proposed new Horizon newsletter article

Below is the proposed new article that I had sent off to the Sultan Qaboos University's Horizon newsletter to be published.

It probably won't come out until maybe Sunday or Monday. But I am hoping it would get accepted.

---------------------------------

Inspirative Society

It is known that education is an important and integral part of the developing mind in order to come to a certain level that would push forth the creative and practical purpose of mankind to rise up the sophistication of human kind the world over in certain period of time.

However, every person – due their societal, environmental, and behavioral differences – perceive the level education in their own way. Some may think that studying a major that is irrelevant to their environment is waste of time, effort and money. Others like to see it as an extra benefit to them and their society. It is perception that holds us back or pushes us forth into accepting or rejecting the true purpose of a subject – whether we, as individuals, like it or not.

The true purpose of education, therefore, lies within the secret that it is a reform of the individual mind. Correcting and perhaps building upon existing data that we had already learnt in past years.

Education is also a tool of empowerment; not just towards seeking employment at a company or a governmental ministry, but also towards building a new generation with new, creative ideas on how to solve problems, reverse faults and after effects and help the current community grasp and endure what it is lagging behind.

In short, education can be seen as a tool towards building an inspirative society. One that would inspire other future generations to build upon the mechanism of a fundamentally strong society with sustainable growth and development

rasing money for the needy - part 2

This post is in reference to the post that I mentioned about a kiosk being in the Muscat City Centre that was selling off merchandise to help raise money for the families that needed money to re-establish their lives and homes again.

I am posting here to update everyone that I was told by the attendee of the kiosk that today (Friday) was the last day for him in Muscat City Centre and that he and the kiosk will be relocating to the Jawharat Al Shatti complex.

Help the needy people of Sultanate of Oman.

For more information on how you could also help you could also visit the Gonu Relief Blog.

Your help would be very much appreciated.

'Net Neautrality

Although this would only apply to consumers and customers in the United States, people of worldwide geographical status would share the same opinions and ask the same of their organizations such as the TRA here in Oman along with OmanTel and Nawras.

SAVE THE INTERNET

The Bourne Ultimatum

The final episode in the Bourne trilogy has come to a thrilling end.

Filled with fighting action sequences, smart alec jokes, and car chases galore, you get everything you should have gotten in Mission: Impossible - 3.

I won't give off the ending and what becomes of Bourne. But I will tell you that you will be satisfied of the outcome and how the director handled carefully the story and what becomes of the character.

The Bourne Ultimatum is now playing at Al Shatti Plaza.

You can view the trailer on YouTube, here.

------------------

Link:
- The Bourne Ultimatum - Official Website

raising money for the needy

I don't know if anyone out there knows of this or not, but, I stumbled upon a kiosk in City Centre, Muscat selling off t-shirts and caps to raise money for Gonu affected families in the Sultanate of Oman.

The t-shirts are being sold for 3 Rials a piece while the caps are being sold at 1 Rial each. You can also make a cash donation to the cause in any amount you can.

This kiosk represents Dar Al Atta's service to help the affected families in their struggle to a normal life.

It would be appreciated if you could make a donation in any form through that kiosk.

Royal Oman Police

Today was the day that I had my ID card renewed at the Royal Oman Police in Seeb.

To me, everything was being fare and just in all manners of dicipline and behavior - or maybe that is what I perceived. However, noticing the large numbers of non-Omanis around me at the renewal centre, I also noticed a few other things, too.

Most of the Indian nationals were being treated with hostility and were being shouted out by fellow Police officers behind the desks when they couldn't understand what it was was being communicated to them. They were run around in circles simply because they had to do extra paperwork considering the fact that they were foreigners.

To me, the Police system might be considered as a subsiadary of the milatery system but it still should treat people with respect since they are the first in line (in that specific centre and anywhere else possible) in touch with the people on the road, on the job and under the direct supervision of the public.

Being shouted at is not something nice, whether it was the person's fault or not. Question is, did these Policemen even bother asking themselves if they were communicating in the right way? Ill treatment in any other country is liable for prosecution that recognizes the citizen's rights to be respected at all times, even when under investigation or prosecution.

So what did these free people do to acquire such hostile behavior?

AGCC meeting to be held in Doha instead of Muscat

This puzzles me.

There's been an article in both the TimesofOman.com and Al Shabiba about how the Sultanate of Oman had personally asked the Qatar Emir to hold the 28th AGCC meeting in Doha instead of having it held in Muscat as scheduled before.

Is the place not ready?

Do they have some kind of problem?

It was said in the article that:

"Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, minister responsible for foreign affairs, had conveyed a written message from His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said to the Emir of Qatar, His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani. The message had included the Sultanate’s request to transfer the venue of the summit to Doha. The shifting of the summit venue came in the context of the government’s involvement in the reconstruction and renovation work following the unusual weather conditions that prevailed in the Sultanate recently."

But there was no reason as to why.

Would anyone out there have a possible answer?

--------------------------------

Links:

- TimesofOman.com: 28th AGCC summet venue shifted to Doha

- Shabiba: By request of the Sultanate and Gulf leadership approval .. 28th AGCC summit shifted from Muscat to Doha (Arabic)

studying sucks

Our study plan layout was presented to us today at the College.

