had lost control of a situation.

The results were striking. The subjects who sensed a loss of control were much more likely to see patterns where there were none. "We were surprised that the phenomenon is as widespread as it is," Whitson says. What's going on, she suggests, is that when we feel a lack of control we fall back on superstitious ways of thinking. That would explain why religions enjoy a revival during hard times.

So if religion is a natural consequence of how our brains work, where does that leave god? All the researchers involved stress that none of this says anything about the existence or otherwise of gods: as Barratt points out, whether or not a belief is true is independent of why people believe it.

It does, however, suggests that god isn't going away, and that atheism will always be a hard sell. Religious belief is the "path of least resistance", says Boyer, while disbelief requires effort.
These findings also challenge the idea that religion is an adaptation. "Yes, religion helps create large societies - and once you have large societies you can outcompete groups that don't," Atran says. "But it arises as an artefact of the ability to build fictive worlds. I don't think there's an adaptation for religion any more than there's an adaptation to make airplanes."

I don't think there's an adaptation for religion any more than there's an adaptation to make airplanes

Supporters of the adaptation hypothesis, however, say that the two ideas are not mutually exclusive. As David Sloan Wilson of Binghamton University in New York state points out, elements of religious belief could have arisen as a by-product of brain evolution, but religion per se was selected for because it promotes group survival. "Most adaptations are built from previous structures," he says. "Boyer's basic thesis and my basic thesis could both be correct."

Robin Dunbar of the University of Oxford - the researcher most strongly identified with the religion-as-adaptation argument - also has no problem with the idea that religion co-opts brain circuits that evolved for something else. Richard Dawkins, too, sees the two camps as compatible. "Why shouldn't both be correct?" he says. "I actually think they are."

Ultimately, discovering the true origins of something as complex as religion will be difficult. There is one experiment, however, that could go a long way to proving whether Boyer, Bloom and the rest are onto something profound. Ethical issues mean it won't be done any time soon, but that hasn't stopped people speculating about the outcome.

It goes something like this. Left to their own devices, children create their own "creole" languages using hard-wired linguistic brain circuits. A similar experiment would provide our best test of the innate religious inclinations of humans. Would a group of children raised in isolation spontaneously create their own religious beliefs? "I think the answer is yes," says Bloom.

God of the gullibile
In The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins argues that religion is propagated through indoctrination, especially of children. Evolution predisposes children to swallow whatever their parents and tribal elders tell them, he argues, as trusting obedience is valuable for survival. This also leads to what Dawkins calls "slavish gullibility" in the face of religious claims.
If children have an innate belief in god, however, where does that leave the indoctrination hypothesis? "I am thoroughly happy with believing that children are predisposed to believe in invisible gods - I always was," says Dawkins. "But I also find the indoctrination hypothesis plausible. The two influences could, and I suspect do, reinforce one another." He suggests that evolved gullibility converts a child's general predisposition to believe in god into a specific belief in the god (or gods) their parents worship.

Source: NewScientist

A little rant of mine on everything going on in our world at the moment.

2009-01-29T14:18:00.011+04:00

My first blog posting of the new year, so a belated happy new years to all our readers.... all two of you.

First I'd like to share an amusing video with you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAnjJDQ7ey4

Your welcome

Next I'd like to talk about a topic which I think everyone has heard about

and has been moved by the events that followed, and that is Israel's

illegal seige on Gaza. Yes, illegal

Illegal why? Several reasons which I believe Hatem has covered in one

of his previous postings.

I'd like to make a comment though on what president Barack Obama

made in one of his pre inauguration speeches. He said that if someone

was attacking him with rockets while his children are sleeping he'd fight

back and that Israel has every right to fight back.

I'm sorry Mr Obama but I believed you to be an educated man. However,

an educated person does not make foolish statements such as those.

I know from my postings it seems that I am critical of Mr Obama, it may

seem that I don't like him, but your wrong I'm just making points on his

faultings. Why do I say a person who is educated would not make a

comment like that? Because a person who is educated ( and I don't

mean edcucated in the sense of degrees and honors and everything),

a person who is educated looks into a topic before making blank

statements.

