طريقة جديدة في الكتابة

أظن أنه ما من أحد وهو يحاول أن ينقل كلمة من اللغة الانكليزية إلى العربية إلا وقابلته مفردات تصعب كتابتها لفظاً، او أن كتابتها العربية يمكن أن تقرأ بأكثر من شكل. وما لفت نظري أكثر حديثاً إلى هذه النقطة هو اسم Boole في الكتاب السابق ذكره (العدد: من الحضارات القديمة إلى الكمبيوتر). وطبعاً بالعربية كتبت على الشكل التالي: بول. و هذا الاسم قد يقرأ على أساس أنه Paul أيضاً، وكذلك قد يفهم بمعنى آخر (هل حزرتم ما هو؟)
ولهذا آمنت بوجوب إيجاد طريقة للكتابة تجعل النقل العربي لأسماء العلم الانكليزية أو غيرها من المفردات العادية سهلة وغير خالّة بلفظ الكلمة. طريقة تجعل اسم كتاب كـَ : بو ل و فرجيني يفهم على أنه: Paul and Verginie وليس Piss and show me.
لذا فكرت بمايلي: أولاً: الأحرف P و V و G (كما في goat) يجب أن تكتب بمعادلاتها العربية كمايلي:

ثانياً: أحرف العلة
بالنسبة للحروف المضمومة: نستخدم الضمة ( ُ ) عندما نريد أن ننقل Bole أو Bol مثلاً، ونستخدم تنوين الضمة ( ٌ ) عندما نريد أن ننقل Bool أو Bull وذلك على الشكل التالي:

أما بالنسبة للحروف المكسورة: نستخدم الكسرة ( ِ ) عندما نريد أن ننقل Teen أو Tin ونستخدم تنوين الكسرة ( ٍ ) عندما نريد أن ننقل Tain (كما في entertain) أو Ten وذلك كمايلي:

وأخيراً بالنسبة للحروف المفتوحة: نستخدم الفتحة ( َ ) عندما نريد نقل Ban وتنوين الفتحة عندما نريد نقل Bun (يعني استخدام الـ ً هو في حرف الـ U والـ O باللهجة الامريكية) كمايلي:

وهكذا دواليك.

وهنا بعض الأمثلة

قد يبدو بعض هذه الكتابات غريباً ولكن لنتذكر أن هذه الطريقة مخصصة للكتابة بما يعادل اللفظ الانكليزي لأسماء علم، أو للتدريس مثلاً

مع العلم أن جميع الحقوق الحصرية لاستخدام هذه الطريقة محفوظة حصرياً لحضرتي.....

