Techies: Help Please

A couple of years ago I bought a no-nonsense Dell Laptop for home use, as an alternative to my gaming machine and as a living room entertainment suppliment. Later on, it proved to be quite heavy as far as laptops go, so I got myself a snappy new Macbook Air, and it was great, problem solved.

So I thought of using my Dell for other uses; I installed Ubuntu 8.10 on it and experimented with some of the packages and tools, played some games, watched a lot of movies on it, did some word processing and presentation designs on it, and it's taken all that like a pro!

Now I'm thinking of using it for something more social. I'm thinking; It has WinXP Home, built-in WiFi, a relevant USB port, a 14-inch screen, built-in air cooler, network port, dial-up port, DVD, the works. I'm thinking of further maximizing it's usefulness in another capacity, by modifying it into a WiFi Router to work with my Zain Ego Device. 

I know that it can theoretically cab be done. The Dell's built-in WiFi card and WinXP's Internet Connection Sharing feature, coupled with Zain's Ego device as the main internet port, along with some restrictions and password-protected files  would make this seem to be a possible avenue to consider.

I'm planning to put this "experiment" of mine next weekend, as I'm bedridden with a dreadful cold at the moment and can't tolerate trial-and-error messages from Microsoft produtcs. I'd appreciate it if anyone would kindly email me some ideas on how to set it up, if at all.

Cheers up front.

The People Have Spoken!

While I am saddened that my personal favorite, Mr. Abdulla Al Nibari, was not lucky enough to make the first 10 positions, I was elated to find my other personal favorites, Aseel Al Awadhi and Masouma Al Mubarak, have not only made the list, but have reached the highest of positions within their electoral constituency. Nevertheless, Kuwait has voted four women into office today!

Other constituencies have not had much change within them, some lout-mouth MP's are still in office, some Islamicist MP's are still in office, some benign MP's are still in office, etc.. In fact, one may say that, in many constituencies, the faces changed, but the personalities remain the same.

Regardless, Kuwait has spoken. Change was needed and change was forthcoming, and now it's happened. For the first time in Kuwait's history, Kuwait will have not one female MP, but FOUR, all together. We now hvae a truly equal democracy, even though - already - some loudmouth Islamicist MP's are claiming that the Government was behind the female MP's success.

Come what may, change has happened, out efforts have been fruitful. There is a chance after all, let's hope this change is fruitful as well.

Vote with Caution, You're Voting for Your Future!

May 16th is just a few days away, this is when I will be voting for my representative that will be speaking in my name to the government. I took interest in many of those new TV channels and newspapers to see what options are available to me, just in case my initial choices are clouded. Apparently, many, of not all of the candidates speak (or shout!) about the same issues:

-Education

-Economy

-Social Development

-Loan write-offs

So I tried to filter them down into groups:

-Independants: They have their own agenda and their own reasons

-Liberals: They have a case to make, but very few followers

-Islamicists: Their agenda is dictated by their own interpretations of their religion

-Tribalists: They want to scoop up Kuwait's wealth in order to catch up with Kuwait's Merchant Families

-Fortune-Seekers: They just want to be paid off and get their 2 months' vacation.

The independants want to make a difference, but don't have the right backing, so they gradually veer towards one or more of the other group.

The Liberals assume to absorb all factions of society, but their views are in direct contradiction (deliberately so in some cases) with those of the other groups, namely the Islamicists.

The Islamicists, depending on whether they're Shiite or Sunni, are an obvious choice to their followers, but depend mostly on their ethnicity (Arab-Persian), and may at times collaborate with others from the Independants or the Liberals.

The Tribalists will ally themselves with either another tribe or a Sunni Islamic faction for more votes, and not much else, but with the promise of collaboration within the Parliament, feeble as it may be.

The Fortune-Seekers are just there to make noise (and a few KD's for their summer vacation) and scatter real votes around.

I listened to all of these groups' speakers, (nearly all, I can't stand some of them!) and concluded that they're all depending on people like me to vote for them, because once they get voted into office, they have the power to bring down an entire government...imagine the power?!

This is the power that I possess as a registered voter, the power to bring down a government by proxy....think about this for a second, and remember that not too far south there are governments that have been in office for years and decades, stealing, plundering and jailing (and killing!) with no remorse and no retention.

I, for one, do not want to give this power to someone just because he picked up the phone and gave me a job, or expedited my son's scholarship or even convinved a bank to loan me a bunch of money to plunder away, and then ask him to pressure the government to write it off! 

I want to give it to a candidate that knows about the heavy weight of it's responsibility, someone that can do something to stop the government from passing a bill that would destroy my economy for years to come. 

While I sometimes refrain from endorsing anyone or any particular group, I make no secret of the fact that Islamicists and Tribalists are off my list! Their views are in direct conflict with those that I have, and indeed of a true Democracy, since their agenda-by it's very nature-imposes restrictions on how I think and how I live my life. Which brings me to the Independants and the Liberals.

Now, here are a bunch of people I can relate to: They have an agenda of social development, they are fully aware (and have a proven track record) of the resonsibilites pertinent to running a country in the 21st Century, they let me go about my business, and they move to uphold the constutition as it is and regard it as a sacred document-not to be amended to suite anyone's agenda, and they leave me to my own choice as to how I practice my religion, live my life and educate my kids.  

That, to me, is a true Democracy, I hope and pray that I'm right. I have the power to vote them into office, and as the saying goes, "With Power comes Responsibility". I therefore am responsible for the choices I make, and Pray to God that I would be able to fathom this responsibility on May 16th. 

What about you?

Star Trek to Show in Kuwait on May 7th

According to IMDB, Star Trek will be released in Kuwait on the 7th of May, that means tomorrow!

