Some Inspiration!

Unfortunately the easy way exists no more...we are born into a mind-blogging interconnected hub of dreams, fears, hope, commitment and challenges...

But then again, if everything was easy then easy for you would be easy for all and life would be too easy and not much fun... :)

New Music: This is War!

New music is like fulfilling an addiction. I've been listening to this song over and over again. Its from 30 Seconds to Mars's new album (This is War) which was released a few days ago. I haven't got the album yet but this was a single released back in October.

I love Chrome!

Chrome Beta for Mac has finally arrived!!! I missed using it on windows since I've moved to mac.
If you haven't tried it, download it NOW! :)

Chronicles of the Newbie Expat - part III: (Round About)

My first semester at Rutgers is coming to an end. I hope it ends successfully as it has been a tough one. There's two weeks left...

It's been a semester I'll remember for a long time to come. Its my first experience at becoming the Newbie Expat :). I've met new people, made new friends, learned new things, traveled around, been places, ...etc (the list goes on). Simply put, its been a wonderful NEW experience - ahL.

I just want to leave you with a photo essay of where I've been to in the last few months.

Lets start off with....

WAIT A MINUTE ... ITS SNOWING!!!!! :D
Its been YEARS since I last saw snow!

Anywayz I'll deal with the snow later...where was I.

The pictures (click to enlarge) are in the following order:
1. New York
2. Philadelphia
3. Boston

Unfortunately I didn't take my camera with me to Princeton (it was magnificent)...

Fire of Astoria! Egypt vs. Algeria 2-0

Egypt needed a two goal difference to earn a rematch against Algeria. If they win the rematch, hopefully, they will for the first time in a bloody long time qualify to world cup 2010 in South Africa! Lets keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best :D.

I leave you with some images of a place called Astoria in New York city as the match comes to a victorious end. Egypt took one side of the street and Algeria stood ground on the other. Police kept people off the asphalt in between. It was a crazy day!

Remember, this is in New York city...

End of The World

I stumbled upon a webpage totally and utterly by accident today. I typed in "goo" and hit enter before I could finish typing google :S.

A page popped up. It was a wikipedia page with the title: "Grey goo". It didn't seem interesting at all. It seemed like one of those useless entries you ignore. Out of curiosity I read the first sentence. It caught my attention!. It read: Grey goo "is a hypothetical end-of-the-world scenario involving molecular nanotechnology in which out-of-control self-replicating robots consume all matter on Earth while building more of themselves — a scenario known as ecophagy ("eating the environment")" :S What the ****!!!??? Visions from the movie, "The Day the Earth Stood Still", started flowing through my mind...

So its a term coined by Eric Drexler in his 1986 book Engines of Creation in which he talks about tiny atom-size machines and the uses of such machines in our lives. Interesting stuff...

Rutgers University

I'm studying at Rutgers University currently. Rutgers is sometimes known as a "public ivy" school as its one of the old colonial era universities. It is the eighth oldest university in the US and a great school.

It's divided over three campuses in the state of New Jersey. The three are (1) New Brunswick and Piscataway, (2) Newark and (3) Camden. The largest student body is in New Brunswick/Piscataway. This is where I am studying.



New Jersey is known as the Garden State and is full of greenery and wildlife. I have seen skunks, beavers, rabbits, birds of all sorts, funny looking bugs, bugs that make weird sounds ... etc. Most of this wildlife I've seen on my bike rides and long walks.

The New Brunwick/Piscataway campus of Rutgers is divided into four smaller campuses: Cook/Douglass, Busch, Livingston and the main one College Avenue. Between them are lush forests and vegetation. It's quite picturesque. There is also the Raritan river which flows between New Brunswick and Piscataway.

New Brunswick is in a central location halfway between NYC and Philadelphia. I'll upload some pictures of the place once I fix my camera so stay tuned :D.

Certified Belayer

So I finally passed my third test in belaying. Im now a certified belayer. For those of you who don't know what belaying is, it is an important part of rock climbing. A typical system in rock climbing combines two people (a belayer and a person who is on belay (i.e. climbing). The belayer is attached to the ground and is securing the climber as he/she climbs up. The belayer can hold the entire weight of the climber using relatively little force and can stop the climber from falling. This of course is done using a system of ropes and devices.

The belaying device is what is also known as an ATC, and looks like this:



The rope loops through one of the two holes in the top of the ATC (shown in the picture above). It loops through and is attached to a carabiner which is then attached to your harness and a daisy chain which is attached to the ground. The looping of the rope acts like a pulley in some way and allows you to easily stop it from slipping through by pulling back the rope to a breaking position. This is how you secure the climber from falling and can stop the climber if he/she is falling and can also gently lower the climber back down to a better climbing position or the ground.