Number: From Ancient Civilizations to the Computer

I finished reading this book: Number, about the history of numbers as we know it from ancient civilizations until current times. I read this in Arabic. The book is published in 1991, so it is way before more advancement in technology, as far as computer goes. So some of the figures in the book are not quite adequate by current standards. Anyway, the part about the computer at the end was very boring and deosn't compare to the evolution of mathematics. After reading the book I felt an urge to reread our school math books and refresh my memory, knowing that I got a complete score in math in بكالوريا, which I am very proud of.
So the book starts with talking about numbers and math in different civilizations. The main concept is that learning or discovering math is a sequel of needs, and not of mere mental masturbation. i.e the need to make calendars, fortell fortune and prepare for armies, and sometimes calculating what days should the emperor court his "women".
American Indians: had no good concept of the numbers due to the fact that they had no calendars, coins, or a stable built civilization. The Incas in South America used ropes with knots for counting and used their ability to memorize to differentiate units of numbers. They used the decimal system (and this apparently is due to us having ten digits)
Sumarians: They used a system of 60 order (not 10), they had no zero (which is by the way taken from the word Sifr صفر in Arabic). Using the 60 system gave them the advantage of ease of calculating as 60 has many factors.
Babylonians: took over the Sumarian and used pre-made tables for calculations. The need for setting calendars for religious feasts and events improved the development of math.
Egyptians: in Egypt there was no currency!!! That apparently affected math development. And they used no zero. But the math developed apparently to be used in governmental issues. Most of what is known is after a papyrus called Rhind written by an EgyptiAn named Amus. They used the decimal system and improved math tables. The need for detecting when the Nile floods was important in developing Astronomy and math too. They started the 24 hour a day system, and used fractions.
China: They had 5 ways of writing numbers, and used the decimal system. They also had the zero concept, and it seems this dates to before the Arabs. They figured the solutions for معادلات من مجهولين (I don't know the English name but it is an x,y formula). The Chinese emperor had in addition to the Empress 140 females in his palace, and he had to sleep with all of them twice a month!!! (I don't know if he had time for running the empire) and for this they developed a good math and astronomy system because in every time he "sleeps" there would be "orgasm recorders" because this exact time dictates the zodiac sign of a baby. They even solved math formula of the thenth order.
Greece: They used the decimal system with no zero. Pythagores thought that math is the way to perfection. They didn't consider 1 or 2 as numbers because a number means more than one, and two was the start of even number so it wasn't counted either. The Pythagorians thought the number 10 was sacred (=1+2+3+4) and they swore by it. They had a system that divieded numbers to: even-even, even-odd, odd-even, and odd-odd.
Euclids (I hope the spelling is right) إقليدس composed the book: Elements, which was considered a sacred book for 2000 years in math and geometry.
India: Used the decimal system, and used the zero sign. They are the first to discover the field of trigonometry. Math was considered of religious teaching, and they had 5 kinds of infinity.
Mayans: used the 20 system (in relation to fingers and digits apparently), and used the zero.
Arabs: Al-Khawarizmi الخوارزمي (680-750) was the reason of introducing the numbers 0-9 to Europe in its current way (the numbers are called by the way Arabic), he has the Algebra book (thus the name of the science). The book contained teaching in the math operations (adding...) and the negative number concept.
Omar Al-Khayam (known for his poems الرباعيات) also had he go in math especially analytic geometry and algebra.
Europe:
Napier (1550-1617) opposed the papal domination and discovered the decimal point (or comma الفاصلة العشرية). discovered Logarithms and made log tables that were used until 1960's
Newton: made advancement in differential calculus (حساب تفاضلي)
Babbage: created the difference machine (may not be the right naming). and wrote what is the first computing program in addition to creating the first calculator. he also created the distance counter (used till now in cars...).
Boole: added to differential and integral calculus, in addition to algebra (logic) where the use of AND, OR, and NOT is applied. Although it is not mentioned in the book but the first thing that struck my mind is that this is what I use in internet searching. But of course, this is called the Boolean serach.
Turing: is the creator of the first electronic computer machine.

One funny thing I read is about this guy called Zeno who had this weird math concepts. One is the following:
If an arrow was shot in the air it will arrive to point A. The arrow cannot move unless it was in a certain place first (in order for the arrow to move in a place it had to be it it first of all). Then the arrow cannot be moving in the place it is in because then it will not be in the place. so the arrow cannot move. :)
This reminds me of another story: if you want to go from A to B you have to move half the way, then you have to move have again from the last point to B, the half the way again from the previous point to B. And becasue the is an infinite number of "half-ways" you will never be able to reach B.
Neat isn't it

Anyway, this is another example how we take things for granted. The simple multiplying calculation we use machines to do, or use a pencil to calculate the number quickly, took others tens of years of thinking to make this possible. So a big salut to them. (we were told this story at school, but after some research it looked that it is a Zeno idea, see the above link)

