Beware of what Identity you assume!

Throughout the time I was enjoying being me,I never thought that being myself sometimes will limit what I can do and who I can contact.

Recently I started working on a project that requires networking with Arabs in a certain area of expertise. many of those Arabs know me as mab3oos. They're on facebook, twitter, and they actually read this blog. The question I am dreading is:

How did you know about us?

this post was brought to you by a generous donoation from the Gallab Think Tank.
"we are full of it"

The Elitism of Jordan's Social Networking

Since the very beginning of my days on fb and blogging, I've had this feeling that Jordanians on Social Networking portals, be it fb, twitter, or blogs, belonged to the mid-high or high class of Jordan's society. The make up of Jordanians on such social networks, therefore, is not a true representation of Jordan as a whole.
Facebook might portray a more comprehensive picture, however, it remains captive to the younger age group, such as high school and university students. Also, given the low rate of Internet penetration and ownership of Internet-connected computers in Jordanian households, the presence of Jordanians on Social Networking sites remains reserved to those financially able to own a computer, maintain an Internet connection, and have the "network effect" to dynamize their presence and contributions.

I know the above is not a finished thought or that it shows actual data. But, I thought of writing it down here and share.

Any thoughts?

Migrate vs. Immigrate vs. Emigrate

Migrate: for humans and animals. It conveys the seasonal or periodical movement. It signifies the actual action of movement from a place to another.

Emigrate: The prefix e- (or ex-) usually means "out of" or "from."

Immigrate: The prefix im- (or in-) often means "in" or "into."

If I migrate from Germany to France, I would emigrate from the point of view of Germany and immigrate from the point of view of France

Therefore, emigrate means "to move out of" and immigrate means "to move into."

here

Cocktails

DSL in the US vs in Jordan Re: Orange Jordan and their despicable service

I have noticed recently the repeated complaints by Jordanians on the level of service and the product pricing scheme followed by Orange telecom in Jordan (latest here). I must say that I really feel bad for Jordanians having to put up with such disgrace. In the US, SBC charges $30/month (21JD) for unlimited download @ 3mb speed compared to Orange Jordan's $52/month (40JD) limited to 12GB of download @ 2mb speed. although DSL subscribers anywhere only add marginal cost to the ISP since the network is already in place and any new user will only add the small cost of employees' time setting up the account and connecting the service. From then on, it's profits. In addition, the level of service provided to Jordanian customers is abysmal judging by the amount of grief broadcast by Jordanian users of the service.

Solar Power Potential in Jordan

Jordan's surface area: 92,300 km2
Jordan's daily average of solar insolation: 6.5 kWh/m2/day
= 599.95 Billion kWh/m2/day

Jordan's daily consumption of electricity: 27 billion kWh [9.852 billion kWh annually (2006 est.)]

and that's clean, free, low maintenance, cancer free, renewable, hard currency saving, job generating energy.

this post was brought* to you by الحسبان للطاقة الشمسية

*مؤسسة الحسبان has nothing to do with mab3oos and very likely doesn't approve of most of his posts

Online Search trends have little in common!

Yahoo!

Google

Twitter

Bing

Dogpile

MetaCrawlerWeb

I haven't even moved in yet!

I am glad I only had clothes and boxes of books in the room. My (future) roommates had some electronics and cash stolen from their rooms!

"So easy, a 7afartali can do it" محاشي

the most important part about محاشي is the filling. You can use cabbage, zucchini, eggplant, grape leaves, turnips, bell peppers, ..., and many other vegetables. But, if you screw up the filling, the whole thing is wasted. this post is for the equivalent of 20 small zucchinis.

the filling:

• 1 part meat
• 2 parts rice
• 1/2 part parsley
• marinara sauce or tomato paste
• enough potato slices to line up the bottom of the pot
  
• spices: salt, pepper, nutmeg, allspice.
• vegetable oil (if the meat has fat on it, I don't recommend adding any oil)

how to make:

1. finely chop the parsley and mix with everything except the potato and tomato parts
   
2. gut out what needs to be gutted out (zucchini, eggplant,...) and wash
   
3. stuff the vegetables with the mix up to half capacity
   
4. spread slices of potatoes at the bottom of the pot
5. line the stuffed vegetables inside the pot
6. pour a jar of marinara sauce or a couple of table spoons of tomato paste
7. fill with water to cover
   
8. bring to boil then simmer for 20-30 minutes or until rice is ready.
   

"So easy, a 7afartali can do it" صينية بطاطا

we continue with a very simple, but hearty, dish. This صينية بطاطا (Potato Casserole!) is by all means the easiest and simplest.

what you need:

• potatoes
• tomatoes
• a few garlic cloves
  
• meat (chicken is preferred, but lamb or beef are OK)
• spices: 1ts salt, 1/2ts pepper, 1/2ts cumin, 1/4ts cinnamon, 1/2ts nutmeg
• a little water

how to make

1. cube the tomatoes, slice the potatoes, and peel the garlic
   
2. cut and wash the meat into pieces as big as the potato slices
3. put everything in a big bowl
4. add the spices and mix everything well to distribute the spices
   
5. put into a baking pan
6. poor a cup of water into the pan
   
7. cover with aluminum foil
8. and bake on high heat. check periodically and add water if dry. It usually takes about 30-45 mins
9. uncover the pan, drain the water out (if any), and put back in the oven for a toasted top!