A belayer and belay on climber can be seen here:



The belayer is the person on the ground and the climber in the picture is said to be on belay. As you can see the belayer has the rope in the break position to stop the climber from falling.

I enjoyed it a lot but unfortunately was unable to make it up the harder climbing routes. I make it up the easy ones but have difficulty carrying my weight up the medium to harder routes. My arms get tired very quickly due to the hefty weight they are carrying. Something to help with that is to rely on your feet to carry your weight, but unfortunately I get stuck some times and have to use my arms and then they quickly get exhausted until my forearms can't take anymore :D. Then I shout "Take!" and my belayer calls "Gotchya!" and then I let go of the wall :D. Its load of fun but got to work on my weight.

Academic Page

My academic web page is up.

You can link to it here

I hope to update it regularly with projects, publications (isA), interesting things in academia, interesting links, teaching stuff ... etc.

Stay tuned :)

One small planet!

We are affected by culture, society, beliefs, religion, environment and many other external cues that shape us.

What is a person's nationality? Where they grew up at various stages in their life? Where they went to college? Where most of their friends come from? What languages they speaks? What religion they follow? There are many questions linked to identifying the national identity of a person. Today in this world rigged by globalization and an ever-increasing inter-connectivity between peoples it can be hard to pin down one's national identity.

I noticed that the majority of people come from a single country and this is their home and nationality. I am a member of the minority who are a mixture of more than one. I lived in many places, the longest of which was in a place I don't call home at all. I grew up in a British school in the Middle East for most of my life. After that I spent the next longest stage of my life in Egypt which has been the most shaping time as I went to college there. Through this time I was unfortunately detached from my mother-tongue home, Britain. A few years ago I was reunited again with this place which I look more home in than the rest of my list of homes.

I've been lost in thought about this lately as I have been inducted into a new environment and have had to introduce myself many times. I always say I'm half/half (a hybrid of the new world - :D ) but sometimes I feel lazy and just settle with one nationality. The truth is, I don't know which I am more of :D. Does it really matter? I don't think so. I am half-half. I have the best of both worlds :D.

Being part of a culture and environment for a period in your life influences most of your thinking process and background inner beliefs. Like you understand the little adages, sayings of wisdom, beliefs, morals...etc that shape a community in that particular region and this becomes your foundation for further learning in life. This foundation of course changes constantly with every strong external cue we encounter. It's complicated of course because no two people are alike and we all react to our environment to different degrees.

I call myself and others like me - the hybrids of the new world :D. We are the products of globalization and modernization which has brought about increased inter-racial connectivity. These people are caught between cultures, societies and in essence - identities. It doesn't make them bad people. I'm not! :D. It gives them room to maneuver and pick out the best. So beware all you pure breeds!!! - LOL :D.

What I'm trying to formulate into writing is that some people in this world that is increasingly breaking all boundaries between national identity are caught in the middle. It's up to them to maneuver through it and benefit from the HUGE advantage of being part of two cultures, societies and in general nationalities and to benefit from the heritage each bequeaths to them. In order to understand a people as deeply as you can, you must rub shoulders with them and this is the two-fold gift one gets when they taste two nationalities.

It doesn't take a genius to figure that out, but I just wanted to describe it in writing. It's been on my mind for a while.

A whole new experience!

Recently, I bought a Mac and so far it's a totally new experience. It's exciting and fun to use so far and I'm looking forward to learning more about this UNIX based operating system. I'm beginning to love UNIX again and the little powerful terminal I knew all too well a few years back.

It's all coming back to me now. My undergrad thesis project and the terminal that would sit there on the screen. No lovely user-interface - just the simple terminal with its plethora of commands and capabilities - :D. The good old days!

Chronicles of the Newbie Expat - part II (Dreaming of Wheels)

So here I am, settling in - in a far away land that rains and thunders in the summer and is filled with wildlife and lush green landscapes :). I've just gone through a hectic orientation week and my first week of classes.

The transportation is good. It's better than having a car :). The walking and biking is healthy and fun. I bought a bike the second or third day I was here because I was fed up of getting soaked by torrential rain on my 30 minute treks to downtown.

I went on lovely trips to NYC and Philadelphia! Princeton is up next :).

After a long, never-ending walking excursion to NYC I got off the train and was looking forward to riding my new bike home. I exited the station and scanned the bike racks for my precious bike.

Hmmm ... thats not my bike ... nope, not that either or that or that or that ...

