Laith Zraikat: Thoughts

"Blog" sometimes stands for Bitch-Log

Sat, 09 Sep 2006 17:48:00 GMT

"Bitch" here is the verb not the noun.

Blogging is one of the most pivotal phenomena to hit the Internet since its inception. When I think about the Internet since it began, I think: Email, Instant messaging, and Blogging. Once we got over "how cool" Email and IM are, we started addressing the problems associated with them. The same applies to Blogging.

When the Blogging hype began, people were too "at-awe" with the whole thing that simply having a blog meant you were "sophisticated, important, worth-while, or have something important to say". Now that everyone's friend's mother knows what a blog is and some are probably thinking of having one, eyes are turning to the more important question; Why should you have a blog? What should you write in it? What value are you adding with your blog?

It is so easy to create a blog, anyone anywhere can have one. Nobody expressed that better than "Lore Sjöberg" in his article "The Ultimate Blog Post":

"Creating your own blog is about as easy as creating your own urine, and you're about as likely to find someone else interested in it."

He also says:

"Blog" itself is short for "weblog," which is short for "we blog because we weren't very popular in high school and we're trying to gain respect and admiration without actually having to be around people."

The most sophisticated blogs are those you read and feel like you have actually expanded your knowledge, or at least gotten some new insight about a topic through someone's "experience"… and I stress on EXPERIENCE.

I like people who write from their educational or professional experience. Even those who simply report news that has already been reported, but add their insight about the matter are actually interesting. I like posts that take one topic and dissect it –given that it is related to their expertise, and not just because they felt like it- even if they do not provide an answer.

What I dislike are bloggers who rant on and on about their problems, their life, how unjust this world is,…etc. Those end up writing "Bitch-Logs" -. For every bitch-post you will find a thousand other posts bitching about the same problem. It is such a waste of time.

To those people I say:

No one is interested in the fact that you dislike this or love that. We don’t want to hear about your problems. Keep them to yourself and deal with them.

If you want to discuss world hunger, tell us how you can help fight it.

If you want to discuss wife beating, then you should have an experience to share, if not, then shut up, because you have no idea what you're talking about.

If you hate the opposite sex because you were abused by an ex-boyfriend / girlfriend who has likely dumped you because you bitch too much, then you're not helping yourself by further bitching about it.

If you hate the opposite sex just because you can't get one, don’t bitch about it, look in the mirror instead. There are millions of couples out there who are happily married. Just because you can't find one doesn’t mean the problem is "them".

Stop complaining and propose solutions. Unless you have at least an idea for a solution, nobody wants to hear about it.

If you don’t have any experience to share, then talk about your hobbies. If you have none, go get one. It might help you solve some of your problems.
Don't give parenting advice is you've never had kids or had to raise kids.
Don't give marriage advice if you've never been married.
Don't give relatioship advice if you've never had one.

I do realize that for those B-loggers*, their B-blog is a kind of therapy and escape from their reality, where they get to talk and feel that someone is listening, which makes them feel important. Well, ok, someone is listening, then what? The person who is listening today actually has a life and will move on once is gets too cluttered with "important" things to worry about. You and your B-blog are just a stop for people who need to rest their minds after reading "sophisticated" blogs .So, in my opinion, this is not a permanent solution.

My proposed solution for those B-loggers is to sit with yourself and list the problems in your life that end up on your B-log. Convince yourself that nobody is interested in how unhappy you are with yourself –because essentially, it is your own fault- and try to solve your problems by seeking professional help .Make a pledge that you will no longer Bitch-log your problems to the world. Then, simply refrain from posting about topics which you have absolutely no experience in, and focus on adding more value to your readers.

As for me, I have a long list of B-logs to delete from my feed reader because they are simply garbage.

*Short for Bitch-loggers

Amazon.com: Ultimate customer satisfaction

Fri, 23 Jun 2006 19:26:00 GMT

I had bought a new digital camera from Amazon.com early this month. It was a really sweet deal, especially for someone living in Jordan.

Today I was browsing Amazon again looking for some camera accessories and stumbled upon the same camera which I bought. I was pissed to see the price had been reduced by $60. It felt I did the wrong thing by buying it then and that I should have waited –I haven’t taken that many pictures with it anyway.

It occurred to me that I should return it and I was seriously considering it. But then I thought I’d call them up and see what they have to say about it.

