Mind Soup

I received this message today from the U.N. World Food Programme and I thought I would share it with my readers, especially those in the UK. This event will occur in London on July 2, so if you are there, make sure you give it a shot.  Hi Bloggers, On July 2, we will be hosting a one day event in London along with Reuters AlertNet to chew over how hunger is reported. Our executive director Josette Sheeran will give a keynote speech, followed by four panel discussions exploring hot issues including the challenges of operating in violent contexts like Somalia and the future of food aid. Participants will include WFP staff, prominent media commentators, senior representatives from British-based non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and think-tanks, and journalists who specialise in humanitarian stories. If you are in London and would like to attend, contact me on  abby.ravera@wfp.org  or  39 06 65131 (ext. 2043 ). Please feel free to pass this on to bloggers that you know in London!

To whom it may concern, It seems that there is a common misconception going on on campus and elsewhere that I am the hidden person behind " The Worst of AUB " blog that contains criticizing articles, photos and videos about AUB. This is to denounce any involvement in the creation, publishing or maintaining the mentioned blog. Yesterday, I received an e-mail from the administrator of the blog "AUBite" who wishes to remain anonymous (I don't blame him/her). The purpose of this e-mail was only to request publishing rights of one of my copyrighted articles , which I granted. Although my articles are being republished there, I take no responsibility of the other content published by this blog, nor any material that may not "uphold the spirit of AUB." I urge those who are making false accusations to get the facts straight before spreading rumors. I value my positions and current jobs and I do not intend to lose any of them because a someone couldn

[If you are viewing this post via Google Buzz,  click here  to see the video] Download the original song by Train here . 

Today in Operations Management class, the professor showed us a video called "The Hidden Face of Globalization". This video shows how humans are abused in developing countries by western corporations to do all the labor is sweat-shop conditions, violence and being paid less 3-5 dollars per week. Off course, in class we were focusing on the business concept of sweat-shops, the efficiency, the processes, the decisions, etc.. but we did not focus on the ethical perspective. I thought it would be very interesting to share this video with my readers to make them aware of what goes on in the world. This should make you think twice before buying a standardized product from your favorite brand company. [If you are viewing this post via Google Buzz,  click here  to see the video]

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.

I was checking google buzz this morning and I found a post by Joseph Alam about Lebanese blogs being featured in the blogosphere section of Communicate paper-back magazine. I was surprised to find that Mind Soup was featured in the June 2010 issue for the Lebanese Bloggers Convention at AUB post. Too bad that this event was cancelled due to "special circumstances". Anyway, I will still be working for this event to happen and updates will be posted soon. Anyway, I would like to thank Communicate Magazine for featuring Mind Soup in their blogosphere; it came as a unexpected surprise. Here's the page where Mind Soup was featured. (click photo to enlarge) Here's a list of fellow Lebanese bloggers who weer also featured: Plus961 : See Through ads   Bazella w Riz : Dark Days Have Come Beirut/NTSC : Marie France Free Advertising Through Hearsay Maya Zankoul: Smile Like You Mean It  Joe's Box: COPYCHICKEN - Part 2  

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

The  turritopsis nutricula  species of jellyfish may be the only animal in the world to have truly discovered the fountain of youth. Why I am particularly interested about this? Well, partly because I am majoring in biology and have taken a whole course about lower invertebrates such as jellyfish and other slimy animals, but the huge part is because of the huge capability this animal presents to the scientific world! If scientists could discover the mechanism of this reversion of cells, this can advance the medical field tremendously, possibly by regenerating failing organ cells such as liver cells, heart cells or even brain cells. Here's the original post from the Mother Nature Network   (check this article about the animals with the longest life span, very interesting) , via Maurice Salem . Since it is capable of cycling from a mature adult stage to an immature polyp stage and back again, there may be no natural limit to its life span. Scientists say the hydrozoan jellyfi

Via Maurice Salem , from Cyanide & Happiness (my favorite comics website).

