22 May, 2007

Racing with the Red Racing Team


The guys down at Marlboro have an annual event, which is the Marlboro Red Racing. This year, I WON!
Neat huh?
I am traveling to Dubai today to join them along with 34 other Bahrainis.
Looking forward to it, can't wait. Especially after seeing this short video from last year.

21 May, 2007

patcondell is Racist (in my opinion)






This is a reply to patcondell's question on you tube whether he is racist or not. Being a person that explains allot, you tube comments aren't enough for me, so here it is:
Opposing views are fine, but the video turned weird towards the end. Looking at your other videos I can safely say: Yes. You ARE racist.
The practices of some individuals is far from the teachings. When Families in Jordan kill off their girl for bringing "dishonor", that's their society. Not Islam. I dare you to prove otherwise.
Saying that the Quran promotes war not peace clearly shows that you haven't read it. Don't bring up phrases out of context. A bad film review can have the phrase "unique", but that proves nothing without the rest of the text.
People take things out of context all the time to achive certain goals. Bin Laden is very good at it. So is Bush.

To sum up:
  1. Women dress in black (like, what did you say? a Giant Pepper pot was it?) out of their own accord (outside of Saudi of course). You see it as a form of oppression, they see it as a form of dignity. Tell me why should they be ashamed of them selves? Why isn't it you who should be ashamed for having a limited view on things? So their dress means something different from what you think. Why do you have to force your idea on the subject?
  2. The thought of Islam promoting war or was spread by the sword is really old. It's been discussed so many times before. Please catch up.
I think you have the wrong idea about Islam. If you wish to verify how true my words are, please, lets discuss here.
However, do not attempt to force your ideas here UNTIL you understand what it is you are criticizing. Only then your ideas, even if different, will be accepted.
What do you say?
What do readers think?

RAMBO is Back!




I don't usually post movie news, but I know this will make allot of my friends giggle like little girls.
The one man army concept was huge when I was a kid, and RAMBO was all over the place. Lets see if this concept still works in the 21st century. Post your comments on the trailer here.

17 May, 2007

The reason why Bin laden is in the US, and the US is in Iraq






Watch the video first. It's a republican debate between Ron Paul & Rudy Guiliani. If you did then: Paul is absolutely correct. Guiliani is an idiot, in fact, rallying masses behind an "ideal" thought is what Bin laden does.
I mean, who the hell would hate anyone because they're free? Seriously? The biggest gripe about the US I hear all the time comes basically to "Why are they doing this to us?" and "Why don't they mind their own business?"
Did Americans really think they were liberating Iraq? Why not Liberate Nigeria from its leaders, huh? Do they care about Iraqi citizens? Where were the US when it approved of sanctions that killed millions?
They raised hell when an Emarati company (a "company" for goodness sakes, not army) managed one of Their ports. How would they feel if the French or Russian came to them and opened military bases on their soil?
For the record, I do not approve of Bin laden, he takes the Holy Quran out of context in a horrible way, hijacking and defacing my religion. But seriously, He wouldn't go all the way across the Atlantic if it wasn't for US's interferences.
You want proof?
All the American Soldier boys came all the way to Afghanistan & Iraq because they think It's in retaliation to the 9/11. Same thing, Bin laden and others think 9/11 is in retaliation for something else.
The problem really isn't in politics, but in stupid sheep-like people, that are herded to an absurd idea!
The US says they hate us for our freedom, and everyone goes, oh yeah, your right, lets get them!
Did they THINK we would prefer.. I dunno, OPPRESSION for example?
Bin laden says the Quran says we have to fight, so idiots go "yeah yeah lets go". For goodness sake, just read the rest of the Quran will you? The Quran is a whole book! You have to fight temptation, you have to fight daily to provide for your family, physically you have to defend your self if and only when you are attacked. But do people take 3 seconds to go "What a minute.."? no.

So, I'm glad people are starting to question things. I know that a lie, if repeated enough can be the truth. But it's a lie non the less, dig deep enough and you'll hit the truth.

PS: Being a Bahraini in the middle east, I have nothing to do with the elections and I do not support Paul or any other candidate. Just for the record.

I Installed Ubuntu 7.04

I just installed Ubuntu 7.04 on my desktop

My PC will not handle Vista, I tried. It takes minutes to get "my documents" to open.

But this?

It simply rocks!

My PC is lighter and faster (boot up, opening files, starting programs). It even performs better than XP which I was using!
The new desktop effects are amazing, think vista's aero style. Just look at this:


Open office is lighter than MS office, produces smaller files than the latter and can read / write ms office files.

Installing programs is easier now. You have synoptic which is like add / remove programmes. Tick on the ones you want and it will install (a list of all Linux programmes are downloadable and refreshed every time)

Wine will enable you to run win exe's (including games)

you will mostly need no drivers as Ubuntu will take care of it, in the off chance, use ndiswrapper to use the windows driver.

It even migrated my windows account (I have a dual boot) and I don't feel like I'm missing anything at all!