HOOYAA!!

I tried to pre-book on cincescape earlier this morning, but the online schedule only gives me Wednesday´s timetable. I suppose theyŕe gearing up for next week´s schedule.

I´ve been waiting for this movie to be released since August 2007, and man what a wait it´s been! Back then, it was slated for release by December 2008. If i´m able to make it tomorrow, it´ll be a great change of mood from all the dullness and economic insecurities that are happening in Kuwait these days!

Fashionable Rudeness

This joker actually had the balls to accuse the incumbent Prime Minister - yet again - of being unfit to hold the position presented to him by the Emir, immediately after being released from the CID, where he spend the better part of a week there for saying the same thing in the first place!

Apparently, some Tribal MP's think that their consitituents will see this rudeness and belligerence crap as an act of courage and bravery; By buggering and bad-mouthing the government, and it's ministers, and especially the ruling family, they belive it'll win them some political points that add up during the elections.

The sad thing is, some of the constituents actually do believe this to be true, they're that gullible!

So, I'm guessing this joker, and others like him, are setting a precedent for others to follow suite in order to win more votes!

Bravo for the Ministry of Interior for applying the Law where & when it's needed, but apparently it's not enough to deter these jokers from controlling their brain farts....

It's like these people suddenly forgotten that, form the day the're born to the day they're buried, the government takes care of their most essential needs, be it health, education, social security, state security, subsidized food & living essentials, the works! It's the same government that these jokers are blasting and accusing of corruption. Now this government is trying to control them by making examples of the most loudspoken jokers of them all, but so far its not working.

My explanation is that these inbreds have become too interwoven into Kuwait's political & economic system that simply uprooting them and kicking them back to where they came from back in the '60's and '70's just wouldn't be feasible anymore.

Such a shame, Kuwaiti Democracy promised to be a good thing, now it's just for the history books...

The 99: Islamic Superheroes!?!

I don't know if this is old news to some of you, but it certainly is news to me! While browsing through some sites looking for nothing in general (ie. wasting time online) I came across this news article on the Time website, talking about Islamic-oriented Superhero cartoon series, called "The 99", in reference to the 99 names of Allah. Apparently, there will be a total of 99 superhero characters, each with special abilities, with 50 of them being women (5 of those are actually veiled and Burka'aed!).

Desiged and concepted by Teshkeel Media Group, and funded by over 61 public and private  investors from 7 countries, including Kuwait. Mainly;

- Commercial Bank of Kuwait

- Unicorn Investment Bank
- Al Aswak Investment Company
- M.H. Al Shaya Company
- Bayan Investment Company
- Safat Investment Company

With characters like Jabbar the Powerful, Noora the Light, Mumita the Destroyer and Rughal, the Evil character (of course!), the storlyline & plot is slowly absorbing me into reading more and more of this uncommon Middle Eastern endeavor. 

Who said creativity in the Middle East is dead??

A Small Screw can Screw up you Day!

I woke up for work slightly earlier than usual this morning, planned out my day mentally in my head as I was brushing my teeth and was putting on my clothes when the houseboy called & told me that my car had a flat tire.....

I looked at my watch...6:55am...and with 15 minutes' drive to the office, I calculated that I woudln't make it to work on time this morning....and that's a polite way of saying 'I cursed the living daylights out of General Motors!'

So I walked out to the garage, and true enough, my poor Escalade was leaning to the front and left, the tire was completely flat, not an ounce of pressurized air to be found in it! I called the office, informed them that I would be late, and, as it was my very first time at replacing a flat tire on my 2004 Escalade (mashalla!) I proceeded (in Super-macho-Kuwaiti fashion) to take off my Gutra and extracted the jack & replacement kits.

Oh my God! What a terrible ordeal!

For one thing, the jack & turn bars are neatly tucked away in the Escalade's enclosure at the rear, but the spare tire is connected to the underneath of the chassis, held up by a pulley system that you access by using the ignition key to turn the security lock beside the rear number plate, and inserting one of the jacks rods inside and turning it loose!

Just reading the instructions on the car's booklet made me light a cigarette, just to keep myself from hitting my own SUV with the damn stupid jack!

By 7:30am my lovely family appeared, my wife looked at a distance at my ordeal with a sad face and an encouraging smile, while my 2-year old daughter was looking at amazement as to why the houseboy was underneath the rear chassis with his butt sticking in the air (I quicly gave up my macho attitute and consented to asking him to crawl down there and retrieve the spare tire while I unwound it with the damn pulley system thingy).

By the time the spare was lowered, I was having a can of cold Pepsi as a substitute for my usual morning coffee, I then instructed the houseboy to remove the flat, and within a few minutes, I discovered the reason why it was flat: A small screw was lodged into the seams. It was then when I remembered passing a carpenter's shop two nights earlier, so I must have driven over some loose tools and screws....

Long story short, I replaced the flat with a slightly less flat spare, got in and limped to the nearest garage, where I proceeded to have the flat repaired, the spare re-inflated, the Oil & filters changed, and the gear & brake fluid topped up...the best-spent 9KD's I'd ever spent on my car to date! To top it off, the mechanic gave me his number, and told me to call him whenever I experience another flat, and that he would gladly pass by himself and repair it on-site.

I arrived at my office around 9am, fully pissed off and dusty all the way up to my eyebrows! Not feeling like working my usual deskjob work, I decided to take one of my colleagues out for a couple of site visits, passing through Silicon valley in Hawalli along the way and buying a few networking devices in the process...and that made me feel better.

The morale of this story is; A small screw can screw up your day and a friendly stranger can make you feel insured & protected, but a networking tool that extends your home WIFI coverage can really make you feel good!