Month / December 2008

by Fadi Zaghmout

How did the Secret work for me this year?


Earlier, at the beginning of this year, I voiced out what I want in an attempt to play the secret game.

Now at the end of the year, let’s see how it worked:

1. Win 150000 JD. The biggest monthly prize of Al Eskan bank

I didn’t win the monthly prize of bank al eskan, and no I don’t have 150,000 jd now, but the secret did work. In a mysterious way I got a brilliant idea. One that I am working on, and hopefully will be making more than 150,000 in little effort and short time. (We will be talking about it by the end of 2009)

2. My grandma to be spared of her pain of struggling with cancer

My grandma didn’t heal, but she got spared of her pain. She passed away at the end of January. My grandfather didn’t last long after her. He followed her in August. May their souls rest in peace.

3. Licky Licious to be a big success

I should have defined big success! Actually summer was a good season for us but sales declined gradually with temperature! For a first year in business, I would say it has been a fair success. Hope next year we will do better.

4. Have time to write my first novel – a long Arabic version of Social Pressure.

I didn’t have time for the novel. I started 2 pages in Arabic then stopped. Other writing projects took my time. I wrote several short films. I am happy with what I have so far and hope for more work in this department next year.

5. Get a Nintendo Wii

The secret figured out Nintendo, but didn’t figure out the Wii! I got a Nintendo DS in a very spontaneous way. For the first time at work, they decided to give some gifts to some employees who worked hard on a successful project. I, myself, got a phone wireless kit that didn’t work for my car. I went back to Smart Buy and replaced it with a Nintendo DS.

I love my DS, but still looking forward for a Wii

by Fadi Zaghmout

Child Custody Law


For years, my father’s cousin has been frightened about losing her daughter. She didn’t dare to ask for divorce eventhough she and her husband got seperated two years after their wedding. Her worst nightmare arises when she heard that he was in a relationship with a Muslim women and was about to change his religion. Her feared didn’t stem out of concern about his religious status, but more about her custody of her daughter that would drop immediatly if her husband converted.

Yesterday, she was talking about Queen Rania’s youtube channel. She said that Queen Rania is addressing the world, telling them how good we are at protecting our minorities and treating our women. Then she proceeded on questioning women rights in Jordan under a law that strips a woman her children just because her husband fall in love with another woman of a different religion. She is determined to sent a letter to the Queen about this matter.

I know that my Christian neighbour who is married to a Muslim went to the court and converted to Islam when she knew that her husband has married another woman on her. She was frightened of losing the custody of her two son, and so she took some protective measrument including giving away her own religion.

I wonder how much our women rights organizations are aware of such laws and how hard are they working on changing it.

by Fadi Zaghmout

It is time to acknowledge our achievements


People see what they want to see. What they want to see is usually what they used to see. Familiarity breeds content. In Jordan, people are used to be negative and see a black future for this country no matter how much achievements there are. “Allah yostor, lessa el jay a3zam” – (God forbade us from the coming), a common sentence that pops up whenever a bad thing happens.

It is funny, because daily newspapers are full of success stories. It was just yesterday where I read 3 good news that I am sure most readers just ignored:

1. Jordanian science and math curriculum won the best among the arab countries.
(sure there is a room for improvement, and pointing out that the arab countries curriculum must suck don’t help here)

2. Unemployment rates in Jordan went down to 12%.
(yes 12%, not 50% as you want to believe).

3. Tourism sector growth 27% from past year.
(no, it isn’t about jew tourists who you think damage more than benefit the economy).

We do run to shout out the shortageous of our government. We boast our officials errors in a way that makes us feel good about our judgement because that is what we believe they are.

Sometimes it might not be that wrong, but when it becomes a general attitude, maybe it is time to start acknowledging the progress that is going on. Maybe I can utilize some posts on my blog to highlights things out from time to time because I am sick of pessimism.

It is better to light a candle than cursing the dark, no?

by Fadi Zaghmout

Micro blogging – Shoes issue and other stuff


I have some statements in my mind that can go into a post of micro blogging the way Hareega has been doing recently

* While I loved the act of Muntadhar Al Zaidi because it reflected the feelings of many people around the world, I still think that it is wrong from a professional journalism ethics point of view.

* 7 to 15 years in jail is PURE injustice for a man throwing a shoe on someone else no matter how important that someone else can be. In Jordan, people get 3 years in jail for an honor crime where a woman got KILLED not thrown by a shoe! Who said the world is fair anyway?!

* It is ironic that most Bush-shoe-hitters in the sock and awe flash game are from the United States of America. Some American were offended by the act, but a lot of other American wanted to hit him themselves! It is understandable, we do feel like hitting some of our lousy leaders with more than shoes, no?