We had a test on the 14th and 18th of August, 2007 on both IF1 & IF2, respectively. After which we would be finishing the syllabus by the end of August and starting revision classes during September where we would have some mock final tests to ensure that we have understood everything to date.

Before Eid Al Fitr, sometime in mid October we would have our final exams and have two weeks holiday until the end of the Eid holidays whereby we come back after that to start the second semester programme.

I've always hated studying, but entering this programme would enable me to have a student life all over again, plus trying for a part time job someplace and at the end a permanent job in the insurance industry in Oman.

enquiry made to Film City Oman

Last night, before the havoc of disruptive Internet services that had the whole online nation at a standstill, I had sent an enquiry to the Film City Oman - the owners behind Al Shatti Plaza through their email contact on their website, asking about whether they would be able to bring Rush Hour 3 by this week.

I got the reply today in the following format (names have been erased to protect the identities):

Dear Mr. [censored],

Kindly note that "Rush Hour" will be releasing by the end of this month at
Al Shatti Plaza. We shall post the exact date on the website in a week's
time.

Regards
management

TimesofOman.com: What next?

Below is the newest article written by me published online on the TimesofOman.com website.

I do hope the subject will be a matter of good debate.

----------------------

What Next?

So, now, we are back at this point. The point of having to try to ask back everything bad that we had ever done in our lives. The point of whereby we ask God that we could have another chance at bringing back things to what they were before everything.

Unfortunately, that is not the case, here. In the sense that we cannot ask to have everything back as it used to be.

Gonu came and went, and probably had been the worst nightmare anyone in the Sultanate had ever dreamt of experiencing. But it did happen. It happened, though, with the least amount of human fatalities ever known. It destroyed commercial areas in Qurum where most of the Omani folks in Muscat do their shopping for many various occasions. It is unknown when all the establishments in that part of Oman will be back to normal working order. But it definitely won't be anytime soon from the looks of it.

Would this have a bearing on the purchasing power of the Omani consumer? I don’t think so. Even though there are many different projects on the roll to shake up the private sector here in Oman; just waiting to see the watery mouths of the investors to inject into the industry is enough proof that Oman's economy is doing extremely well besides all these catastrophic events.

But when Ramadhan looms over Oman this year sometime in September – and loom, it will – where will everyone go for their daily shopping? Where would all go and enjoy the few nights that they get together as families (which is perhaps maybe twice or three times a year) for a nice Iftar? What about the beach road cafes and the road networks there?

There are many questions that are going through my mind at the moment. Main question that has to be double underlined here is –– Gonu has come and gone, but what happens now?

----------------------------

Edit: This article has been edited from it's original appearance.

----------------------------

Link:

- TimesofOman.com: What next?

Lions for Lambs

This one looks like a great movie. It seems so intense, so dramatic. So, .. my type.

Comes 9th November, 2007.

long overdue

I suppose everyone in Oman knows of this by now but they don't know the exact timing of it.

It has been confirmed that Oman Mobile and Oman Telecommunications Company will be both re-merged into one company withing a few weeks from now. The move behind this is that the company (i.e.: OmanTel) has been discussing and evaluating its business and come to the conclusion that their biggest selling product/service was their mobile communications unit which we come to know as Oman Mobile.

The drive to split up the company in the beginning was because Nawras had argued that it cannot compete with OmanTel as a startup mobile telecommunications company with the government pushing it onwards with a tremendous budget. So the Capital Market Authority had ordered the the company to split up into two.

The reason behind delaying the announcement was to wait for an appropriate time when everyone came back from their holidays to get everything on a roll. So that by the time the investors come back the price of the shares will be driven sky high all over again over the movement.

It is also interesting to know that before the end of this year, two new competitors will also be entering the market in the fixed line and Internet businesses. And the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority will also be making an important announcement about the possibility of both OmanTel and Nawras to invest in both those fields as they desire without a need for a new license.

By 2009, assuming the penetration hits above the past 33% average before Nawras had come into the market, a new license will also be awarded in the field of mobile telecommunications to a new and much stronger competitor by the TRA.

This information was provided by an anonymous but reliable source.

-----------------------------------

Links:

- OmanTel

- Oman Mobile

- Nawras

- Captial Market Authority (CMA)

- Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA)

the very best of the best

Well, I'm sorry to say that I am not an American. Neither am I in any way affiliated with the city of Minnesota. But what I have in relevance to this picture is the fact that I had scored a great 76 out of 100 in my Information Technology test that I took before the holidays.

It's the highest grade in the entire Insurance course two batches and only me and a friend of mine had scored the same grade.
Wonderful, isn't it?

take the kids to see this..

Underdog is the new superhero adventure being 'unleashed' by Disney for the children segment of the movie society worldwide.

I know I wouldn't go watch it because it sounds too corny; but I am definite that anyone's child would enjoy this movie.

---------------------

Link:

- Underdog - The official movie website

a change in the outline?

A lot of the bloggers have gone offline now in the sense that they have stopped posting on their blogs.