I went back and forth for a few seconds around the area where I remembered I had parked it and locked it up. Then I started focusing on each one in the rows of metal bars, seats and rubber. Then I saw it! My precious bike was there :) but it was no longer fit for the definition of bike :(. IT HAD NO WHEELS! I blinked once, twice, again and again. I laughed to myself to overcome the disbelief. My bike's front and back wheels were gone!



I had bought a lock that locked the wheels along with the bike frame to a pole. Before leaving for NYC in the morning, I thought to myself who would steal the wheels in front of the train station. It was a lively public area. There was no way someone would risk stealing them here. I was wrong of course. I ignored the wheels and just locked the frame of the bike to the rack. The wheels were actually designed to be easy to clip off. I didn't know it was that easy :D.

Now I have to get myself a new pair of wheels :D

Chronicles of the Newbie Expat - part I

My journey of becoming an expat started last Saturday. I flew out of Egypt (my primary homeland) and headed for my second homeland. I hadn't been to the UK for just less than 2 years. As usual I loved it and loved the spirit of adventure that came hand-in-hand with travelling and discovery of new places. Despite this, I couldn't help feeling a longing to go back to the life I was leaving behind. It was a stable life - el humdulilah. Now I felt like I was stepping into the abyss of the unknown. These bubbling emotions were not much to do with the fear of being alone and fending for myself. I didn't fear living or surviving on my own. I looked forward to building up my life and career in my new home. It was more to do with the deep longing to stay with what I was leaving behind. There are numerous things I will miss dearly.

I look forward to the day I reunite with these things...

Dwarf Planets (Poor Pluto)

In 2006 formerly classified planet, Pluto was striped of its planet status and reclassified as a dwarf planet.



The key difference between the otherwise identical planet and dwarf planet is the fact that dwarfs share their orbit space with other objects with similar sizes. In the end stages of planet formation, a planet will have cleared the neighbourhood of its own orbital zone, meaning it has become gravitationally dominant. This means that there are no other bodies of comparable size other than its own satellites or those otherwise under its gravitational influence. The current definition of a planet adopted by the International Astronomical Union only includes those bodies which have "cleared the neighbourhood of its orbit." A large body which meets the other criteria for a planet but has not cleared its neighbourhood is classified as a dwarf planet. In Pluto's case, it shares its orbital neighbourhood with a distinct population of objects called the Kuiper belt (Pluto is the largest of these objects).

NB: Astronomers and other experts are debating the definition of a dwarf planet and whether or not Pluto should be classified as one.

Persistence...

“It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer” - Einstein

Circadian Rhythm - The "Biological Clock"

The Circadian Rhythm is what we call informally - the "biological clock". This rhythm is a roughly-24-hour cycle in the biochemical, physiological or behavioral processes of living entities. Circadian rhythms are generated from within living organisms and can be synchronized by external events, called Zeitgebers. The primary Zeitgebers is daylight. These rhythms allow organisms to anticipate and prepare for precise and regular environmental changes.



The main biological clock in mammals is located in part of the brain (the suprachiasmatic nucleus - SCN). Destruction of the SCN results in the complete absence of a regular sleep/wake rhythm. The SCN receives information about illumination through the eyes. The retina of the eyes contains not only photoreceptors but also photoresponsive cells. These cells, which contain a photo pigment are linked to the SCN. If cells from the SCN are removed and cultured, they maintain their own rhythm in the absence of external triggers (interesting!). It appears that the SCN takes the information on day length from the retina, interprets it, and passes it on to the pineal gland. In response the pineal secretes the hormone melatonin. Secretion of melatonin peaks at night and recedes during the day.

There are many health problems associated with disturbances of the human circadian rhythm. Disruption to the rhythm usually has a negative effect. Many travelers have experienced the condition known as jet lag, with its associated symptoms of fatigue, disorientation and insomnia. A number of other disorders are associated with irregular functioning of circadian rhythms. Disruption to rhythms in the longer term is believed to have significant adverse health consequences on peripheral organs outside the brain, particularly in the development or exacerbation of cardiovascular disease. The suppression of melatonin production associated with the disruption of the circadian rhythm may increase the risk of developing cancer.

NB: A number of studies have concluded that a short period of sleep during the day, a power-nap, does not have any effect on normal circadian rhythm, but can decrease stress and improve productivity.


[Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circadian_rhythm#Origin]

Savant Syndrome & Extraordinary People

Savant syndrome is not a recognized medical diagnosis but researchers define it as a rare case where a person has developmental disorders but has one or more areas of expertise, abilities or brilliance.