I explained to the customer care lady that I bought an item less than 3 weeks ago and that its now $60 cheaper. She checked to verify that what I was saying was true, and then said "Very well sir, your credit card will be credited with the amount in 3-4 business days. Is that the only item or would you like to report more items?" ....I didn’t even have to tell her I wanted a refund, in fact I didn’t think I would get one.

Now the sweet deal got even sweeter with $60 shaved off. I sat and thought for a minute…Did this just happen that easily? Without having to ship the item or go through a series of questioning and disgruntled comments?

I guess people in the US take these things for granted, and us mortals in Jordan can only dream and wish we could get a genuine smiling face when we go shopping. Maybe it is supposed to be a dream… but then that would make USA the land of dreams…

Given all the political issues in the region, I can't say I love USA, so I'll just love Amazon.com instead.

Modern day slavery

Fri, 16 Jun 2006 18:01:00 GMT

I take a taxi to work most of the time, so I have to put up with a lot of inconveniences like loud music, hearing the driver go on an on about his problems, and often times, hearing him curse at other drivers and then telling me how he is way above this job and that he's doing it as part time while he's on vacation in Jordan from his real job in "Amreeka" (USA).

All that is a part of life and it can actually be amusing sometimes. However, one inconvenience is totally not acceptable to me; Smoking.

Smoking is the kind of habit that everyone agrees is harmful to those doing it and to people around them. Health, hygiene, money, .etc it's bad for everything.

Today I took a taxi to the office, and as soon as I got in, the driver took out a cigarette and was about to light it. I asked him politely if he can postpone it will I got out –my ride is no more than 5-7 minutes on a work day depending on traffic- and today being a weekend, it meant he'd have to wait less than 5 minutes .The guy smiled and started to mumble. We had already started moving and this conversation took place:

Taxi:
"well, I already took it out…"

LZ:
"My ride is very short. You'll only have to wait 5 minutes.

T:
"I'm trying to quit and I take only a few cigarettes a day at specific times."

LZ:
"If you're trying to quit, then you should be happy I'm asking you not to smoke."

T:
"No, this way my schedule gets messed up and I smoke more."

LZ:
"Ok then I don’t mind getting out right here if you still insist on smoking it."

T:
"I really set my mind on smoking it now so it will be hard not to."

I paid him 25 piasters for the ride and got out. It took me a minute to catch another taxi. On the way I started thinking… How can a man who is in his 40's behave that way? If only for the sake of preserving his dignity, he should have forced himself not to smoke.

Normally I don't look down at people whom are not as fortunate in life –Mostly taxi drivers are looked down at in Jordan- because the reasons may not be something that they can control. But this guy, I could totally understand why he will never amount to anything more than what he is right now.

I look at smoking as a form of slavery which is fooling people into thinking that it will give them something positive. Just like hundreds of years ago the African people were promised a better life in the new world, not knowing they would be sold as slaves once they go there.

Those slaves were forced to work in exchange for nothing. Their actions and behavior were subject to their masters' wishes. Even their lives could be ended if their master wished.

Being forced to give your life's earnings to the tobacco companies, restricting your freedom, not having enough control and needing expert assistance in order to break free of tobacco addiction, and having your life and the lives of people around you at the mercy of your toxic habit,… all these add up to a form of slavery.

Slavery of the body has been abolished in almost all parts of the world, but it the slavery of the mind which we must abolish now.

We have laws that ban smoking in public places and in public transportation, but they are not applied. I hope there comes a time when tobacco trading is outlawed altogether… maybe not soon, but it has to start somewhere.

Finally, in the words of Mr. T: "I pity the fool"

Those pathetic idiots and their masters

Mon, 12 Jun 2006 23:04:00 GMT

I don't like writing about politics, but I do –however- write about mind boggling stupidity when I see it because it simply drives me nuts.

First of all let me say that it is because of scum like Mohammad Abu Fares that the people of this country –Jordan- have stopped believing that there is hope in having a parliament which truly represents their cause.

Instead of working day and night for the poor Jordanian people and addressing issues like rise of living costs, crappy roads, corrupt officials, and the ethical downhill that is dragging our society down a bottomless pit, this idiot thinks he has done his duty towards his country and now has some free time to try and change the way 5 million people think.