I don't think you know this Mr Obama but Israel broke the ceasefire while

you were partying over your presidency win. Yes, Israel broke the ceasefire

, I'm sorry if i disappointed our fox news viewing readers but that is the fact.

On election day 2008 Israel fired rockets into Gaza, Hamas responded.

I myself am not entirely convinced with Hamas, but as Mr Obama said, if

someone is firing rockets at you while your children are sleeping you have

the right to defend yourself.

Another point I have to raise about the seige is (and excuse my language)

Where the f*** is the international community???? When Russia invaded

Georgia last summer it was all over the news. Why? Because the western

media opposes Russia, whereas they are in aid of the Israeli cause.

Western supremacy controlling media at its best. Not only was the seige

on Gaza illegal it was inhumane. Over 1300 killed and over 4000 injured

compared to 10s of dead Israelis is inproportionate attacks according to

Israel. YES IT IS inproportionate you dumb f***, just not the way your

describing it.I do not understand how the whole world could just watch a

massacre like that and do nothing about it? Where is our empathy? Where

is our compassion?

Lives are being taken, families broken, a country in carnage. And all

America the world's superpower can do is withdraw its vote from a UN

resolution seeking peace.

That my friend reminds me of a saying "with great power comes great

responsibility" (yes I know its from spiderman) and the USA is not at all

being responsible with the power that it has.

I don't understand how a country of 300 million individuals can be controlled by a tiny zionist state. Yes, controlled. If tomorrow, the UK decided to

attack some country, the US wouldn't allow it. However Israel decides to

commit genocide and the American government starts singing "you can do whatever you like".

Next topic, the credit crunch. coming soon.....

Barack Hussein Obama on Tuesday the 20th of January, has become the 44th president of the United States of America

2009-01-22T00:04:00.003+04:00

It was a moment in which 100's of millions of people around the world watched, from the biggest of cities to the tiniest of villages, a moment that 'defines a generation'. Although we watch the American Presidential Inauguration we must consider that America and the American President will become the most powerful man on earth "officially". In times of crisis, economically and wars and conflict the world seeks for new hope and a dream of a better tommorow. The inaugural speech personally was captivating and had many themes and messages which struck hard and rough but at many times it was promise of rebirth and prosperity.

The main themes of the address include the very critical financial crisis that will be one of President Obama's toughest challenges. U.S. foreign policy, domestic issues, and a message of change, renewed freedom and leadership.

The address was in many ways a head-smacking of former president Bush, who disagreed on many of Obama's initiatives such as funding of embryonic stem cell research, which was one of the first changes made to federal spending in which Obama removed the limit of federal spending on this research. Facing a changing world and the leading role of America Obama said 'we must lead once more' which is an indication of the fact that the influence of America as a nation on the world is deminishing.

To the muslim world Obama addresses the fact that both the U.S. and the muslim world must find common interests and help each other, and to defeat the threat of terrorist violence that plagues stability, prosperity, and development.

Yet, at the end of the day one asks himself. Is this 'New' president all that he seems? Is he as good a leader and a changer as he is good at speaking(rather amazing actually, one to remember)? Well we will watch carefully at his actions and his initiatives especially in the first crucial 100 days of office, which will definetly include th closing down of the Guantanamo Bay Prison.

Gaza. Solidarity and Sympathy

2009-01-05T18:25:00.004+04:00

The new year has come in with some bad news, Gaza. Although we must always look at the previous years' problems we must not forget the good times we've had even if it was just for a few seconds. Appreciating every moment and remembering the good always creates postive hope for the future. However, for the people of Gaza the New Year continues to bring in oppression and so I offer my sympathies, since there is little I can do apart from donate money, to the people of Gaza. May justice serve your cause and may God honour that who is righteous.

