May 25 2005

Redback Spiders in UAE

Residents in Dubai have been reporting the presence of the redback spiders in their homes and gardens.
According to AME Info, residents are concerned that a lack of availability of antivenom for the poisonous redback spider is endangering lives.

The redback spider -scientifically known as “latrodectus hasselti“– is native to Australia and it is thought they arrived in the UAE about 10 years ago.
Up till now no injuries caused by this spider have been reported by any resident in Dubai, but people are advised to keep away from it and be careful because its byte could be a deadly one.
This is how a redback spider looks like:

The bite is highly venomous and characterized by intense localized pain and around the bite site. The normal sequence of events after a bite is as follows: a sharp pin-pricking pain, usually the bite site becomes hot, erythematic and edema develop rapidly. Localized sweating often occurs. The swelling is generally limited to an area of several cm in radius from the bite site. Around 5 minutes after the bite, intense local pain commences and increases in severity and distribution. Movement of the affected limb often significantly increases the pain. About 30 minutes after the bite, pain and swelling are often experienced in the regional lymph nodes. Other symptoms may include muscular weakness, loss of co-ordination and, in severe cases nausea, vomiting, convulsions, etc.
What to do if you or someone you know got bitten by a redback spider?
Apply an ice pack to the bitten area to relieve pain. Do not apply a pressure bandage (venom movement is slow and pressure worsens pain). Collect the spider for positive identification. Seek medical attention IMMEDIATELY!
Anyway, I didn’t blog about this topic to freak you out, it’s just to spread information because I assume that there are many like me who had no idea about the deadly poison of the redback spiders. So that in case you see one, you make sure to keep away from it, and keep your kids safe.

Via: Environment News (AR)
Source: Albayan (AR)

Category: General, Nature & Environment | LEAVE A COMMENT
May 25 2005

Jordan Independence Day

Today marks the 59th anniversary of the independence of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan… our beloved Jordan.

May God Bless Jordan and its people, and may peace spread in all Arab countries and all over the world…

[Photo Source: Al Rai (AR)]

Category: Jordan | LEAVE A COMMENT
May 24 2005

A Helping Hand… Global Hand

Global Hand is a network which aims to help all in the humanitarian aid spectrum find one another. Global Hand’s goal is to link people who have available goods, labour, freight, or funding, with non-profit organisations who need them.

I believe this is a great way to help others. Check out their official website here, and if you think you can join and help in any way, don’t hesitate, nothing compares to the joy you’ll get when drawing a sincere smile on the face of someone in need 🙂

Via: Subzero Blue

Category: Media, International | LEAVE A COMMENT
May 24 2005

Driving In Jordan ;)

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Click Here for a larger version.

I found this hilarious 😀

Actually driving in Jordan isn’t that bad compared to other places. I mean from my personal experience I can say that it’s all a matter of getting used to the driving atmosphere.
For example, my German co-workers in Amman used to always complain about the way people drive in Amman, some even gave up driving, but others got used to Amman and are now driving normally.
Also when I came to Tunisia, I was like: no way I’d EVER drive a car in this country, but look at me now, I can drive, it took a while till I got familiar with the new place, streets, and manual gear, but finally I did it. Yet they tell me that in Libya driving is crazy! Just like I’ve always seen Cairo and Damascus as hopeless cases, but I know that if I spend more time in any place, with a little bit of courage, I’d get used to the driving norms there and things will be just fine.

Of course that doesn’t mean that we –in most of the Arab countries- suck big time in following the rules when it comes to driving, but things are always becoming better. New methods are being applied to improve the way we react to driving rules, to guarantee a safer, more enjoyable ride 🙂

Category: Arab Societies, Jordan, Just Personal, Tunisia | LEAVE A COMMENT
May 23 2005

2nd Tunisian Bloggers Meetup: Simply AWESOME!

So yesterday was the second Tunisian bloggers meetup. We were supposed to meet at 7, MMM and I made sure we go there earlier enough to get a good place and be the first to welcome others 🙂 It was 7:30 and still no body showed up, so we thought to ourselves: ok, looks like we’re the only ones who’d actually be present at the meetup 😛 We thought it was a sign for a big failure of this meetup, but then the bloggers started coming one by one, till we were 9 and a guest. It was GREAT!