I am really impressed with this release. I strongly suggest that you download the cd, it has a live cd session, just boot from cd and you have a full working Ubuntu (great as a rescue CD BTW) and if you like it you can click the (install) button.

Seriously, try it out and tell me what you think.

10 May, 2007

The pebble of DOOM!


Everyone in Bahrain has his own opinion about the Traffic directorate. I appreciate their efforts, they work hard, but still have some reservations.

I however was gob smacked with this.

About two weeks ago, I got out of the house going to the gym. Its about a 3 minute drive or so. I wasn't in a hurry, it was midday, the gym wasn't going to close anytime soon and I had nothing to do that day.
When I pulled over at the gym's car park, another car, which was following me pulled next to me. The driver got out and walked towards me. He said hello, I greeted back. Then he said that a pebble flew from my rear tire and hit his windshield, cracking it. And now he wants me to pay for it!
To be frank, I don't know if he was telling the truth or lying. I heared many tales of guys with cracked windshields doing this to strangers trying to guilt them into paying for the repairs. Even if this did happen, its not really my fault, I cannot control pebbles in the road nor do I know of anyone that can. I abided by the traffic laws in my 3 minute drive and that's it.
I told him I can't help him and he said he'd complain to the traffic police. "suit your self" I said. I didn't think the police would be interested in such a trivial complaint. Boy was I wrong!

On the 8th of may, I got a phone call from the traffic department. The man told me that Someone has filed a complaint against me for breaking his windshield with a flying pebble from my car.
He said: "We get alot of these complaints and you have two options, either pay the man BD 10 (US$ 26.5) or we'll have it brought forward to the prosecution."
I said "Prosecution?"
"yes", he said, "You don't need to go through all that trouble, how about if you just pay that BD 10?"
"NO!", I replied. "I didn't THROW him with a stone, it was a pebble according to his words, which is something I cannot verify happened. Besides even if it did, its not my fault is it? It just happened."

The police man tried to convince me to pay 10 Dinars but I apologized and told him to go ahead and take it to court. Several phone calls were exchanged between me and him (totalling around 5 minutes in total) trying to convince me to yeild but I remained firm.

By the end of the day, a higher official called me
"Hello, I am Ebrahim, your neighbour, how are you?"
I don't know an Ebrahim that is my neighbour... anyway, moving on:
"It seems that you don't want to pay the poor man"
"I am sorry, I have no way to know if he is telling the truth or not, even if, I fail to see how that was a direct cause of my actions"
So he tried to scare me:
"But you know, if it goes to court, they'll just sentence you immediately without your presence then you'll have to pay a fine"
"Excuse me? Why would they sentence me?"
"because your pebble broke the man's windshield"
"First of all how am I to know that this allegation did occur? Can you prove it?"
At first he said no, then quickly said "yes, we have experts that can prove you hit him with a pebble"
"SAY WHAT?" I wasn't born yesterday! Lying blatantly like that was a no no tome. So I started my own attack:
"Look. You'll have to
  1. Prove that there actually was a pebble
  2. Prove that it did fly off one of MY tires, not someone else's
  3. Prove that said pebble hit the plaintiff on his wind shield
  4. Prove that the the fracture in the windshield happened because of that pebble and was not there before this "incident"
After proving all that, you need to tell me how was that a result of my actions, then we can talk"

So he said "Yeah, but if it goes to court, the judge will put him under oath and he'll testify. Can you say that this didn't happen in court under oath?"
I said "No, it could have happened"
"AHA!" he goes, "see? then you will lose the trial"
"excuse me"
"yes?"
"If this is going to court, and a judge will pass sentence, can you tell me which article in the law the judge will use?"
"There is no law for that"
"You mean there is no legal article that this falls into?"
"No"
"I'm sorry, but judges cannot pass sentences without a reference to an article in the Bahraini law"
"yes they can"
"No, no, they cannot"
Then he tried to appeal to me through religion:
"Listen, if you pay the man, god will reward you for your deeds inshallah"
"How do you know that?"
"er.. because it's a good thing.. erm.. its better to have injustice fall on you than be a tyrant yourself"
"Oh? So you do acknowledge that it's injustice?"
"well.. umm.. who is to compensate the poor man for this incident?"
"Who will compensate ME for this incident?"
"Your reward will be with Allah, god willing"
"OK, How about this: Let him take the reward from Allah, yeah? I'll keep the BD 10 thank you"
"You don't want to be rewarded in heaven?"
"You see, I don't think Allah will reward me for this, so I guess I'll wait for judgment day and find out"
"It's only 10 Dinars!"
"look, its not a matter of money. In fact, I'll invite you, the other police man, and that accuser to come to my house for lunch and dinner and you are welcome any time, I'll gladly pay for that. But making me pay for such a trivial case, with no legal base by force is unacceptable to me, especially since it was not a result of any controllable factor of my own"
"No one is forcing you to anything, but this is how it is. It's customary that the accused just pays or the court will find you guilty"
"So courts accept these cases?"
"of course"
"So if to say, I go tomorrow and file a similar case against you, they'll accept that also?"
"....!!!"
"Let's assume that 10 people at the same time filed the same case against me, or let us reverse that. I file that case against 10 people individually. Will the court accept such cases?"
"No, of course not!"
"Why not? Do they accept cases on a whim? Ok for some, reject the other?"
"well .. no.."
"LISTEN. They only way you will see 10 dinars coming out of me is for you to go to court. Then they need to prove that there WAS a flying pebble, THEN prove it actually WAS from my tire, THEN prove it actually hit him, THEN prove that the damages were caused by that pebble not before. After all that, they need to prove which articles in the traffic law did I not adhere to which resulted in his damages. If they can not prove that then it's either the fault of the government for not cleaning the streets of pebbles"
"*laughing*.. haha..that's not..."
"OR if it's not the fault of the government it's Allah's doing for creating stones and pebbles in the first place"
"..."
"If by some miracle I was found guilty, then, and only then I will .. appeal. And I will use all of my appeals then if I am still found guilty I will pay the BD 10 plus fines and only then I will wait for my reward from Allah".