A well-known case is Kim Peek the real person behind the character played by Dustin Hoffman in the film Rain Man. Around 50% of savants are autistic and the other half suffer from various disorders. Kim Peek is a savant but is not autistic. He has a photographic memory and can read a book in about an hour (speed reading) and remember about 98.7% of everything he has read. He can recall the content of 12,000 books from memory :D. He is also a natural calculator. The fame he received due to being the "real rain man" has improved his social skills.

There are other well-known savants including writers and musicians. Some people develop their abilities later in life as a result of an accident, illness or trauma. Alonzo Clemons was a normal boy until he suffered brain damage as a result of a fall. After that he could build accurate animal sculptures from clay using his photographic memory. Some scientists believe the potential to become a genius is actually in all people but is hidden by normal functioning intellect. Savants suffer from damage to the brain which disrupts normal functioning and allows the brain to access these hidden skills.

There are some extraordinary people out there. I saw some documentaries about these people. A young boy who lost his eyesight due to disease could actually "see" using sound waves. A man that can survive unbelievably cold temperatures. A woman that can see sound in the form of color ribbons. Rudiger Gamm is a mental calculator who gained his amazing ability at the age of 21. He can calculate complex math in his head. He can also speak complete sentences backwards :D. He can also calculate calenders and has proved mathematic theories due to his remarkable ability. Rudiger Gamm gained his ability almost overnight as he was reading a book of numbers which had a table of the powers of numbers. He says that anyone can do what he does, "There is just a table of numbers to learn then anyone can do it". His case was examined and he was not classified as a savant but rather as a case of genetics. You can see a clip about him here. You'll find more links to extraordinary people from there.

This is interesting stuff!

Types of Intelligence

Psychologist Howard Gardner proposed a "theory of multiple intelligences" to more accurately define the concept of intelligence and to address whether techniques of measuring intelligence were scientifically sound.

He classified intelligence into the following:

1. Bodily-kinesthetic (intelligence linked to physical activities)
2. Interpersonal (intelligence in interaction with others)
3. Verbal-linguistic (spoken and writing intelligence)
4. Logical-mathematical (intelligence in logic, abstractions, reasoning and numbers)
5. Naturalistic (nature, nurture and relating info to one's natural surroundings)
6. Intrapersonal (introspective and self-reflective capacity)
7. Visual-spatial (visual and spatial judgment)
8. Musical (intelligence in rhythm, music and hearing)

The classification was originally seven but Gardner later added an eighth (Naturalistic intelligence).

Gardner also suggested and explored other intelligences including spiritual, existential and moral but excluded them from the classification because they overlapped with the 8 above and were hard to determine compared to the other intelligences.


So which is your strongest intelligence?

Full article: here

Movie Mania: Benjamin Button and Slumdog

I've watched two movies this past week and both have blown me away.

The first is The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and the second is Slumdog Millionaire.

My advice is go watch them both! They're both intriguing films.

The first one started me thinking about how if we had experience in life at a young age, how different we would live our life - in other words - If I had all the experience of years of living, how different would I live my life as a youngster. It also got me thinking about how similar our lives are at the beginning and near the end. We need to be taken care of and nursed on both ends of the line. We loose control over our brain. We no longer become conscious of our memories.

The Slumdog movie was thrilling! It's a symbol of love and hope. Lots more in there by the way, so you should check it out.

Pretty interesting films!

Farewell of Fury

Farewells...I hate them but we can't live without them. Unfortunately we have to bid farewell sometimes and take alternative paths in life. Today is my first day in that alternative path and I'm caught in a nostalgia of the past year and eight months. I'll miss is, but after all, changes are the spices of life. Without them life would be dull and monotonous. A change is needed every once in a while :D.

I was given a farewell fit for the famous :D. I was beaten up, written on, pushed around, sat on, poked with a fork, chased around, given a beautiful and tasty cake and was about to be put in the shower with my clothes on. There was even an attempt to take off my shoes and tickle me to death :). What a farewell!!!! :D. It was fun.
All in the name of fun and the expression of joy to see me leave...lol.

This is what I looked like after the farewell. Unfortunately i didn't have my camera that day so you'll have to accept the primitive quality of the cake-picker's iphone :P.

Facebook Withdraws New Terms

Facebook, after much opposition, has reverted its terms to the old one prior to the recent changes. Thank goodness!

See the previous post for information regarding the changes Facebook made to its terms of service.

Facebook Owns You

I just heard the news that Facebook has updated its terms of service.
Now it claims that it owns or at least shares your uploaded content!!!
It gives them the right to use and sublicense your uploaded content in anyway they see fit (though they claim fairplay!) even after you "delete" anything. They can use your photos in ads for example. They can use your name, image and likeness for commercial purposes and advertisement.