The following article is a repost from  “BACK home, they would shoot me in the head for doing this to hummus,” Majdi Wadi said as he waited to board a flight to Los Angeles, where he would meet with Costco executives to pitch his company’s roster of 14 flavored hummus varieties, including artichoke-garlic and spinach. By “home,” Mr. Wadi meant Kuwait, where he was born, and Jordan, from which he immigrated in 1994, places where hummus is usually a purée of chickpeas, sesame paste, lemon, garlic and not much else. Mr. Wadi, chief executive of Holy Land, a specialty foods producer here, has in the last few years broadened the palette of hummus, and its appeal. “I’m making an American product,” he confessed sotto voce. “And this is what Americans want. Flavors and varieties and guacamole.” Holy Land opened in Minneapolis in 1987 as a storefront cafe that sold tubs of hummus as a sideline. Back then, Americans didn’t eat a lot of hummus. A staple of the counterculture in the 1960s

If you want to link to Mind Soup on your blog or website, just copy the code below to your blog: <img src="http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc3/hs447.snc3/25638_408514258523_160046903523_5137637_72369_n.jpg" width="228" height="106" id="myphoto" style="border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); float: left; cursor: pointer; " /> Don't forget to inform us that you linked to us! :) 

It gives me great pleasure to announce that Lebanese bloggers were able today to postpone the Lebanese E-Transactions Law. According to SMEX,org , the vote on the E-Transactions Law was postponed for one month, sent back to committee for revision. After many long awaited years and after many opportunities and money wasted the Lebanese are finally getting their e-transaction law. But instead of cheers and hallelujah, the online community is greeting this law with a big big gloom and anger. This law, if passed, will take us backward in time and will drive all foreign investments away. [...] This is simply like looking up to a light at the end of a very dark long tunnel only to find out that the source of this light is a burning fire that you can’t even avoid. ( link )                                                                                                                                                                 ( link ) The Law: There are some very troubling articles in

[If you are viewing this post via Google Buzz,  click here  to see the videos] This is on of my favorite songs at the moments. This is not the original version, though. The original demo version is called Heart-Shaped Gun with different lyrics. The original demo song is below: Related posts: My Top 50 Songs of the Decade ( link ) Song of the week: California's Burning ( link ) Song of the week: Sweet and Low ( link ) Song of the week: Boston ( link )

An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer-contractor of his plans to leave the house building business and live a more leisurely life with his wife enjoying his extended family. He would miss the paycheck, but he needed to retire. They could get by. The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favor. The carpenter said yes, but in time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his work. He resorted to shoddy workmanship and used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to end his career. When the carpenter finished his work and the builder came to inspect the house, the contractor handed the front-door key to the carpenter. "This is your house," he said, "my gift to you." What a shock! What a shame! If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently. Now he had to live in the home he had built none too well. So it is with

Episode 1 - A comedy spoof about a cosmic kid and his frustrations on a typical day in Hamra, Beirut.

I've seen some pretty funky marriage proposals on TV and YouTube, but this takes the cake! I love the amount of effort the guy put into this (there's dancing and back-flips involved!). Totally worth watching.

مع إقفال محل أبو ناجي، بداية جديدة «كش... ملك». هذه هي قواعد اللعبة في شارع بلس الذي لا يملّ من تغيير معالمه. إلا أن للتغيير ضريبة تظلّ باهظة على «السكان القدامى»، رغم اعترافهم بأنه «سنّة الحياة»، كما يقول أبو ناجي، مدير أقدم سوبرماركت في الشارع. على عكس الكثير من جيرانه الذين رُحّلوا، هو لن يذهب بعيداً، فقد هُجّر فقط لمسافة بضعة أمتار، كانت كافية لإشعاره بالغربة رنا حايك  «انتقل محل أبو ناجي». تصوّر طالبة من الجامعة الأميركية اللافتة المعلقة على محلّ مختوم بالشمع الأحمر وبأختام رسمية: «لا يجوز فضّها تحت طائلة الملاحقة الجزائية»، لترسلها إلى متخرّجين يعيشون في الخارج. فلكلّ من طلاب الأميركية ذكرياته مع هذه البقعة الصغيرة من الشارع التي تشكّل الطبقة السفلية من مبنى سيهدَم قريباً، كما شرح كيو الشامي، من مكتب مالك العقار، رجل الأعمال، تحسين خياط. «كان الإيجار قديماً، حاولنا رفعه منذ سنوات حين اشترينا المبنى لكن المستأجر رفض، فرفعنا دعوى، وحكمت المحكمة لمصلحتنا. أخيراً، قرّرنا هدمه لأننا نملك عقارات أخرى وراءه تشكّل مساحة شاسعة إذا ما جمعت معه. هكذا، نستطيع خلال السنة المقبلة بناء مجمّع

I've been obsessed with this song for a while and figured I'd share it. Sufjan Stevens is an artist with some pretty funky music to match his funky name. This song, Chicago , from his album "Illinoise" got me totally hooked and I immediately got the whole album. Enjoy! :) [If you are viewing this post via Google Buzz,  click here  to see the video]

[If you are viewing this post via Google Buzz, click here to see the video] Click here to directly download the original song by Jeff Buckley in mp3 format.

