Mind Soup

This is a feature story done for Cloud 961 Magazine Issue 4 . The main purpose of medicine and the thousands of years of trying to perfect it is to extend a human’s life and eventually achieve immortality (through robotics for example). What the internet, social networks in particular, unexpectedly achieved is another type of immortality: digital immortality. Yet, people don’t usually think about what happens to their social profiles online once they are deceased, until they are forced to when someone close to them dies. According to a study done for the purpose of this article, 65% of the respondents have at least one deceased person as a connection on their social media platforms. Only 12%, however, are aware of Facebook’s and Twitter’s procedures for deceased people. Facebook’s official policy for deceased people who have profiles on their site is to turn it into a memorial where “people can save and share their memories of those who've passed.” This setting hides the prof...

When was the last time when you saw a QR code in an advertisement and were excited to scan it, or on the back of your soda can and put it down to see what the code redirects too? Or even worse, when was the last time you stopped your car to snap a QR on a billboard? Chances are that the answer is long time ago, and you’re not alone. There are many reasons as to why QR codes are not getting hype anymore. The most common reason is that, believe it or not, a lot of people are still not aware what QR codes are or how to use them. Many don’t even notice their presence. QR stands for Quick Response. These codes are two dimensional barcodes and are supposed to be a simple way to link the user to other content such as website links, phone numbers, contact information or other text. The user scans the code using an application on their smartphone to encode its content. But even after you explain the concept to many people, they still do not use it very regularly out of inconvenienc...

Whitney Houston, one of the best female vocalists and great artists of modern music, passed away last night  (February 11, 2012) at the age of 48. Cause of death is still unknown. The world has lost a legend and indeed it was too early for this loss. We will always love you Whitney. May your soul rest in peace :'(

A Concert featuring Algerino and Faudel in Memory of TALAL KASSEM, 17 year old young man hwas killed while crossing the road going to school by a raging driver… Talal Kassem (Photo from facebook) Proceeds of the concert and other contributions will go to "The ROADS FOR LIFE, Talal Kassem Fund for Post Accident Care" for training of Emergency physicians. Trauma surgeons and Emergency physicians from hospitals ALL ACROSS Lebanon will be offered the Advanced Trauma Life Support course (ATLS). This course will improve the chance of survival for injured victims on the roads in the first 60mn of the accident known as the GOLDEN HOUR. "The ROADS FOR LIFE, Talal Kassem Fund for Post Accident Care" will cover the fees for as many physicians as possible in as many sessions as needed. Upon completion of the course, they will receive Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) Certification from “The American College of Surgeons” , committee on Trauma, Chicago, Illinois....

I woke up this morning with a flood of news about Osama Bin Laden's death on facebook, twitter, google reader, buzz and so forth. With all the celebrations and the worldwide debate (he's even trending on twitter), something smells very fishy, and its not coming from the sea. So U.S. troops kill Bin Laden, and throw him into the sea within 24 hours of his death. You would think that after ten years of searching for the "most wanted terrorist on earth," the body would be kept for more than one day. TIME newspaper ignorantly attributes this action to Islamic tradition, and that the troops directly threw the body into the sea because the did not want to offend the Islamic beliefs of burial. I quote: The reason is bound up within Islamic practice and tradition. And that practice calls for the body of the deceased to be buried within 24 hours, according to a U.S. official, who spoke Monday on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive national security matters. [..] ...

ENERGY DIMENSION:   We have learned much about our bodies through old wives’ tales handed down from our moms and grandmothers and even in school, but not all of it is correct. Here we look at 10 misconceptions that might surprise you. 1. Warts can be caught from other animals like toads Human warts are caused by a virus that affects only humans, the human pappiloma virus. They cannot be caught by animals with warts and certainly not by toads whose bumps are not warts but glands. 2. Sugar makes children hyperactive False! Twelve controlled, double blind trials have shown that there is absolutely no connection between children’s behavior and their sugar intake. One thing was found, namely that parents rate their child’s behavior as more hyper when they thought they had been given a sugary drink. “The studies included sugar from sweets, chocolate and natural sources. Even in studies of those who were considered “sensitive” to sugar, children did not behave differently after eati...