السر المصون في شيعة الفرمسون

هذا آخر كتاب انتهيت من قراءته وهو كتاب شيق وممتع ومفيد. ألفه سنة 1910 الأب لويس شيخو اليسوعي في فضح ادعاءات وأكاذيب وغايات الماسونية في ذلك الوقت على الأقل. والطبعة التي بين يدي هي من منشورات نوبل.
الكتاب على ما يبدو هو تجميع لست مقالات في الماسونية نشرت في جريدة حينها اسمها المشرق. وهو يقع في عدة أبحاث كلها ننقد المذهب الماسوني (أو الفرمسوني) وأعماله. والكاتب ذو حس فكاهي طريف (بالعامي: أفّلجي). وهذا يجعل قراءة الكتاب أسلى. وهو كالبحث العلمي كل شواهده مرفقة بمرجع يدل على أصل القول أو المعلومة.
وللتلخيص (كان يجب أن ألخص فحوى الكتاب أثناء القراءة) أقتبس مايلي:
"الماسونية شركة سرية سياسية غايتها تقويض اركان كل سلطة دينية كانت أو مدنية".
في الفصل الأول يقوم الكاتب بسرد لتاريخ الماسونية والتناقضات في رواياتهم، فمنهم من يعيدها إلى آدم ومنهم إلى الفراعنة وهكذا. ولكن من خلال قراءتي يبدو أن أصولها بشكلها الحالي يعود إلى القرن السابع عشر أو الثامن عشر. ويعني اسم الماسونية أو الفرمسون: البناؤون الصادقون. ولهم أسرارهم الخاصة التي يقسمون أغلظ الأيمان على ألا يشوا بها تحت طائلة شتى أنواع العقاب والتنكيل. وهذه الأسرار تعطى لهم تباعاً كلما تقدموا في المراتب (33 مرتبة). ومن الأسماء المعروفة بانتمائها السابق أو المستمر للماسونية التالين (وهذا أدهشني): محمد عبدو والأمير عبد القادر الجزائري (لكنهم نبذوا الشيعة الماسونية بعد اكتشافهم لحقيقتها). وكذلك جرجي زيدان، ابراهيم اليازجي، وشخص كثير التكرار خلال الكتاب اسمه شاهين بك مكاريوس (وألقابه تتعدى الخمسة عشر سطراً). ويفند الكاتب ادعاءات الماسون بكون جمعيتهم خيرية، تسعى لنشر العلوم وأنها لا تعادي الدين ولا تتعاطى السياسة. ويبدو أن الماسونيون لعبوا دوراً كبيراً في الثورات الاوروبية مثل الفرنسية والبرتغالية وغيرها من الدول خاصة من فصل الكهنة من التعليم والتدريس. وللماسونية باع طويل في معاداة بابا الفاتيكان والمذهب الكاثوليكي والجزويت أو اليسوعيين بشكل خاص.
في الفصل الثاني يقوم الكاتب هنا بسرد الدرجات الماسونية بدءاً بالطالب إلى الاستاذ إلى الفارس (بأنواعه: قدوش أو صليب وردي إلخ...) وكذلك المراسم الخاصة ببعض المراحل وما يتلو المتقدم من أيمان وبعض الرموز الماسونية كالمصافحات والسلام وبعض العبارات أو المصطلحات مثل: بعوز، جاكين، ماك بناك، طوبلاقين وغيرها. كما يسرد بعض الأرقام عن الايالات الماسونية واعداد المشتركين فيها، حيث أن كل محفل لا يتجاوز عدد أفراده الخمسين وسطياً.
في الفصل الثالث بحث عن آداب (أو قلة آداب) الماسونية. ويبدأ بمشكلة الاعتقاد بالله. ويبدو أن الماسون كانوا يقولون بـِ : مهندس الكون العظيم أو الأعظم (بدلاً من الله ويتبعون ذلك دليلاً لغير الماسون بأنهم يؤمنون به، لكن للكاتب رأي آخر)، ولكن حتى هذه ألغوها ما عدا في بعض المحافل الشرقية حيث الديانة قد لاتزال تلعب دورها. كما يتعرض لمشكلة الماسون مع الديانات ورجال الدين. ويتبعها بصلتها أو موقفها من الملوك والعائلة والزواج والشعب والوطنية وغيرها. وبالملخص فإنهم يسخرون من استطاعوا إليه سبيلاً لتحقيق أغراضهم وذلك يتضمن الدرجات الدنيا من الماسونية، حيث تجب الطاعة العمياء للرؤساء الأعلى شأناً.
في الفصل الرابع هناك تعرض للجهاد ضد الماسونية سواء من الدول، الملوك، أو الكنائس على اختلاف طوائفها. وكذلك لا نستثني المسلمين. لم يأتي ذكر لمحاربة اليهود للماسونية ولكن في الفصل الأخير يذكر الكاتب أن معظم الرؤساء الأعليين في الماسونية أو صناع القرارات كانوا من اليهود.
الفصل الخامس يبحث في كتب الماسونية، جيشهم، لغتهم ومصطلحاتهم الخاصة، ودواوينهم. ثم يبحث في شرور الماسونية المرتكبة في أصقاع الأرض، خاصة أوروبا، إضافة إلى سوريا ولبنان.
أما الفصل السادس والأخير فهو معنون بـِ: قعر الجراب الماسوني. وفيه بحث عن منشئ الماسونية ورئيسها، وعلاقتها ببعض الرموز خاصة الشيطان. ثم متفرقات عن الماسونية الشرقية واليهودية. وفي آخر الفصل نبذة من قصائد الماسونية والقصائد المضادة.
الكتاب مرة أخرى شيق ويدعو الشخص للبحث أكثر عن هذه الجمعية السرية ذات الوجهين و الأهداف الغامضة.