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

Put on your walking shoes and join us on June 6th when we Walk the World to fight hunger. This is an annual global event to raise awareness and funds for WFP’s efforts to end child hunger and malnutrition. Hundreds of thousands of people in more than 200 countries in the world will walk 5 kilometers to show their support and take a stand against child hunger. The walk takes place across a 24-hour time span, in 70 countries around the world, with over 360,000 people walking five kilometers. It begins in Auckland, New Zealand and finishes in Samoa. Last year, enough money was raised to provide school meals for one year to more than 20 thousand children in the world's poorest countries. At walktheworld.wfp.org you can find out if there’s a walk near you, create your own walk, or join our virtual walk. Unfortunately, there is not walk in Lebanon. The closest walk is in Jordan :( This is a sticky post. All new posts before June 7 will appear below it.

I should probably starting applying this method, seeing that other methods aren't really working out as predicted.

I just love creative advertising and packaging. This is the hot dog packaging for the Hong Kong based food and coffee shop called "TrueCoffee." For more about this packaging, check out the original posting here .

This article about an albino dolphin is relatively old (it's from March 2009), but I still felt it was worth sharing. I had no idea that such dolphins existed. I've reposted the article below and if you want to see the original one by the Daily Mail, just click here . " Caught on camera: Is this the world's only PINK dolphin? These are the stunning pictures of a rare pink bottlenose dolphin spotted swimming in a Louisiana lake. The mammal was pictured by local charter boat captain Erik Rue, who has been studying the dolphin since it first surfaced in Lake Calcasieu, an inland saltwater estuary, north of the Gulf of Mexico in Southwestern USA. Since it was spotted with its pod of normal coloured dolphins last year the animal has been wowing visitors on the lake. Capt Rue, 42, originally saw the dolphin, which also has reddish eyes, swimming with a pod of four other dolphins, with one appearing to be its mother which never left its side. Stunning sight: The rare albino d

Dear readers, I'm sure you have noticed that a few days ago, Mind Soup have welcomed a new contributing blogger, Daisy. This is to officially announce that she is not going anywhere anytime soon. ;) Daisy is an aspiring scientist, an activist and a personal friend. She has also dabbled in journalism for quite some time now. You might also notice that she has a striking resemblance to  Morticia Addams  from the Addams Family , except for the hair. (or maybe not?) I'm sure you will be entertained and interested by her numerous posts on Mind Soup. Daisy, on behalf of the Mind Soup team, I would like to welcome you to the team :)

While this picture from Shoebox Blog is quite funny, it's really not much of an exaggeration of what's going on in real life. Facebook's (lack of) privacy settings have gotten worse over the years. Essentially, we have to treat everything we do on the internet as completely public. Times have changed and we have to change with them. If we don't, things we posted months or years ago on Facebook will come back to haunt us. *Tip of the Day* Google your full name in quotations every once-in-a-while, i.e., "[first name] [last name]" to see what's out there about you. Future employers and grad schools regularly Google the names of their applicants. Figure out what sort of information people can find about you and if any of it is problematic, try to remove it before applying anywhere for jobs or higher education.

I definitely admit to being somewhat of a computer geek. While I don't use Linux on a daily basis, I know that it's a pretty cool operating system with way more benefits and less problems than the standard Windows OS. When I got super-excited after seeing this blog posting from OMG! Ubuntu! (that I've reposted below), I realized that my geekiness just increased exponentially. "Linux powers 91% of the world's top supercomputers With the biannual list of the top 500 supercomputers the world over released , the following screenshot of a graph showing the operating systems used in those 500 peta-flop crunching machines, and produced by the University of California Berkeley, makes for an impressive visual glance at Linux’s dominance in Super Computing. Check it out in its full interactive form @ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/10187248.stm to get down and dirty with the stats behind it. Sadly Ubuntu doesn’t feature in the list breakdown, but given these rigs ar

Maya's Amalgam is a great blog and there is always something really funny and witty posted. After seeing this , I couldn't help but repost it here.