MIND SOUP : So today, October 15, is Blog Action Day 2010 . The theme this year is water . As I live in a country where water is theoretically abundant, I, as many other Lebanese, may not feel the urge to conserve water or use it wisely. But as I watch TV and read bloggers posts from other countries, I have become more aware of the critical water situation the world is facing. After enrolling as a blogger against hunger for the United Nations World Food Programme and engaging more into the world blogosphere, I was shocked to know that around 4.500 children die daily from water related diseases and that a almost a billion people on Earth don't have access to clean and safe drinking water ! Since then I realized that there are so many things with our water consumption in Lebanon. We take hour-long showers, flood our houses to get them cleaned, stare at the open faucet while brushing our teeth, and use excessive amounts of water to irrigate our flowers and plants. But the most un...

Rami Chemali and his mother BLOGBALADI : A [couple of months] ago, Rami Chemali , a Lebanese national and Star Academy participant, was killed in a car accident in Egypt. Mahmoud Shukri, Rami’s friend and also part of Star Academy was severely injured. Rumors spread that Rami was the one driving and a week ago, Rami’s mother pledged to sue Shukri’s family for falsely accusing her son of being the one responsible of the accident. Now the question is why don’t the Lebanese authorities bother to investigate the issue further? And how come no updates on the accident were heard since then? Is someone trying to hide the truth? On a final note, I found more pictures of Rami Chemali on an Israeli site than on all other Arab websites. Now why would Israeli websites be interested that much in a Lebanese star? And how did they get “Copyright” pictures of his funeral? "You will remain in our hearts" Related post: Rami Chemali from Star Academy 7 dead at 23 (moudz.blogsp...

Egyption President Hosni Mubarak MIND SOUP : An Egyption lawyer has filed a lawsuit again the Egyptian Minister of Justice Mamdouh Merhi and others accusing them of misleading the Egyptian people by hiding the truth. The lawyer, Hamed Sayed Makki, claimed in the case memo that the minister has been hiding the death of Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak. What's more interesting, or maybe unbelievable, is that he believe that Mubarak has been dead since 2004 while winning the past elections in 2005 (a year after his alleged death). According to Horiyatna radio station, the lawsuit said that this is a "local and international scam to fool us about Mubarak's life." The source revealed more detail about his alleged death. It said that Mubarak has passed away in Germany on the 16th of June, 2004 while undergoing an operation to remove a cancerous tumor from his ear. The lawsuit adds that Mubarak underwent this operation secretly, and after the surgery, the doct...

A son stabbed his 100-year-old mother in the neck then told his brother "I've just gone mad," a court has heard. Hannah Fitzgibbon lived in Stepney with her son BBC : Michael Fitzgibbon, 62, admitted the manslaughter of Hannah Fitzgibbon at the Old Bailey. She died from a stab wound to her neck at the terraced home they shared in Stepney, east London in February. Fitzgibbon denied murder and the prosecution accepted his manslaughter plea on the grounds of diminished responsibility. The unemployed former black cab driver was initially charged with murder. But prosecutors accepted a plea to the lesser charge after psychiatrists agreed he was suffering depression of "moderate severity" as well as the early stages of Parkinson's disease. Crispin Aylett QC, prosecuting, said: "This is a case in which the defendant stabbed his mother when she was 100 years old. Deteriorating health "This occurred at a time when it seems that in fact th...

MIND SOUP : A couple of days ago, the news of Octavia Nasr being fired from CNN envaded the Lebanese and Middle Eastern media. It may has come as a shock to the society, yet this denial of free speech has been demonstrated very widely across various prestigious institutions in the region and world-wide. To re-cap, Nasr who held the position of senior Middle East editor at CNN was laid off earlier this week after 20 years of work because she praised the late Hezbollah Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah on twitter. "Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah. One of Hezbollah's giants I respect a lot," she posted Sunday morning. This tweet was immediately picked up by Israeli supporters and Nasr was criticized and attacked for sympathizing with Fadlallah. The Simon Wiesenthal Center in the US demanded that Nasr "apologize to all victims of Hezbollah terrorism whose loved ones don't share her sadness over the passing of one of Hezbol...