But does this mean that the trend of Omani blogging is at a decrease or this is merely a temporary state that only exists in the summer?

Some bloggers have promised to come back online quite soon because they are under pressure from work or life issues or perhaps even marriage and the commitment they hold to such a relationship whilst keeping it a reality.

But there aren't enough Omani bloggers around to change that much of a scene, in the sense of that they blog from the Sultanate of Oman and only because they would mostly be Omani. I could enlist a huge list of people who have stopped the habit of posting on their blogs voluntarily and without announcement but that would be unethical as I hardly known any of them let alone to feature them without their permission.

But the online trend in the Omani lifestyle is set to grow at an unprecentended rate in the future sooner or later because there is rise in awareness of how I.T. can be used to the advantage of our population which mostly is under the age of 40 years old.

So, I ask again - is this what we should expect in terms of bloggers from now on or will there a change in outline?

Atlantis

It's been said that there was a lost advanced civilization some 11,000 years ago. It existed - according to the Philosopher Plato - in between Africa and the Americas; somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. Hence, the name: Atlantis.

This civilization had everything going it's way, two harvests in a year, major trade and commerce between them and other different civilizations and all the fruits of nature.

Up until here this is where things get a bit interesting.

It's said that the Greek God of Gods - Zeus - had seen the immortality of the Atlantians and was discussing amongst the other Gods what sort of punishment to bestow upon them because they had started to worship a statue of Poseiden - God of the seas - in a specially built temple along with the manifestation of corruption and greed for more power in the ancient civilization.

Thus, punishing them by sinking their ancient continent into the sea forevermore.

Since I am a man who believes in Islam, I have an interesting theory about this that I would like to share with you here.

It is said that God - Allah Almighty - had sent a Prophet to an ancient civilization to return them to the path of faith and The One. They had everything they ever wanted that God ever gave to a civilization such as theirs. But they also carried out the filthiest of sins: men were in love with men and women were in love with women because neither wanted the other. God had told them that they are carrying out a sin that neither anyone of this world or the one that we cannot see of the Jin had ever committed, so how could they?

But still they carried on.

God told his Messenger that He would turn their land upside down had they not stopped carrying out the ill-manner of living.

But still no one answered him.

God did as He said He would. And the world has been invisible for ayons now.

It is in my opinion that this civilization that had angered God was that of Atlantis. How else would anyone explain of a civilization that existed on Earth but vanished in 1 day and 1 night? There is no other civilization known to man that has had the same punishment.

What do you all think?

YouTube closure

Freedom of speech is a right we seldom use in Oman to the point that we allow ourselves to be compromised by other options to take in as 2nd choices. Unfortunately, it seems that even that itself is going to be taken away from us if there isn't act too soon to regulate the ill-use of teenagers and children alike of websites and what parents and school teachers should be doing about monitoring their use of the world wide web.

As in a report by the Times of Oman, a petition has been backed up in London, UK to push forward closing down the world's largest video sharing website that came to be established by the year 1995. This petition has been moved to stop the growing scene of cyber-bullying on the Internet such as threats through videos posted on the site to teachers and school staff or even faculty and students.

As far as Catriona Tait of Dundee, Scotland - UK, she says:

"Nobody should be subjected to such humiliation anywhere, let alone in their place of work," she said, demanding the closure of sites "encouraging this irresponsible use of technology."

But does YouTube really encourage cyber-bullying?

YouTube is really a means to reach out to the millions of people with Internet linked computers, something which mostly comes positively onto the lives of many people all over the world and as a spokesman for YouTube states;

"It's also used by organisations such as Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth to reach people on a range of important issues. Sadly as with any form of communication, there is a tiny minority of people who try to break the rules."

So is it really fair to condemn a website to group punishment when you should aim at the source?

-----------------

Links: - YouTube - TimesofOman.com: British teacher's union calls for YouTube closure

Resident Evil: Extinction

Warning: This movie trailer is not for the faint of heart. I am not responsible for any health consequences should you proceed to watch this trailer.

This is the trailer for Resident Evil: Extinction. The last - supposedly - of a horror and gore trilogy about a world infected by the T-virus that was developed by the secret Umbrella Corporation.

The answer - this time - lies within Alice, one of the sole survivors of the infection and apocalypse time periods of Racoon City. She must trace her own roots back to where everything began and try to figure out what to do and do it before it's too late.

-----------------------------

Link:

- Resident Evil: Extinction - Official Site

update on new Horizon article

I've been very busy with getting back to college and doing other chores for me and the house while my parents were away - which they aren't anymore - that I didn't get anytime to sit and actually think about what to write for the new Horizon newsletter's article.

So what happened then?

I didn't submit anything and called up apologizing for the inconvience asking to submit a new original work by the next submission date.

That new date would be 10th August, 2007.

apologies

I have to apologize to every single one out there for giving out false information which I thought was genuine at the moment of receive.

I had posted earlier that the proposed holiday for the Islami celebration of Al Israa' Wal Mi3raj was going to be this Saturday. Therefore, giving hope based upon false pretences.

Hence, I ask that you forgive me for this errata that I have made and I would - in turn - be more careful to what news I bring onto my blog.

Again, my sincerest apologies..