Just thought I should share this video:

Definitely one of my favorites on YouTube in recent days!

I compiled a list of the top 10 misconceptions about Arabs for foreigners, in an attempt to dissect them and set the record straight. For most of these, I’ll be taking direct examples from Jordan – my country – since that’s the place I know most about, however, most of the points I make will likely apply (in one way or another) to other Arab countries as well.

10) Arabs live in tents, ride camels, and wear different clothes

Just because Native Americans used to live in teepees doesn’t mean they do now, its as simple as that. Arab tradition – dating from a few hundred years ago – revolves around utilizing camels for transportation and tents as an ideal way of living. That doesn’t mean that this applies now; we have technology as do others and thus have access to all resources that can improve our living conditions. Even outside the capital and main cities, Jordanian villages are far from the form that some people in the west imagine. If you were planning to visit an Arab state in hope of exploring an Aladdin-esque world, think again .

In desolate areas of the desert, we still have native tribal Jordanians who – by choice – decided to remain following their traditional Bedouin lifestyle. Even these people, though they might appear closest to the western image of Arabs, still blend in quite well if/when they need to visit the city for errands, etc.

9) Arabs are rich, own oil wells, and control the world

I WISH! I really do … First of all, I need to reiterate that some countries (like Jordan over here) have absolutely no oil. Second, lets take a look at the figure to the right:

This is a list of countries sorted by their GDP (Gross Domestic Product) per annum, courtesy of Wikipedia. It is quite clear what I’m trying to point out: in the top 25 GDP countries, only one Arab state exists: Saudi Arabia, with a rank of 25. The U.S., Italy, Mexico, Australia, Indonesia, and Norway, among many others, exceed Saudi Arabia. So, considering that the Arab country with the highest GDP is rather “average”, I guess that points out how we measure with other countries. You can check the full list, too.

To further emphasize my point, we may want to see the Gross Domestic Product per person and the rankings of countries accordingly. This list on Wikipedia shows this; when sorting all countries by Rank, we see that the United Arab Emirates is ranked 17-19, Saudi Arabia is ranked39-44, and all Arab countries have even lower ranks.

I’m not doing this to negatively describe the standards of livings in Arab states; a GDP per capita ranking of below 44 is still quite fine, but surely does not reflect that Arabs are – in any way – in financial control of the world.

As if an anti-humanitarian siege wasn’t enough, our peaceful neighbors have done it again, this time with a full-fledged war against the (people?) of the Gaza strip.

Israel – as any sovereign entity – has the right to exist, granted. Israel – as any other nation – has the right to defend itself, again: granted. But these two statements cannot justify an entire military operation with the magnitude of what is going on now, because they are irrelevant.

Is Hamas’s decision to fire al-Qassam rockets at southern Israel wrong? Sure it is. Does Israel have the right to defend itself from ‘attacks’? Yes it does. But: how can THIS be seen as a self-defense act?

From the ‘hundreds’ of Qassam rockets fired at Israel, only 3 Israeli civilians died. My deepest condolences to their families, really. But how can the death of 3 prompt a massacre being launched against Gaza? How can the death of 3 citizens justify the death of 915 from Gaza? Why is Palestinian blood being considered that cheap? Its normal for a government to value the lives of its citizens, but when 3 civilian lives are valued more than nine-hundred-something (and still rising) lives on the other side, something is unjust.

Israel isn’t attacking Hamas, its attacking the people of Gaza. Maybe it doesn’t mean to attack them – but the bottom line is: the people of Gaza are the ones suffering, so what is the point really?

Israel is breaking the Fourth Geneva Convention, which it ratified, because its military actions and hostilities are collective measures that fail to distinguish between civilians and militias (the “hostile entities”).

The head of the UNRWA in Gaza made an emotional televised appeal yesterday, I recommend you search for it.

And here’s a nice statistic: for every Israeli that dies (that is, including members of the Army), 71 Palestinians are killed by the Israeli forces in the Gaza conflict. When taking the entire Arab-Israeli conflict into consideration, Ehud Olmert states that – in 2008 – for every Israeli killed by Palestinians, 25 Palestinians were killed by Israel. TAKE THAT, Human Rights!

Starting with Windows Vista, Microsoft began producing what I call a “new generation” of products that are – quite frankly – pretty impressing. I guess the continued delays of Windows Vista, as well as the rough time launching it, has left a prominent impact on the entire company, perhaps a “story of warning” told to other employees. During the development of Windows Vista, Microsoft hit rock bottom, and from what I’m seeing now, it has dramatically changed the company’s direction – to the better.

Don’t get me wrong, I do not think that Vista – as a product – represents “rock bottom” for Microsoft (THAT would’ve been Bob); its an excellent improvement in my view, but the development cycle it has gone through is rather horrible, and Microsoft openly admits to that.

ANYWAYS, back to the topic: Windows 7.

Before talking about the UI, I guess, in my opinion, the most important changes that have occurred to the OS are those that are under the hood. The memory footprint is surprisingly low, the speed is rather amazing, power efficiency is notably improved, etc. From that respect, MS did a good job really.

The UI is an advancement in many ways, but somehow the new changes can make a person feel foreign to the OS; I like it and can use it well, but I still don’t feel “right at home” when using it. I guess some UI changes are perhaps a bit too radical (and maybe that’s good for the long term) and thus take some time to get used to.

When it comes to stability, reliability, and performance, Windows 7 is the OS to beat. When it comes to UI, intuitiveness, and ease of use, I guess that’s when it becomes debatable.

Overall, I’d still like to say I love the new direction Microsoft is going through, the Zune, the Windows Live stuff, and now Windows 7… kind of hard to believe that this is the same company that existed 11 years ago.

Before I can start blogging heavily (which I plan to), I think I need to talk a bit about myself, to sort-of formally introduce myself to everyone.

My name is Eyas Sharaiha and I’m a Jordanian Year 12 IB student, software and web developer, online magazine editor, and tech enthusiast. I’m interested in technology, software development, politics (especially affairs of the region), physics, standup comedy, and music.

During the past several years or so, I’ve had a wide range of intended careers and perceived futures, ranging between a lawyer, educator, inventor, king, physicist, president (yes I can), and finally the most recent: Computer Engineer!

2008 was my nerve-wrecking college application year, and 2009 is my even-more-nerve-wrecking college decisions year.. so, I might have chosen a rather critical time to start (actively) blogging, but I believe this will make things more interesting .

Over the coming weeks, I’ll be going into most of my interests, in an effort to introduce myself in a more complete manner and share my opinions on some recent events.

Adieu for now, you’ll be seeing me soon!

Hello all!

I’ve wiped my website several times after getting a new domain, but I promise, this is the final time (in the short term, at least ). I’ll soon be blogging, so check back soon!

Eyas