This unknown and his pack of hooligans are just a sorry bunch of attention seekers who did not have enough intelligence to pick a smarter way to rise into the ranks of the "known".

It is a disgrace to all Muslims that those idiots and their masters continue to abuse the name of Islam. They should not be allowed to continue doing so, and if the people put them where they are today, then the people should be able to throw them into the dumpsters of history where they belong.

I have one question for those boys: Do you think your children are proud of what you did? Ask them and see if their eyes can convince you.

Finally, I guess this is what we call "Natural Selection" where the weak and stupid eventually never last long.

p.s. I loved Batir's message to Abu Fares.

More about their stupidity:

Arabic GMail: Screwing the Niche!

Mon, 05 Jun 2006 18:38:00 GMT

It didn't come as a surprise to me, nor -I think- to Arab free email services like Maktoob and Gawab. In today's evolving web, and amidst the heightened competition to dominate the next age of computing, this was bound to happen.

GMail caused quite a stir in the webmail market when it came out, both because of the experience it provided and its 1GB storage. Knee-jerk reactions rippled across the web with everyone raising their storage limits to 1GB. Some actually thought it would be "innovative" to offer 2GB… It was really funny to watch. I hope the brainstorming meetings they held in order to come up with these solutions did not take more than 10 minutes.

The reactions of Arabic email providers reveals an alarming fact; That Arab users don't use them because they provide better value, nor even because they are in Arabic (which is worse).

Arab web companies have always lived in their own comfort zone feeling they have enough barriers to entry that prevent foreign services from taking a bite out of their market share. This feeling in turn provided no motivation to innovate, take risks or push the limits of creativity. The niche which was once an advantage has turned into a wall blocking the exit rather than the entrance, thus putting them always on the defense.

Is there hope, or is it too late?

Arabic e-mail services have been virtually dormant for the past few years with Maktoob sitting too comfortably at the very top and Gawab –for a reason I can’t understand- not competing fiercely to snatch a larger piece of the market.

Just recently –two weeks ago- Gawab released a major update to their service, all focused on enhancing user experience. Gawab's "answer" to the competition was SPA "Single Page Application", which is an extreme expression for what is known and "AJAX" not as fancy sounding.

Now really, AJAX is a nice buzz word, but it is no silver bullet. Incorporating AJAX into your apps will not help you beat the competition. GMail used AJAX and now everyone is doing it, so I can hardly call this an achievement. We expected more from Gawab, being the smaller player they are expected to have more motivation to innovate.

Maktoob have just started releasing a their own facelift after many years of having a somewhat fragmented look due to the large nature of their network which was amplified by several web site acquisitions they made over the past two years. I hope these changes are a reflection of a change of mentality on the inside and that it will soon reflect on aspects other than just the user interface.

Google's entry into Arabic email is a wakeup call for everyone involved in the Arabic web scene, and I hope this time, the answer won’t simply be "A Bigger Gun".

Gone in 60 Milliseconds

Mon, 15 May 2006 23:04:00 GMT

As you call can see, I have accidentally deleted my blog,... you don't want to know the feeling...

You may be wondering how this happened,... well, at Jeeran we do a lot of testing all the time to make sure the system is running smoothly especially after a major update. So, tonight I happened to be fiddling around using a testing blog to try out the new features we have just released -one of which is "TAGGING"- and after I was done I wanted to delete the blog, so I used the quick and easy "Delete Blog" feature that we have -I really don't think anyone other than testers uses it - and in the split second that my finger clicked the mouse button, a feeling of terror ... I actually shivered. Then I heard a loud shout in my head "NOOooo...." and I heard it fade as if falling in a pit.....

At times like these you wish and pray and hope that your ADSL suddenly goes down -as it does when you don't want it to- but no, this time its lightning fast, not a glitch. I clicked the stop button knowing it was too late... In my head I could picture the bits of data forming the fateful http request racing through the wire, crossing thousands of miles of land and ocean, passing people, trees, fish and possible birds, and finally arriving at their destination, happy to collide with router to be carried to their final destination, where they deliver their message and be free at last... I could picture the software analyzing the message, figuring out what it has to do, and laying down the action plan which will send my blog to its doom.... Throughout this I could still hear the scream in my head slowly fade away... and then there was silence.. I knew it was over...