My condolences and respect and pity for all those who have died in this absurd conflict, however these are my thoughts on this:

1.It is ironic that Israellis call Hamas terrorists, when Israel has occupied the "Official" Palestinian land for over 40 years since 1967 and till this very day remains an occupant of these lands. Is this not terrorism is this not disrespecting other peoples' rights. Israel has continued to call any movement against it terrorists such as the PLO, Hezbolla and Hamas. When all these organizations are not aiming to kill for the sake of killing but defend the rights of Palestinians and voice the oppression they are feeling. If Israel really wanted to achieve 'peace" then they would have left these lands to the Palestinians quite a while ago. They still occupy the Golan hights even though it is rightfully owned by the State of Syria. Is this not terrorism.

2. The situation in Gaza has been dire following the total blockade of the strip. People struggle to find basic neccessities such as bread and clean water. Which is causing catastrophic humanitarian problems.

3. Hamas should not blame the Arabs, for example the Egyptians for not supporting them because when they ended the cease-fire and started shooting rockets at southern Israel they did not negotiate with the Egyptian and Arab governments they did not let them know of their strategy or motives. and so the questions is should a country such as egypt base and change it foreign policy to suite the organization of Hamas. Is this justifiable.

4. I personally find that Hamas is not doing a good political job. It has to learn to control it's anger for the sake of it's people. By keeping the area stable and providing necessities. Do not throw stones at someone if your house is made from glass.

5. The Palestinians within themselves have to come up with a suitable agreement. The same agenda, even if they have to compromise when they don't agree with certain issues. These are peoples' lives at risk and their future which has to be considered more seriously.

6. Israel has previously had a plan to deport palestinains to the sinai, egyptian land, and take over the gaza strip. The plan is still not off the table, and the opening of the egyptian-palestinian border, rafah, might trigger and mass migration or continuous migration of Palestinians from Gaza into egypt strengthening the Israeli plan. Finally. After years of negotiation on the side of the PLO and Mahmoud Abbas' government in the West Bank and the rest of the Arab states with Israel there has not been one positve action taking, a slight improvement might be israel leaving the gaza strip. So is fighting the only way to solve problems?

Barack Obama, hope or hopeless?

2008-11-17T17:59:00.004+04:00

November 4th. That was the date we were all waiting for. The day the world would witness a dawn of a new era in the US administration, a day history would be made. The first African American president or the first female vice president. The world, the media and the momentum were all on Obama's side. America voted and so were they. President elect Barack Obama, thats all that was on the news for a week. His messages of hope and his speeches of a new day bore much resemblance to the charisma and the calibre of Dr. Revrd. Martin Luther Kings Jr.

Two weeks after that historic day, the world is starting to ask questions, they are starting to lose hope. Was it all a scam they ask? Is he really going to create a better world? Can he? Is he just another politician, sweet tongued with a posion sting? Then they started to question his appointees, mainly Rahm Emanuel, who is a zionist.

My verdict is, its too early to tell. However, politicians are politicians , no matter who you are, no matter what you say, if you are a politician you will do anything to get elected. He says hes going to change Washington? 230 years without change, good luck buddy. I do highly regard Obama though and I do think he will improve the US economy and its foreign policy, although with respect to his ideas, the US foreign policy's core will never change. Regarding Rahm Emanuel, he was appointed cheif of staff, meaning he has no influence over foreign policy, security , the economy or any of the sort. My biggest fear of president elect Obama is that he is going to become the most powerful man in the history of the world. His ability to rally people and get them behind him is unparalelled, which will allow him to get support the world has never seen, if he wishes he could probably start wars which are unjustifiable, but with the power of his words seem more than justified.

2008-11-16T22:16:00.002+04:00

A DELICIOUS MEAL...Grill!!&!!CHILL

You always wonder oh! what do I want to eat after that long and tiresome period of exercise. Whether your lifting waits or driving yourself with some good old cardio, this meal is sure to satisfy your expectations, making you feel delighted, leaving you light, boosting up that muscle, and leaving a flavour that your taste buds wont forget.

Yes it's some gold old red meat, a rib-eye steak! Marinate that steak with whatever you like. I personally enjoyed it with some mustard, salt and pepper, butter, and barbecue sauce yet the choice is up to you. Cook it as you like it but there is nothing better than a good old medium cooked steak that leaves the redness in that meat and that is still full of that meaty juice.