* It surprised me the amount of hits I got after a Norwegian newspaper linked to my caricature last week. The daily visitors for this blog jumped from an average of 200 visitors daily to around 1000 visitor! That explains the amount of anonymous comments of that post from new visitors of this blog. Now it is back to normak.

* Pessimistic people pisses me. There is someone in the blogsphere who comment under the nickname El Mashkalgy. From his name, you would realize that he likes to cause trouble. He refuses to see any positive achievement in this country. We exchange some comments at the Danish Ambassadors blog recently. He said why is Jordan lacking behind many countries? I answered him that the question can also be why is Jordan proceeding many other countries as well? A glass can be discribed half full, no?

* I got banned from blogging at work. I don’t think that it had affected my performance but they started monitory our internet usage because the internet in Jordan sucks and they are trying everything to keep it at best rate for work usage only. It really pissed me on. This blog has been my survival window in a dull software development career. I have been looking for switching careers sometimes now. How hard can it be moving from web design/UI development into a social development, human rights or journalism field? Any idea guys of the best way to have this transition?

by Fadi Zaghmout

The shoes should only humilate Bush!


When Saddam Hussen got executed, some people felt offended because they percieved the humilation of an Arab leader to be humilation for all Arabs! I couldn’t understand their reasoning. How in the hell people attach their dignity to a dictator? Saddam only represented himself, and his humilation should only reflected on him.

In the same line, I was surprised of the different Americans commenting on my yesterday’s blog post. Some of them did really felt offended for the shoes thrown on George Bush. That is a stupid line of thinking in my opinion. In Jordan, people link the honor of an individual to the honor of the entire family, and we think this is BAD! And then we see some American people linking the dignity of one man to the dignity of an entire nation!

George Bush doesn’t represent his nation as much as Saddam Hussen didn’t represent the Iraqi people.

People around the world restored their hope in the American people when Obama got elected. We believe in the American people and America as a nation. I will repeat Queen Rania’s words here: Our fight is not between East and West, Muslims and Christians, it is between extremists and moderates at both sides. George Bush have managed to help extremists gain ground all over the world. It is time to put the world back on track.

For those who enjoyed the video of the throwing shoes, now there is a flash game that allows you to do it yourself! People around the world are throwing showes on George Bush now, check it out here

by Fadi Zaghmout

What part of ‘Speed kills you’ you don’t understand?


What part of ‘Speed kills you’ that our youth don’t seem to understand? Really? With over 18 people dying in this Eid holiday in car accidents, isn’t it time for us to stop and question the causes of this phenomena?

This is not new news, every couple of months we hear about tragedies of young people dying on our streets. Road pumps, despite being everywhere, didn’t manage to stop it. Advertisment campaigns to increase awarnace of the risks of speed didn’t help either. Parents don’t seem to be able to have control over their teenage children of limiting the usage of cars for transportation (that is partially understandable due to the lack of proper public transportation in the country).

The bottom line is, there is a culture of high speed admiration that dominates the mind of our young men. I remember my late teenage and early twenties and how hard was it for me trying to manage my choices of getting into a car with some other friends driving. Most young men believe subconsciously that as a driver, they have to impress their friends with their driving abilities. The high speed driving is attached subconsciously with what our societies suffers from at large – worshipping masculinity. Smoking, fighting, and high speed are all forms of masculinity showing that is an essential requirement for a young man to achieve a high ranking in our lost youth communities.

With a lack on emphasis of the responsibility aspect of manhood in our schools. Lack of proper social programs that build on the energy and enthusiams of young people, and the lack of proper methods of expression. Our young men resort to high speed as their choice to inflate social pressure.

It is time to re-assess our education methods. The solution starts at our schools.

by Fadi Zaghmout

Gay penguins steal eggs from straight couples!


A couple of gay penguins are attempting to steal eggs from straight birds in an effort to become “fathers”, it has been reported.

How often does this happen? Why didn’t they seek adoption?

But the deception has been noticed by other penguins at the zoo, who have ostracised the gay couple from their group.

That is a good reason for homophobia, no?

A keeper at Polar Land in Harbin, north east China explained that the gay couple had the natural urge to become fathers, despite their sexuality.

If there is not many orphan penguins then artificial insamination would help. Or maybe some electric shock therapy for those gay penguins would for them to change their immoral behaviour.

“One of the responsibilities of being a male adult is looking after the eggs. Despite this being a biological impossibility for this couple, the natural desire is still there,” a keeper told the Austrian Times newspaper

Nature is realy fucked up! It wires in them the need of looking after eggs, then strip them of the ability of making some! They have the capability, but their campus is set towards a wrong direction! How would they possibly know how to conceive a child?! They are smart enough to rob but not to figure out that they need to have sex with a female penguin in order to get some eggs?! Maybe then the other penguins wouldnt have ostarized them from the group.

Read the full story here