The Dream Blog

I frequently dream whacky and adventurous sci-fi kind of dreams. Although I always wanted to leave a pencil and a notebook at the bedside to note my dreams in the morning, I have not done that.
Today I just got the idea of a dream blog. But before that I did a search, and to my surprise, there are people who are keeping online diaries of their dreams, well detailed I would add.
I am having this idea of a blog were everyone can log in and write their dreams, no interpretation needed. But I am too busy and lazy (the second is more true) to do something like that. This means that I have to design a website or a blog to fit the idea. And there is no way on earth I will do it now. I hope someone does anyway...
Yesterday I dreamt that I was on a mission to save two babies while the world was undergoing some kind of building-exploding-into-dust thing. And I was using some weird cars to do that. I think the second baby could not be saved, the dust storm reached me quick before I could leave. Good thing I woke up to escape the disaster.

Vote: Why Doesn't Our News Media Cover the Winter Olympics in Torino?

As any good citizen, I don't watch news channels (especially the Lebanese ones) unless I am extremely bored or have to because someone else is watching it (usually older than me). Instead I am watching, when I can, the winter Olympics now being held in Torino, Italy since the 10th of February. And watching it is fun; I should write about the feelings that come through while doing that, but this is not the entry to do that.
As I browse our local newspaper we daily buy: Al-Thawra, I open the sports page and try to look for Olympic news, but in vain!!! No Olympic news??? What the hell is going on? I am not sure about the rest of the papers, but online at least, Teshreen has not covered a single thing too. I couldn't log on to Al-Baath, but the SANA news agency reported a shy piece of news about two Germans winning the Biathlon. Not even the TV website had any mention of something called winter Olympics.
I thought of what could be the reason for such a thing and came up with some explanations, I hope some of you know the answer already, or at least vote to pick one choice:

1- Israel is participating, so for political reasons we would not cover (but we cover their political news!!)
2- Denmark is participating and due to the recent boycott on it no sport coverage exist
3- These media agencies do not have internet access to look up news and results
4- They don't know that Olympic games are going on now
5- The sports page editors are assholes
6- The agencies do not have TV/satellite channels to watch and report based on them
7- People have TV/satellite and do not need a dedication of a column in the sports page to Olympics
8- Covering news of Al-7asakeh women volleyball, Tartous football team and Idleb's blue collar chess tournament is more important
9- The sports page editor broke his knee once during skating, thus his hatred towards winter sports
10- We are not participating, so no need to report their news (but we also do not participate in NBA (حاشا) but they report their results)
11- Syrians do not understand winter sport (as the only winter sport we participate in is trying to get warm) so there is no need to cover something vague
12- The political situation between Syria and Lebanon, and the international pressure and variable factors compromising the Syrian integrity and freedom, in addition to the continuous local threat of fundamentalists and the situation in Iraq is not in favor of covering the Olympics
13- Waleed Junblat likes winter Olympics, so we shouldn't
14- Winter Olympics official are Jews
15- The Olympic logo has a hidden meaning calling all nations to suppress Arab regimes and support the rule of the Jewish state
16- Olympics were created by the same people who killed Zenobyaj, thus the historical hatred
17- The local media is fucked up the ass
18- Rami Makhlouf has the sole right of publishing anything about the Olympics
19- A Danish company is sponsoring the Olympics and thus is boycotted
20- There is a Lebanese female participating in the games
21- The ostrich rule of Syrian media: if it isn't reported, it didn't happen (another way of burying the head in the sand)
22- Italy does not report any of our local sports events, so why should we report their Olympics.