Believe me it's a great feeling and good for your body too, especially after returning from exercise. This red meat contains a load of protein, which beats that protein shake in taste anytime. The protein giving you a great amount of energy after your workout and building those muscles up.

So get some good old steak, chill and grill!

Alienation that 'out of this world' feeling:P A MIND away

2008-11-15T20:20:00.005+04:00

Have you ever felt as though you weren't part of this world? For a second you drifted outside of your body and observed the world from above and looked at yourself. It's an amazing feeling and something to be experienced, yet it is also an agitating emotion . You feel so lonely and very unsure of yourself. I seem to experience this feeling most when I'm sitting alone drifting into thoughts far and wide, things that I would not spontaneously think of. Opening your mind seems to spark this feeling and I think it also sparks some creativity in ones own self. It is only when one rests back and looks over the stresses of the day that one experiences the sensation, which, i think, is crafted deep within people to think and to wonder. It gives us a sense of purpose, imagination and being and a hideaway where we can get away from reality.

Why do people read books, watch T.V. or indulge into deep imaginative thought? I think its part of who we are as human beings. We have evolved developing society, culture and education to look beyond what is visible to us, and to imagine completely new worlds, new ideas and new possibilities. We indulge into stories and fantasies that take us away from the sometimes boring day and that spark imagination in our minds, and i think that is what makes us such a creative race. If it were not for our far reaching mind that is able to cut across visual barriers and existing paradigms then we would not have been able to develop such diverse ways of thinking, perception and cultures. Our strength lies in our diversity, a diversity that has created a heap of knowledge because different people think in different ways.

It is those that have indulged in the art of imagining, yes it is an art, into stretching their minds in ways sometimes impossible to imagine many of whom have created masterpieces of knowledge in science, literature, art and economics to name but a few.

However, although we look at the eccentric and artistic person we also have to consider the success of straightforward driven individuals, who have adapted their attitudes to there craft, that requires focus and persistence, quick thinking and decisiveness, yes it is a different truth.

The mind expands, and stretches in ways impossible to imagine and it is astonishing to say the least that we have been able to stimulate light(that which you see come out of the monitor) to send messages across oceans, skies and space. To land on that big cheese ball called the moon, yes it is remarkable!!! If it were not for the mind and the driven expansion of it, we would definitely not be here to day. So i salute you oh mighty brain, oh! abstract and crazy thought for you are the genius behind success, and improvement.

2008-11-15T16:16:00.006+04:00

Eiffel Tower-Paris, France Tokyo Tower-Tokyo, Japan

Two cities, Two Towers, and so much a like....Yet, they're very far apart and very different..........

Reminiscing over memories of the past, remembering the good old days when I was in Japan with my buddies, and staring endlessly at pictures that sent me day dreaming into the past. I came up with these too magnificent pictures of the Eiffel tower in Paris and Tokyo tower in Japan. Guess what?? They're so much the same. The Tokyo tower is actually built to resemble its mother tower, the Eiffel tower. What i found so interesting is the resemblance yet the distance from each other. Both lie in completely antagonistic areas of the world, yet they are both so similar. While in Japan I've seen how the Japanese culture is a such mixture between east and west. It is immersed with new technologies, obsessions with Western culture from clothes to food to attitude, yet simultaneously there culture is extremely well preserved from customary eating traditions such as cuisine and sitting on the floor at a restaurant to museums, palaces and heritage sites that are so well preserved. I saw that the mixture of two cultures is an example of globalization that is at the paramount of greatness and sophistication in Japan and it was a worthwhile experience. I, sincerely, recommend visiting the place very much.

James Blunt!!!

2008-11-14T02:36:00.003+04:00

James Blunt! is coming to the capital MCT . The tide is turning for the country I can see. It is very rare when non-arabic music arists visit the country. During the summer Hed Kandi visited Muscat...Last June, I do remember Hi Fm conducting a live chat with James Blunt and it seems that they organized or influenced his decision in coming to Oman, along with Dubai and Beirut. This is James Blunt's first tour and appearance in the middle east and I do hope it is a tour to remember... It seems that Hi Fm is starting to bring some artists to Oman including the Proclaimers that were here last summer. James Blunt, i do think, will be hosted at the Intercontinental Hotel Muscat but I'm not sure how thy'll be able to fit all these people into the intercontinental garden. The concert is scheduled on the 26th of february and tickets are on sale starting the 16th of December!!! Cant wait(hope he doesnt cancel lol)!!!:D

Perfection

2008-09-20T19:28:00.002+04:00

We spend our entire lives seeking it. But what is it?