".... So that's a no? Is that your final call?"
"I am sorry, please take it to court, and I will wait for your phone call to set a date for when you can grace me with your presence at my home"
".. that's ok.. I'll just forward that accident through and..."
"EXCUSE ME. This is NOT an accident. I did not collide with the plaintiff"
Feeling smug, he answered: "Oh no, we do have a classification for (broken windshield by small stone)"
"Yes, but that is for trucks who do not cover up or seal the rubble they are transporting in which case it IS their fault, not for civilian sedans with pebbles flying off on your roads"
"That's OK, thank you"


This whole thing took 23 minutes. After that call, I started to think that this might actually be a scam. Someone with friends in the traffic department are scaring people for BD 10 a pop. Good income. No paper work. Who'd know?
I am not saying that this is the case, but it makes you suspicious doesn't it? If any government official is interested in investigating the matter I can give them more details and phone numbers if they get in touch with me.

Tell me, what do YOU think?

07 May, 2007

Spiderman 3 games SUCK!



As anticipated, the Spiderman 3 games suck.

Gamespot scored the Spiderman 3 game for the PS3 a 6 (fair). The X360 got the same score.
It is also released on Wii, PC, GBA, NDS & PSP (God! did they leave any gamer untargeted?), still unrated but I wouldn't hold my breath.
In fact, look at this image on the right. That's not an SNES with an FX chip nor an N64 even. This is the Spiderman 3 game for the Wii.
Sucks huh? It almost surprises you just how much it does suck. Its inexcusable. People are furious.

Reasons in my opinion are:

1- Quantity over quality attitude (lets release games to every system there is!)
and the other greed driven reason
2- Franchise a hot name now and they'll buy it.

They might as well package Spider poo and slap a Spiderman 3 logo on it. It will still sell.
Angry Videogame Nerd seems to share my view point.

04 May, 2007

Spiderman 3: How to mutate a Spider into a cash cow


The Spiderman 3 movie opened in Bahrain on the 2nd of May. Two days before America's release date. So I went yesterday with my wife to see it.
It appears that the movie font is incompatible with the number three. The Playstation 3 uses the same font and had a lack luster release, similarly, the latest Spidy movie was below my expectations.
I thought I was in for a good Superhero action movie, and at times it was an action movie. It also was a love triangle chick flick and a musical!
The movie shifted from Action to Romance to Drama to Musical so much that it didn't give a sense of what it was in the end. I got in at 1:15 AM and left at 3:30 AM with no intermission. A long movie where my wife had a nap in near the middle. I'm sure it will make hardcore fans revolt over some details as usual and on the confusing style of the movie.
Shame that. I don't want to list any spoilers so you'll not get alot of details from me. Guess that's what happen when a great license is used first and foremost as a cash cow.
The Spiderman 3 game is also being released on the 4th of May. It's being released on Wii, PS3, PS2, XB360, PC, Game boy Advance AND NDS, which further solidifies what I mean by turning this into a cash cow (I am one that is against multiple platfom game releases because the target is maximizing sales rather than making a tailored to fit good game).
If your a Spidy fan you must go nevertheless. If not, pick something else. If you do see it, please tell me what you thought of it. I'd love to know your opinions.

02 May, 2007

I finished Zelda


At over 70 hours of playing Zelda for the Wii, I finished it. I feel so alone :(

The game was rather decent graphic wise, though I'm sure today's gamer might expect more out of nextgens, but it was just fine. The gameplay however is simply stunning. The control was excellant and the level design was really good, even though I thing N64's Ocarina of Time was better at some parts.
The bosses however were all very very easy to me. I did appreciate how different they were. The fishing part of the game was overly simplistic, it could have been evolved to be a nice side game which I hope they do next time.

This Zelda is right up there with some of the best games I've played in my time.