Attending myself

A year ago next March, I was in Florida attending and presenting at a Palliative Medicine meeting arranged by my training program at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation.
At the time there was a full team video-recording everything that was going on. The idea was to make this available online for people to use and benefit from (and maybe later make it a Pay-per-view thing).
I didn't know this thing was in effect really until today. So I spent the last 20 minutes listening to myself presenting in the conference online. Too bad there wasn't a video recording (only sound), but that is OK as for sure a dial up modem is not going to handle motion pictures well.
The thing I wanted to say is that I was impressed. I thought I did badly that time. But I exceeded my expectations. Well, maybe I did badly on the second one, which I did not attend today. But anyhow, it is funny to hear yourself talking. I don't know if any of you had a similar experience: to be in the opposite side while you are watching or hearing yourself talking, and listening at the same time, and maybe taking notes of what you said, and criticizing.
The thing is that I didn't hate my voice this time. It must have been modified. I know mine is usually horrible and kind of nasal. The first time I heard a recording of myself I fell on the ground from laughter. I couldn't believe that such a weird unearthly sound could come out of me. But my vocal cords are probably getting rougher.
It was also different and weird because I am hearing myself talking in English (not my native tongue, as you know). It always sounds worse when you hear yourself at the time of talking, but hearing this reassured my again.

إعلانات مبوبة 2

هذه حفنة أخرى من الاعلانات الطبية :)

NeoCounter

I have to admit that I like the idea of the visitor counter. I should have done it from the begining. There is so much to blogs than one can expect.
I think it give an insight to the traffic through. And also some intersting things may arise. For example I don't know why a resident of Croatia should stop by, given the fact that my blog is not listed in search engines!!! (must be through other websites). I just hope it doesn't count me as multiple visitors, otherwise that will be an enormous number of hits.
And if you hover the mouse pointer over the flag you get a small map... Neat right?

Pall Med in Breast Cancer

Today I presented about palliative medicine in breast cancer. A topic that was interesting while I was preparing it.
For one reason or another I felt shaky and my heart was pounding fast at the begining. I could feel the vibration of my vocal cords. This disappeared after the first couple of slide, thank god.
I think it went well, and was well received. At least that what I was told, but again I personally know most of these people attending so it is hard to take their words for 100% real. I did anyway. One attendee commented to me that she was about to weep as I was speaking. I took this as a compliment (it sounded like that) although it could have meant: "what did I do to deserve attending such a thing?". I am just kidding... The lady was just indirectly expressing the sad reality of what I was talking about.
Until next lecture, please accept all my greetings. And remember, don't become my patient.

اعلانات مبوبة

بما أن الاعلان هو أساس تعريف الناس بالعمل والوجود وغيره، هذه حفنة من الاعلانات المبتكرة للأطباء

Update on Lecture 2

This is going to be a part of a Breast Cancer Symposium in Cham Palace.
The lecture is this coming Friday at 9:50 - 10:10 AM