We talked and talked and talked, it was just amazing. We had serious talks and funny talks, from blogging in general, to the Tunisian blogosphere in specific, to homosexuality, to personal limits and etiquettes, to sources of inspiration, to the rapid growth of the blogging phenomena in Tunisia, what we like the most in each others blogs and many other extremely interesting topics. There were times when I felt I couldn’t take the laughter, it was beautiful.

First we were gathered in the Sidi Bou Said port café, after a while a blogger and his guest left, leaving 8 bloggers in the meetup. When it got really cold we thought we’d go to a warmer place, so we moved to another café and the meetup went on till 11:30 p.m., if it wasn’t a work day the day after and wasn’t that cold, I’m sure we would’ve stayed even longer.
I just hoped others would show up, it was one hell of a meetup, I LOVED IT! I enjoyed every second of it.

There’s also a progress, another female Tunisian blogger was present: La Blogeuse, it was great knowing her, and I wish other lady bloggers will join in the coming meetups.

In short, I personally believe that the 2nd meetup was a BIG SUCCESS! And I thank MMM for organizing it, and thank all the bloggers who showed up even though many had a very busy day, and I thank all for making this meetup such a great chance for us to talk, discuss and know each other better, in an extremely respectful and friendly atmosphere.
And I also hope that others who didn’t show up, will be present at the coming meetups 🙂

Check out the pictures here!

Category: Tunisia | LEAVE A COMMENT
May 21 2005

If I Could Be

MMM passed me this really interesting list of occupations. The thing is, you choose at least 5 of any of the occupations and say what you’d do if you were in these occupations. Afterwards you could add more items to the list and pass it to another 3 bloggers.

Here is the list:
If you could be a scientist // If you could be a farmer
If you could be a musician // If you could be a doctor
If you could be a painter // If you could be a gardener
If you could be a missionary // If you could be a chef
If you could be an architect // If you could be a linguist
If you could be a psychologist // If you could be a librarian
If you could be an athlete // If you could be a lawyer
If you could be an innkeeper // If you could be a professor
If you could be a writer // If you could be a backup dancer
If you could be a llama-rider // If you could be a bonnie pirate
If you could be a midget stripper // If you could be a proctologist
If you could be a TV-Chat Show host // If you could be a pariah
If you could be an actor // If you could be a judge
If you could be a Jedi // If you could be a mob boss
If you could be a backup singer // If you could be a CEO
If you could be a movie reviewer // If you could be a monkey’s uncle
If you could be a bible archaeologist //If you could be a househusband
If you could be a lifeguard //If you could be a comic artist
If you could be a stockbroker//If you could be a travel writer
If you could be a food reviewer //If you could be a politician
If you could be a male underwear model //If you could be a fashion designer
If you could be a game designer // If [Reader] could be a dog-trainer
If you could be a Transformer // If you could be a computer virus
If you could be a porn star // If you could be another blogger
If you could be a grain of sand // If you could be a fly on a wall

My choices:
– If I could be a fashion designer, I’d show the world that you don’t have to walk almost naked to be stylish, elegant and look good!
– If I could be a chef, I’d make a revolution and wear a 5 cm. cooking hat 🙂
– If I could be a doctor, I’d have at least 2 hours a day free of charge for the poor people.
– If I could be a grain of sand, I’d jump into the eye of everyone who’s bad to me and keep jumping inside till their eyes are too irritated to see anything 😀
– If I could be a judge, I’d support justice and lawyers defending true victims no matter how corrupted the environment I’m in would be.
– If I could be a monkey’s uncle (wait, I’m a female!) so if I could be a monkey’s aunt, I’d certainly kill myself 😛

To whom should I pass it? Well, I’m too lazy to choose, so, you read it, if you like it, go ahead and share us your choices 😉

Category: Just Personal | Comments Off on If I Could Be
May 18 2005

HOPELESS!

How do we expect to have peace and justice if there are people in the world who think like THAT?

It’s such a shame to know such people -blinded with hatred and racism- exist!

