Author: Hanitizer
| Posted at: 3:07 PM |
Filed Under: humor,
stand up
|
This might be obvious,
But when your non-Arab friends say or post anything hinting that they want to take their own life, you would alert the suicide hot line and other initiatives like "It Gets Better"
Now, imagine one of your Arab/Muslim friends giving a hint about them taking their own live, I am certain, that you will call 911, the FBI and then the CIA instead of calling the Suicide hotline!
I know this is dark, but it's the reality. Like when the Colorado shooter was never dubbed a terrorist. C'mon white people are more than capable of terrorizing people--give the some credit., will you?
Please Note this is my true story with Zipcar and it has been documented with Zipcar on July 22, 2012 1:30 PM to 2:20
Zipcar, is a care rental company that allows people to rent card by the hour anywhere in the city. Thus, it seemed like a good idea that works, so I singed up for their services. I joined the company because, they have so many places near my Washington DC home. Anyhow, I made a reservation and was ready to go get my car.....
I went few minutes early and did not spot the car, I waited few minutes till the time, but no car was on sight. So I called the company who confirmed the car should be there. I told them there is no Nissan in the Zipcar parking space. They tried to get a hold of the guy who had the car last, they were unable to reach him.
The agent told me I should go get different car, five blocks away. I said ok! I went to pick up the car and once I called back Zipcar, they told me sorry, the car can be only driven for 40 minutes, as someone will have to pick it up. I reserved a car that wasn't there....and then when they tell me of a replacement car, it's no good for me.
They agent asked me to go back to the original location, as they car would be there for me to use. Again, I go back to the parking space and the care is not there. Keep on mind I am observing the fast of month of Ramadan. So, my car which I was supposed to pick up at 1:30, wasn't there. The company could not locate it and they wanted one of their local partners to go try to locate it for them. The guy who had it before me, told Zipcar, I had parked it only three spots away from where he has pick it up. But Myself, my wife and another Zipcar member were looking for the same car, we walked a block searching for the blue colored car....no luck
I am sure Zipcar is a great company that works for a lot of people by giving something they really need. But the third agent ended up canceling the reservation (she said, we won't charge you late fees!) I thought thaw was patronizing. I hope Zipcar manged to track that elusive Nissan that I had to book.
It might be that I am all new to this Zipcar business and that what happened to me is just a regular things or business as usual, if it is then this is might be a bad karma. In fairness, Zipcar offered to give me driving credit to makeup for wasting my time and for not knowing where their car is. It's really nice, but if today's ordeal was a standard, I do not think I would need them
But I still had no car, and by the way that was my first experience reserving a car with Zipcar. I do not know what I am going to do next...may I have to move out of the city now.
Update: Zipcar DC manger has called me and explained to me that what has happened to me is an extremely rare incident, where one member does not lock the car, and another member take the wrong car. They have explained to me what has happened and apologized.
Author: Hanitizer
| Posted at: 9:01 AM |
Filed Under: islam,
life,
US
|
This is a stupid title that has so many things going wrong for it. But I wanted to raise a point that I feel a lot of people misunderstand about Islam. Muslim males can marry non Muslims and their spouses do not have to convert to Islam. However, most Muslim females are not supposed to marry men of other faiths. While there are many Muslims who might disagree with this principle, it seems that most accept it as such.
So, few weeks ago, some internet troll, kept arguing that Muslim women cannot marry non Muslims and he is right for the most part. The troll kept asking name one couple where the wife is Muslim and the husband is non. I really could thing of any examples--sure many might exist in India and the West, but I do not know of any.
Now, enter the stage Pat Robertson, a man of faith who was on a show and was asked the following questions, watch the video and decide for yourself.
Pat Robertson: Dump Your Muslim Girlfriend
It seems that when a Muslim girl accepts to marry a non Muslim, Christians leaders are not too happy about that and they plea with the man to dump his Muslim girlfriend--as Muslims are heathen. While Pat Robertson does not speak for the entire Christian nation, he does have a rather large fellowship. So his opnions and sermons carry a certain weight with many in the States and beyond.
Lebanese singer Myriam Faris goes to attend Paris Fashion week, and she leaves little to the imagination. She literary shows everything there's to see. And even people walking in the streets took notice of this notorious Lebanese pop star.
At the same function where Myraim was putting on a show, another American celebrity was there, but this time the American celebrity dressed more Conservatively.
Kim Kardashian wore a long black dress that revealed little. No question, Kim can wear whatever she wants like she has always manged to shock people with her outfits.
Now compare the two...
Myriam feels the pressure, she comes from a culture where people think she might be conservative or she might not get style or she might want to cover up...so what does she do?
Well, this Lebanese Arab girl wears that to tell people "I'm free", "I am bold" Naturally both Arab and Western people were shocked by the choice of wardrobe.
Meanwhile Kim, comes form a culture where anything goes, so she does not have to represent her people or try to claim something she is not by trying to shock the system. for Kim to dress in a conservative dress is the shocker--maybe.
As of what would Myriam Faris get I am still not sure.
Many of her fans now are questioning her taste and her style. And those in the West, are shocked, but she is not showing them something new or something that they have not seen before. I do not think she will be giving a role or a new song by one of those international event goers. Just be yourself, will you?