Recently Red

And here I mean the St. Valentine Day. Everything turns to red as if it is a feast for cannibals and vampires. It seems to me that this celebration was invented by the manager of a bankrupt store, so he can get people to buy things, red things of course.
It is good for economy, through spending of course, some might say. But what it is not good for, it's people. Valentine is not a problem usually unless you don't have a mate, then it is not your celebration and everyone else is doing it. And that can be annoying. I can't say that of myself this year, although it is one of the very few Valentine days I ever celebrated. It isn't like Christmas, or Hanukkah or other events that certain groups of people celebrate. It is something that potentially everyone can, but they don't all.
Another thing that goes along is like this year. A relative's death 2 days before takes place before the Day. Our neighbor dies too on the Day itself, so we spend time in the church watching people mourn, not a good way for people to pass through the day, especially when it seems that everyone else out there are doing their things while ignoring, of course not intentionally, the sadness surrounding them.
As per me, I had a very nice time with my fiancée and dined at the top of Cham Palace which turns around and gives a superb view of the city at night, and of course the mountain (Qassyoun). With one exception, the service, the night could have been perfect. But that is one thing it seems they will never learn to do properly in our restaurants and hotels.
Anyway, I wish all a happy Valentine, or future Valentines. And remember that I love you.

Recently Read

In addition to the History of salt book I mentioned previously, here are some other books I read recently, in the clinic.
1- The Alchemist by Paolo Coelho: a phlosophical story (as all Coelho's stories are) in Andalusia about a guy who had a dream about a fortune waiting for him in Egypt. As events lead him to make his journey he faces lots of risks and adventures only to find out that his real treasure (personal legacy as author liked to call it) is back home. i.e. it is possible that what you want is near you, but that shouldn't keep you back from going all the way to realize that.

2- Devil and Miss Prym by Paolo Coelho (again): a novel about the good and evil (of course a philosophical one too) residing in each of us, and the fights they may go through when faced by a new challenge or event in life. The novel takes place in a very rural village in Europe.

3- مصارعو الثيران من قرية فاسيوكوفكا لـِ فيسفولود نيستايكو: طبعاً هذه القصة ليست جديدة وليست المرة الأولى التي أقرأها. وهي على فكرة قصة أطفال عن صبيين أوكرانيين ومغامراتهما في القرية وكييف. وهي، بحسب رأيي، من أكثر الكتب إضحاكاً وتسلية. وأعتقد أني سأواظب على قراءتها سنوياُ على الأقل. وأظن أن الدكتور أدونيس يوافقني الرأي إن كانت ذاكرتي لا تزال طرية

Coming soon other things that are going to be read too.

Syriamirror

I have found a new website that lists and keeps an updated log of syrian blog entries. It is nice if someone would like to go over these writings without checking every single blog.
The site is http://planet.syriamirror.net

كلام في السياسة

قد يقول بعضكم كيف وأنا منذ يومين قلت أنني لن أكتب في السياسة، غيرت رأيي لأفعل ذلك. وجوابي هو أنني لم أغير رأيي.
يثير انتباهي أمر مسلٍ، على الأقل كما أراه. وهو أن كل من أعرف بدون استثناء، يفتح صباحاً ومساءً على برامج الحوار السياسية ونشرات الأخبار السياسية... اللبنانية
وبذلك فأنا على جهلي الآن استطيع أن أعدد أسماء 200 وزير ونائب وسياسي وقائد حزب لبناني دون توقف مع معرفة انتماءاتهم السياسية. وفي الوقت ذاته أكاد لا أعرف من نظائرهم السوريين سوى رئيس البلاد ورئيس الوزراء و3 أو 4 وزراء.
ومن الجدير بالذكر أن كل هؤلاء اللبنانيين، أو على الأقل 95% منهم، يجيدون التحدث والمناقشة بأساليب متغيرة ومتنوعة، سواء كان ذلك معها أو علينا. بينما استضافة أي ضيف سوري، أو على الأقل 95% منهم، لا تفيد شيئاً سوى هز الرأس اعتراضاً على "خشبية" الحوار، كما حلى لأحد البرامج الفكاهية اللبنانية أن يدعوها.
لذلك وبما أن كل هذا لا يقدم ولا يؤخر فأنا أنصح بالالتجاء إلى الأغاني ومحطات الرياضة حيث الالمبياد الشتوي بدأ اليوم.
وشكراً

Lecture 2

Next Friday (the 17th) I will be presenting on Palliative Medicine in Breast Cancer. I don't know the location and the time yet. But it is one more thing on my academic work here in Syria, which I am enjoying.
It's good to be useful.