Of course a reaction has been boiling up against this change. 80,000+ users joined a group protesting these new terms ("People Against the new Terms of Service (TOS)"). What happened to Facebook! It is no longer the little innocent startup; they have transformed into another evil empire :S. They even hold the right to use content you have deleted from their network!!!!! This is outrageous! The other social networks are not like this. Twitter has no intellectual right to your content. Myspace can use your non-private content for myspace services only and this right is deleted with the deletion of the content. Youtube also claims a limited license to your uploaded videos and this halts after deletion.

This is an insidious move by Facebook!

For a detailed description, visit here

The Slow Suffocation

I was on my way to a shop in a populated district of Cairo one day. I usually try to avoid this area due to its packed streets and traffic-jams. I had to circle a number of times around my target destination to find a parking spot. The streets were unbelievably packed, either side. Rows and rows of cars lining the tiny streets. In many cases there were two rows of cars parked and cars parked on the sidewalks. Sidewalks literally do not exist in most of Cairo. This left only one tiny lane for cars to move through, and in many cases for the cars to move through both ways.

Its an absolute disgrace and should be at the top of someone's priorities. In some cases in Haram (a Western district of Cairo which contains the Great Pyramids of Giza) there are roads that to me look more like a mountain range of dusty asphalt than an actual drivable road. I seriously can't believe that there is governance that have overlooked this for a very long time. Its more like the place is governing itself and the people are struggling along.

There are two vital roads that are traffic arteries in the Haram area. They decided to build a flyover connection which goes along one of them. Fair enough. This has been going on for a long time now and has literally blocked the this artery. I try to avoid it altogether. To make things worse they have decided to also start construction on the other vital road. They are doing something about the rubbish-filled Nile tributary which runs along the middle of the road. They are filling it up or something. So now you have two critical routes blocked with construction. I spent a hell of a long time in one of them a few days ago. Unfortunately I'm going to have to make that same trip again so I'm praying for a skycar or something to get me passed the hordes of cars, trucks and lorries.

Hoping for the best...

Indians in Space (Chandrayaan)

October of last year, India sent up its first space mission. It sent up Chandrayaan-1 which consisted of a lunar orbiter and an impacter. The impacter separated from the orbiter and hit the surface of the moon releasing debris which was analyzed for water/ice. The orbiter will map the surface of the moon. Already images of the deep moon craters have been beamed back.



India has become the fourth country after the US, Russia and Japan to put its flag on the moon. This is quite an achievement. It shows that India is a force to be reckoned with. In the 1960s American products were boosted by the US missions into space. The missions were seen as a sign of technological advancement in all aspects, not just space flight. Japan visited the moon in 1990, China sent probes up into lunar orbit and now India successfully completes its first event in the exploration of our moon. This definitely gives a boost to Indian technology. They have already developed the worlds cheapest car. Despite the enormous poverty they are on the right track in the technological sector.

Stellar Navigation (Finding Polaris)

I don't think many people know how to navigate using the stars. I know that there is a one in a million chance that you'd be stuck in the middle of nowhere and only have the stars to guide you.

I think its just something interesting to know which may, you never know, save your life. It's very simple. To find North you need to look for Polaris (The North Star). People usually think Polaris is very bright. It isn't actually. It is just surrounded by rather dim stars so it stands out a bit.

The first thing you have to do is look for a particular constellation called "The Big Dipper". It is also known as "Ursa Major". It looks like this:



Once you have found this constellation, you should line up the two stars at the end of the bowl part of the constellation. If you line them up and extend that line you should meet a star directly along its path that is brighter than its adjacent stars. This is Polaris. This star always points in the Northern direction.

Disturbing Times...

The UK has officially gone into recession. The world is feeling the pressures of the credit crunch. The financial situation is on the edge of peoples' minds and tips of their tongues. An Egyptian man reportedly lost a large sum of money and killed his sleeping family with an axe to keep them out of the misery.

The conflict in the Middle East still pluming with smoke. Israel has left many people dead, injured and suffering in Gaza. With the hypocritical withdrawal of Israel forces from Gaza a day or two before Obama enters the white house, the region is far from stable. Rumors of spies has been reiterated around Gaza and there have been reports of acts of retaliation against accused spies who helped the Israeli bombardment.



There was a sign of hope with Obama's win and promise of change. He took office and signed for the closing of Guantanamo Bay and halted all prosecutions there. Despite this he did not mention anything about the crisis in Gaza. He did not utter a word. There have also been two strikes since he took office on an area of Pakistan suspected of having links to terrorism. People have died because of the strikes.
Maybe there won't be any change!
I really hope just foreign policy and rightful diplomacy is displayed by the Obama administration.

I truly hope there are bright jovial days to come.