Is it money? Cars? Women? Mansions? Or is it something else entirely.

The American constituition gives the right for the pursuit of happiness, but what about happiness?

Does it exist?

I invite you our readers, to share your thought and drop a line.

Tell us what does perfection and happiness mean to you?

It just keeps getting bigger!

2008-09-14T23:12:00.002+04:00

I just visited Dubai today and I realize everytime time i go back its bigger than when I last left. The amount of construction going on there has created a layer of dust and the sky looks brown I say! When will it ever end expanding I guess not. Political instability in the region? Na i dont think so either. 'The Pentagon is hoping to sell the United Arab Emirates a theater wide missile defense system with an estimated value of 6.95 billion dollars'-

http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=177818

With billions of dollars backing this trading post, if i may call it so, I dont see that it will crash anytime soon, however, with the Global financial Crisis overwhelming today's developed countries, economies, and markets will this have any impact on the growth of Dubai.

With the big boys protecting this mirrage of the desert I dont think so anytime soon. But what do you think about all of this? Post here at Vertigo.

Hello

2008-09-13T15:53:00.001+04:00

Hey, I'm Modee.

I'm going to be posting alongside Hatem on the Vertigo blog.

Along with the vertigo blog, I'm also a contributor to four other blogs.

Two of which are dead, but thats life :P.

I'm quite active online, so you might know me from a site or two.

Keep coming back and check out our posts ;) .

2008-09-11T12:37:00.003+04:00

Sleep walking

Sleep Walking...Has it ever happenned to you?

Just last night something very weird happenned to me. I went to bed, setting my phone alarm and having something to eat. I went in to bed and dozed off like I havn't slept in ages. The next morning I woke up, finding myself in another room and bed, that wasn't the most awkward bit! The point is, I had no idea how i got there. For me this is something new I never experienced this before so it was kind of mind draining. Sleep walking also known as noctambulism is a sleep disorder that acts in a way where people who are engaged in the process have no idea what they are doing. And NO! they dont have their eyes closed and their arms stretched far ahead of them:P People can murder, engage in sexual intercourse, or even drive. It is so extreme that people wake up the next morning unaware of what has occured last night only to be told by friends, family or even the POLICE!

Have you had any experiences if so POST!

Was Gonu that devestating?

2008-09-11T01:53:00.002+04:00

Was Gonu that devestating for Qurm Beach. Trucks are still moving in and out of that area, and they are still drilling into rock and sand. Will this ever end? They have been working on the road for over a year now and it is yet to be completed. What kind of system operates in such a manner. Things are done really slowly and decisions are as you have seen. When will they ever end this??

2008-09-11T01:41:00.005+04:00

The Large Hadron Collider....The Ultimate Machine

The LHC is supposed to be the most adventurous experiment in decades. Over 200 scientists from 30 countries have worked together to produce this huge particle accelerator the spans a circumference of 27km between the border of France and Switzerland. The experiment is supposed to uncover many of physics' secrets, from the notorious Higgs boson to such things as dark matter and antimatter. Yet with all this at hand people have spread rumors over the possible formation of a miniature black hole that is going to devour the Earth. Such things amuse me for two reasons: the first is the thought of the black hole devouring the Earth:-:and the second is how could someone be naive enough to think that scientist would go ahead with such an operation. There have been many particle accelerators over the years such as the one in Illinios, US and there has been nothing out of the ordenary going on. Think again people?!!

2007-12-03T18:28:00.000+04:00

2007-12-03T18:19:00.000+04:00

My new blog. Welcome to this new blog done by me. It's all about vertigo here. Nothing and Something can be posted. Im delighted to have this blog where VERTIGO rules!