Denmark... Caricatures... Protests...

I feel intrigued every now and then to state my opinion on something that attracts the media and public opinion such as the Denmark and the caricature phenomenon. But I generally refrain from doing so as this has nothing to do with my blog... which is about me in Syria.
So as this whole thing wasn't a direct part of what I personlly experienced here, I decide again not to write anything about it. Others are doing so anyway and doing very well at times.
Same thing goes for political issues. All these are nothing but boring subject that has no right or wrong, but just opinions that will never be parallel.
This doesn't mean that I don't form an opinion of what goes on, which may please some and infuriate others.
So sorry, no Denmark, no caricatures, and no protesting.

Ways to Use Your Clinic

As you can expect in any new clinic, business is relatively slow. After spending the first month or so trying to get used to the brand names of Syrian drugs, which have failed horribly I may add, there was nothing to fill my time but some patients who come everynow and then.
The hospital contract says that it is forbidden to use the clinic for anything but patient care. So no girls allowed.... Just kidding, LOL.
I discovered a new use for the clinic, and that is reading. plenty of quite time is good for nothing but reading. I am about to finish the third book in the clinic now. And I think I should write about what I read for a change.
As per why I am not writing as extensively as before, that is due to getting into the "routine" and also being recently engaged with all what that has in its stores.

Super Bowl XL

And why would I write about an event that is taking place in a different continent, no one here cares about it. It is the final match of the NFL (american football). Most people here, including me before I go to USA, think of the game as a bunch of people jumping on each others and throwing a spindle shaped ball.
In addition I haven't really cared much about the preseasonj, the regular season, or even the play-offs. And this has been the way even for the last few years in USA when I only watched the Super Bowl. And now it is time to do it again. But this time alone without my buddies.
The Super Bowl is a big event in USA, and probably the most watched event throughout the year. And it got more famous I think after the Janet Jackson "wardrobe malfunction" two seasons ago. The ads are very expensive, but very funny too. And I can tell this year ads are better than the last year.
The biggest problem was to find a channel that broadcast it. All the sport channels on Arabsat, Nilesat, and Hotbird were useless. I spent half an hour browsing over a thousand channel. But eventually I had the genius idea of checking the Hebrew one: Amos. It has only four channels and one of them was live broadcasting the match off ABC.
I was excited, needless to say, and then started preparing my bedroom to fit the event. Got some nuts, soda, and toasted bread (كعك) and then sat in the bed, rather laid, and started watching... alone. And who would anyway stay up from 1:00 till 5:00 Am to watch an event that doesn't intrest them the least??
The first quarter was shameful, and I thought the Pittsburgh team would not do well. But eventually the game took and different turn to the best and it became exciting. Pittsburgh won eventually. My friend Michel must be excited, if he ever cares.
I miss the gatherings for the Super Bowl with my friends. And I hope some of them are reading this now. And if they watched it yesterday I hope they remembered me too.

The Syrian Siren

In USA the roads are made wide, I am not sure of it, but it seems as if they had a prediction for the future needs of cars and trucks, etc...
When a police car or an ambulance or a fire truck tries to pass, they turn on a siren and everyone in front of them would sway to the curbs and stop, or to the rightmost lane. Alternatively a rescue squad may take the shoulder way in a crowded street. To sum up no one stands in their way while they are trying to do their job.
In Damascus these cars have a different kind of siren, in addition to the first one mentioned above (the "وي وي وي") and it is the... ready?? The loudspeaker!!!
The first time I couldn't believe my ears, an ambulance, or a tow truck would start its siren and then as everyone starts honking to the car in front of them, the driver loses patience and starts his own warning sound....
"بعد قدام من عندك"
"تحرك لشوف، زيح طريق"
"انت اللي قدام امشي بسرعة"
"أسّع ولا، أسّع"
And so forth... I can't say that this is much efficient but I think is a practical simulation of the "herd" manner people are used to be treated occasionally :-P
I can only say: poor guys those who are in trouble and waiting for rescue.