Mohammad Awajah is a forty-three year old Palestinian father from the West Bank city of Jericho whose ability to speak was just restored.
During his shift as an employee for the Palestinian Telecommunication Company on January 13, 2011 he opened a phone wire box where he says he inhaled a gas that caused him to lose his ability to speak. His family, including his wife and five little kids, thought this was just a temporary bug; but days later he was still unable to speak and their medical trials had officially begun.
Om Moussa, Muhammad's wife said, “We visited with a professor surgeon in the West Bank who was unable to help. We tried many medications that did nothing to bring his voice back.” She continues “The professor said he cannot help because a long time has passed since the incident.” They still visited a number of local clinics that would prove fruitless.
They even visited with a doctor in the celebrated Israeli hospital Hadassah. Nobody was able to reunite Muhammad with his voice. At that point Muhammad started to lose hope and started seeing psychologists due to his depression. He would felt disconnected from his family and because he could not talk to anyone and didn’t care about anything around him. His youngest son Aboud wouldn’t talk to him and kept away from him due to this sudden change.
A West Bank doctor advised them to make up a dramatic scene that would be shocking enough to bring back Muhammad’s voice. Om Moussa played along and put on a good show where she pretended that she only had few days to live due to some serious illness. Muhammad offered to pay all his money to save her, but still had no voice.
Months later, Om Moussa watched a talk show where a Gaza-based Palestinian Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist was talking about a case where he was able to restore the speaking ability of an elderly woman who had lost that ability more than 15 years ago. Dr. Ahmad Jadaba’s success story was well publicised in the Palestinian media.
Desperate for help, Om Moussa called the doctor and consulted with him on her husband’s case.
Due to an outdated phone directory she had to make 18 wrong calls before she could reach him. Later they met via video conference even though they were only a short drive apart. Dr. Jadaba promised Muhammad and his wife that he would do his best to restore his speaking ability.
Now, the political reality and uniqueness of the situation hits: Dr. Jadaba lives in besieged Gaza, and the Awajahs live in the West Bank. Traditionally the better doctors and facilities are in the West Bank and Israel. So most ill Gazans travel there, not the other way around. No one has ever come Gaza for health care.
Confused by the unusual request, the Israeli authorities denied them a permit to go into Gaza for medical attention. They stressed that if physicians in Israel couldn’t fix it, no one else can. Thus Israel denied all of their seven attempts to get a permit to enter Gaza. Om Moussa wouldn’t quit, working with the local health authorities in both Gaza and Ramallah. In the end, they traveled to Jordan and from Jordan they flew to Egypt and from Egypt, and special coordination that required miracles, they arrived in Gaza.
At the Rafah border, Dr. Jadaba brought his family and received Muhammad and his wife, offering to host them at his house.
Arriving in Gaza on July 5th, Dr. Jadaba started his treatment on Mr. Awajah. At first it started with the assessment and the following day, the help of Endoscope (laryngostroboscope/ thermolaryngoscope). Four days later, Awajah got most of his his voice back to where he can make out most of the letters. Dr. Jadaba put aside a conference he was supposed to attend in Turkey to attend to Mohammed and his family.
Three days later, here’s Muhammad in a video of him saying his first words since the accident—from the Koran
.
Perhaps the most touching moment came when Mohammed called his son Abboud to tell him that he now has his voice back and they can play together. The seven year old teared up and said, “I Love you Dad!”
Dr. Jadaba has called on Palestinian businesses to provide medical equipment to the main Gaza hospitals and he has gladly pledged to accept any case where his skills are needed. “The only Endoscopes available are the ones in private clinics and not in the public hospitals where they are needed the most.” He added, “the device I used on Mohammad has been decommissioned a long time ago.”
This is a celebration of a strong Palestinian women and a Palestinian professional who despite all odds never stopped exploring. Another hero is the business where Mohammed used to work. They covered all of his medical costs and showed a good business practice. I would add the role of the media in publicizing this story to the public and telling the world about the unbreakable will of the people of Palestine.
I do not feel that I need to print anything anymore....all my emails, PDF, documents and data can go with me wherever I go. I do not seem to need a printer as most places now accept a smartphone or tablet picture, image of whatever document one needs to share.
I like the feeling that this little device saves so many trees. For example, when I work on a project and want to view a document....more people can view it with me, and thus the trees are not being butchered.
Needless to say, internet connections makes this all possible. Imagine having a tablet that does not connect to the internet! We would have to use a flash drive or sync it with another computer to update it.
And if the trees do not keep you up at night, then you will love the savings it come with. You no longer have to shell big bucks for printing such papers.
I must thank Steve Job for making tablets popular and making them come alive--I do not like Apple. But he deserves the credit.
I am using a Blackberry Playbook! I have read somewhere that by 2016, tablets will be taking over the notebook business by 2016. I think this is fair as certain things would be music easier on a laptop--typing and certain software won't work with certain tablets. Hello? I still cannot use Skype on my Playbook.
Tablets are a promising industry because such devices are getting cheaper and better. They can do wonders, keep you entertained, and informed. So people now can pay a 100 dollar and get a tablet that does the job of making printing irrelevant.