Via: Jad

Category: General, Media, International, Religion | LEAVE A COMMENT
May 18 2005

Nobel Laureates Gather in Petra-Jordan

Nobel laureates from across the globe gathered in the ancient Jordanian city of Petra on Wednesday with the lofty goal of seeking solutions to the world’s problems.
Over the course of 2 days, the 29 laureates and other leaders will examine and try to find solutions for problems in four main areas, including terror and peace, economic development and poverty, health and environment, and education and media.
Hollywood actor Richard Gere joined Peace Prize winner the Dalai Lama for the illustrious meeting of top thinkers which host King Abdullah II said was aimed at finding a new start for a planet wracked by conflict and poverty.
“The world is at a critical crossroad,” the Jordanian monarch said in his opening speech. “A process begins here – a process that all of you will shape – and by your effort, help shape our world.” Highlighting the conflict in the Middle East, he said the world needed to make a “new beginning” to create more freedom and opportunity, build peace and expand global cooperation, with a particular focus on youth.

[Source: Middle East Online, Al Ghad (AR)]

Isn’t this just great? I believe Petra is the perfect place for the gathering of great minds…

Category: Art & Literature, General, Jordan, Media, International | LEAVE A COMMENT
May 15 2005

Remembering Palestine’s Nakba…

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Alnakba.org

I’ve been wanting to write about today since the early morning, but I couldn’t find words strong enough to express my bitter feelings.
The 57th anniversary of the Palestinian nakba (disaster) the start of an everlasting struggle for freedom and justice, the first step in the journey of a 1000 miles of suffering and refuge…
Frankly I’m still not capable of writing anything, I feel speechless, every time I remember this terrible event, I feel so helpless…

So I’ll just cross-post some articles and posts that help give an idea about the nakba, and few examples of the Palestinian suffering throughout the year.

FREE PALESTINE! GIVE REFUGEES THEIR RIGHT TO RETURN!

Category: Palestine | 1 Comment on Remembering Palestine’s Nakba…
May 13 2005

Work Diaries (24): Get me the ticket!

We hired a freelancer to work with us on a very important project. Of course we’re responsible for all his reservations.
I contacted the hotel 2 weeks before his arrival, everything went so smooth. Actually I never had problems with any hotel I dealt with here, except for one, and it was just regarding some formalities with their boss. Other than that, hotels in Tunisia are so reliable, helpful and hospitable.

Then I had to make an internal flight reservation for our freelancer. I never had any problems with any travel agency I dealt with either. But there’s this one that we found the best so we kept dealing with them. But this time was an exception!
I made a reservation 1 month in advance for an internal flight. I got the confirmation, and THEY suggested they’d drop by our office to deliver the ticket and get the payment upon delivery. I agreed!
Of course I called every other day to get the ticket but they always assured me they’d bring it “tomorrow”.
The guy arrived, few days left and we have no ticket. I called and suggest I’d send them someone to pick it up and give them a cheque, but they INSISTED they’d make up for the inconvenience caused by the delay and will deliver it themselves. Again, made the same mistake and AGREED!
1 day before the flight: They call and apologize because they wont be able to deliver it. I fight with them, transfer them to my boss, who fights with them again, and then AGREES that they deliver the ticket next morning since the flight is at 3 p.m.
The day of the flight:
8 a.m.: I call to remind them how urgent it is they keep their promise, they say: Don’t Worry!
10 a.m.: I call again, they tell me: Stop Worrying, don’t you trust us?
11 a.m.: I call again, they tell me: sorry, we can’t deliver it. If you like you can come.
The boss & freelancer were in a meeting with a client until an hour before the flight. I can’t leave the office, because there are tax audits who will come in 30 minutes. I call the boss…
Eman: Hi, we have a problem, the travel agency can’t deliver the ticket!
Boss: what? Those x@*^&*%^#%^& …He hangs up.
I redial: Boss, so what do we do now?
Boss: those H@^&#()#*()KHJDHJKD …He hangs up
I redial: Ok, they suck big time, but what do we do?
Boss: deal with it. Those &*(HDSO&()#@HL
And he hangs up, leaving me the responsibility of “dealing with it”!
I try to call a messenger to go there, but they are not available. So I call the agency and do just like my boss: DEAL WITH IT, I WANT THE TICKET ON MY DESK ASAP!
10 minutes later I get a fax from them: Dear Mrs. Eman, we were finally able to solve the problem, we will send you the ticket first thing in tomorrow morning!
I call them and remind them he should be on board at 3 p.m. TODAY! They explain they can’t deliver it today no matter what. So I end up begging the messenger to make an exception and go pick the ticket, he does, he saves the day and the freelancer got the ticket on time.

I call them and ask them why this has happened, although they’ve always been very professional, they answer: you should’ve made the reservation early enough!!

Category: My Work Diaries | LEAVE A COMMENT