CLICK HERE FOR A RECENT UPDATE ABOUT RAMI'S DEATH! MIND SOUP : Rami Chemali, the Lebanese star and Star Academy 7 participant, has passed away today at the age of 23 in a car crash in Cairo when vising his fellow Star Academy friend Mahmoud Shukri who is currently under intensive care. Shukri, an Egyptian, who was seated next to Chemali was also severely wounded in the accident . According to an eyewitness the accident occurred due to excessive speed. A car with 3 young people crashed into the car that was driven by Chemali, which resulted in the killing of Chemali and the 3 young Egyptians. May his soul rest in peace, and we pray to God to bring good health for Mahmoud. Below is the report televised by LBC on its evening news on Thursday. UPDATE: Below is the funeral video of Rami Chemali

Put pressure on politicians to end hunger. Sign the petition, and push for action wherever you are. [If you are viewing this post via Google Buzz,  click here  to see the video] Join me and around 130,000 people to put pressure on our useless politicians in hopes of taking action about the 1 billion starving humans in the world. If you care just a little bit, if you belong to this race, if you have humane blood rushing through your veins, you should take action. It is not these people's faults that they were born in poor countries, it is not their faults that their natural resources are being abused by western governments and corporation, it is not their faults that their governments are not taking care of them. The least you can do is sign the petition. Click here to join my path towards aiding in spreading awareness and pressuring those in power to help. God bless you all.

To my friends and fans, As you might know, I have been working on poetry book for several months now. Today, I thought I would share with you a sneak peak from my unpublished material. My book is still untitled, but this poem is from a chapter entitled "Disappointments of me". I hope you enjoy it, and I would really appreciate your feedback. Which reminds me, I am looking for a graphic designer to design the book. So if you are interested, click here for more information. Serial Killer Love by Mohammad Hijazi They say they love me. They might as well shoot me in the head with their careless cheese cake covered guns. Ironic as it may be, they stand there for a short eternity and watch as I bleed drops of dark cranberry-filled ungratefulness, or at least they would think I am ungrateful. And still they love me, off course they do; un-humane love is what that is: a canine-attacking-a-juicy-bloody-steak kind of love. Dare they admit it? They say denia...

I have, of course, been outraged at armed men boarding ships in international waters, killing passengers on board who attempt to resist and then forcing their ship to the hijackers' home port. I am, of course, talking about the Somali pirates who are preying on Western ships in the Indian Ocean. How dare those terrorists dare to touch our unarmed vessels on the high seas? And how right we are to have our warships there to prevent such terrorist acts. But whoops! At least the Israelis have not demanded ransom. They just want to get journalists to win the propaganda war for them. Scarcely had the week begun when Israel's warrior "commandos" stormed a Turkish boat bringing aid to Gaza and shot nine of the passengers dead. Yet by week's end, the protesters had become "armed peace activists", vicious anti-Semites "professing pacifism, seething with hate, pounding away at another human being with a metal pole". I liked the last bit. The fact that ...

PROVO, Utah — Gary Coleman, the adorable, pint-sized child star of the smash 1970s TV sitcom "Diff'rent Strokes" who spent the rest of his life struggling on Hollywood's D-list, died Friday after suffering a brain hemorrhage. He was 42. Life support was terminated and Coleman died at 12:05 p.m. MDT with family and friends at his side, Utah Valley Regional Medical Center spokeswoman Janet Frank said. Coleman, with his sparkling eyes and perfect comic timing, became a star after "Diff'rent Strokes" debuted in 1978. He played Arnold Jackson, the younger one of a pair of African-American brothers adopted by a wealthy white man. "It's unfortunate. It's a sad day," said Todd Bridges, who played the older brother Willis. "It's sad that I'm the last kid alive from the show." The series lives on thanks to DVDs and YouTube. But its equally enduring legacy became the troubles in adulthood of its former child stars. Dana Plato, w...

Lebanon is reeling from the shock of five brutal killings, four of which targeted members of the same family and the fifth that of the Egyptian man suspected of their murders. He was dragged from police custody,  beaten to death  and lynched by an angry vigilante mob Thursday in the small mountain town of Ketermaya. Graphic footage and video of the murder suspect's lynching (way too graphic to be posted here) began circulating immediately, leading many to criticize the breakdown of law and order. The suspect, Mohammad Salim Mssalem, was arrested after the fatal stabbing on Wednesday of Youssef Abu Merhi, his wife Kawthar and their two granddaughters Amina, 7, and Zeina, 9.  Mssalem was reportedly reenacting the murders for investigators at the scene of the crime when an angry mob overpowered the security officers, dragging the suspect into the streets and beating him severely. The officers were able to retrieve the badly wounded Mssalem and get him to a hospital, bu...