In just Milliseconds, my blog was gone... it was so fast I'm more amazed than sad or angry. I am amazed at how fast these technologies are, how we sometimes take it for granted when it takes us a minute to download a 3Mb song -some still think that's slow- but mostly, I am amazed at how fast and complex the human brain is that it can come up with all these thoughts, imagery, and feelings in such a negligible time-span.

In the end, I will not despair, nor should you feel sorry for me because Jeeran is a smart company and smart companies use backup. So, my blog will be restored soon, and I hope you all learned a valuable lesson from my experience, if you haven't it's okay, you will some day out of your own basket :)

How to burn 1000+ KCal in an hour while working your mind as well as your body

Sat, 29 Apr 2006 23:28:00 GMT

Trust me, I've been doing this for a while and did at least 700 KCal each time, and twice did 1000+

Register at a gym (If you are too lazy to do that, then don’t read on)
Get two half-hour podcasts about your favorite subject –mine, web development of course. This will keep your mind off the time and help you focus on something useful other than the boring repetitive 80s gym music.
It is preferred that you use an audio player with high volume so you can actually hear over the gym music –An iPod is ideal.
Use the cross-trainer (you know the one where you move your arms and legs –The treadmill will wear you off too quickly and you'll only achieve 350 KCal. The bike... you'll end up with a monkey butt by the time you're done.
Set the machine for a 70 minute workout –ten extra minutes will give you motivation to try and push yourself more- with a reasonable difficulty level so you won't be exhausted in the first 10 minutes.
Press "Play" and start working.
Concentrate on the podcast and try to actually think about what is being said.
Drink a lot of water while you're working out. If you don’t, your blood volume will go down due to heavy sweating and you'll start to feel nauseated.
Maintain an RPM of 65-80.

End result: You have worked out your body and mind for one full hour. Afterwards you can drink the best can of pepsi you've ever had in your life, and you'll get to enjoy it guilt free :)

Note: It is extremely important that you do not look at the timer until the first 20 minutes at least. If you do, you'll be so tired and you'll feel not enough time has passed .Whereas if you look at the timer after 20-25 mins, it will motivate you.

Of course the amount your burn will depend on your weight.

Warning: If you have any type of medical condition, do not attempt this. Even if you don’t have any medical conditions, you may develop some by hitting the floor after getting off the machine – you may experience some imbalance so it is advised you do not stop abruptly.

p.s. This is by no means to be taken as medical advice. I am only a dentist.

Designers vs. Developers? I prefer Teams!

Mon, 09 Jan 2006 22:01:00 GMT

Jad Madi raised a topic that I'm sure all designers and developers think about regularly during their career: Who is better, developers or designers?

In my years of experience, I put on many hats: graphic/web design, development, architecture and analysis, management, even painted some walls while we were building our new offices. In each I felt that my work was not just very important, but essential to the success of the company. And that's the truth.

In a team, every member is an essential component that plays a unique role in pushing the ship toward its destination.

Having done both design and development, and now that I have to supervise our development team, I don't get to do as much hands-on development as I would like to, so I get to look at both fields from an unbiased point of view. I see them both as essential and in-separable, for two simple reasons:

A great application has to be developed by someone who has the great programming skill and can produce an error/bug free experience for the user. Someone who can "design" his application with performance, security, scalability, in mind and compose the code in a way which is comprehendible to other developers on the team.
This great application will be worth exactly "zero" if nobody can figure out how to use it, so it needs a very good designer who can "develop" an intuitive user experience. The user experience is the only single factor which can determine the success or failure of an application. If people can't use it, they won't buy it, and the company can’t pay the bills. Simple.

Now, can you imagine one without the other?

When it comes to producing software, both designers and developers have to be "designers and developers". Designing and producing high quality, bug free code is an art, and developing the user experience involves much more than just designing the interface.

Sad but True

Thu, 24 Nov 2005 12:46:00 GMT

>"The government solution to a problem is usually as bad as the problem." -- Milton Friedman

Milton Friedman, recipient of the 1976 Nobel Memorial Prize for economic science, has been a senior research fellow at the Hoover Institution since 1977. He is also the Paul Snowden Russell Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Chicago, where he taught from 1946 to 1976, and was a member of the research staff of the National Bureau of Economic Research from 1937 to 1981.

Friedman was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1988 and received the National Medal of Science the same year.

(read more on Wikipedia)