To break the political monotony of the last couple of posts here are a few of my delicious pickings for the last couple of days that are more entertaining than serious.
– Recycled Wonderlands: Simply put, some of the craziest architectural creations you’ll ever see.
– Muppet President: You know how they say every president is just a puppet. Well surprisingly, every single presidential candidate this year looks exactly like a muppet.
Star Wars IV – A New Hope: according to a 5 year-old girl. You will cry with laughter…
– Maze Daze: University of Waterloo students create computer-generated mazes with human inputs. If you can finish just one of those things then you’re a better person than I am.
– Primitive Photoshop: It’s everyone’s favorite computer application these days, but what did the Adobe Photoshop icon look like when it first came out?
– Photoshop Accountability: A Chinese blogger reveals how an award-winning picture was faked.
The Bit More Serious Stuff…
– Spin Doctors: A Queen’s University professor uses software to detect which presidential candidate spins the most. Is it McCain, Clinton or Obama?
– Undercover: Israeli secret service start a blog that hosts four of their agents in an attempt to recruit more people.
– Agent Arab Bloggers: Israeli Mossad recruit Arabs online. Don’t know how true this is but it’s worth pondering…
Reports revealed that Israeli intelligence hackers have penetrated well known Arab blogs. Mossad agents, who have trained at the Israeli Security College often sneak into these sites and join in discussions with large numbers of Arab youth with the purpose of coercing them to talk about critical issues to determine their views. Their reactions are later scrutinized by experts who spot points of strength and weakness in the Arab personalities to determine who can best be recruited as agents
– Jordan: Directing Democracy: A great article by Deena Dajani on political development and freedoms in Jordan, or specifically, the lack thereof.
That fact international article seems over-sensationalistic with phrases such as “penetrated Arab blogs”. I mean we don’t exactly need to be coerced to talk about critical issues to show our views. We do that of our own accord. Expressing our views is part of the blogging experience.
The point about recruiting online seems believable though since it’s a pretty small organization compared to it’s counterparts, and this would save time and money.
Star Wars and the Muppet show are hilarious…..In Reema Dajani’s piece the reference to Benard Lewis as an authority whose opinion matters was most unfortunate. Lewis is one of the worst and most dangerous orientalists that the Arabs (and moslems) have witnessed. Reading his name was enough to get me completely switched and turned off. I could not even continue reading the article.
Thanks for posting a link to the article Nas 🙂 I would understand if you delete this post though, because I don’t mean to defend my article on your blog, I just felt I need to clarify that I do not IN ANY WAY endorse Bernard Lewis’ views or works.
So to Tallouza, besides citing my name incorrectly, your comment also had another inaccuracy, that I in any way agreed with Bernard Lewis. In fact, if you had gone on reading the article, you would have seen that I question – if not outright denounce – the view that Jordan is ‘reforming’ when so many Jordanians regard ‘being citizens’ and participating in politics as a seemingly dangerous thing. Although I agree with you on Lewis being an orientalist, I however do not see that as a reason not to read him. I go by the ancient adage you learn more from your enemies than from your friends. Quoting him in an article is not giving him importance. It is my way of answering back.
We do seem to, culturally, be inclined to ignore anything we dont like, or demand their ‘removal’: from the israeli narrative of events to the danish cartoons. My approach is that we need to know such criticism thoroughly enough to be able to answer it and argue against it in a way that will be more effective than whatever it is we are doing now – such as ignoring what we dont like or screaming our heads off against it – which I regard to be a failing strategy. Anyway, thank you for reading the first sentance of my 1500-something word article, and judging the entire article, and my political views, accordingly.
Deena, il blog blogek..ahla w’sahla….I was actually hoping you’d present to us your point of view as the author of the article. many thanks.