Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Good-bye Collina.... مع السلامة لقشر ميرندا






















"After 28 years I've decided to hand in my resignation."

Pierluigi Collina was due to retire in the summer but the Italian football association extended the maximum age for referees to 46 to accommodate him for a further year.

But yesterday he resigned.

What a character! And what a loss to football.

Monday, August 29, 2005

The teenager who defeated technology




This took place over 30 years ago.....

When a 14-year old girl, weighing 35 kilograms, started playing on the parallel bars in the gymnastics competition in the Olympic Games. She was swimming in the air and everyone was dazzled with her performance.

When she was done, the score showed up.

And you can see it in the picture above:
1.00

1.00 out of 10, and the audience was silenced. They were shocked how low that score was.

A few seconds passed before they understood it all, and they went wild.

A score of 10/10 has never happened in gymnastic history before that date, so the scoreboard was not prepared to display a score of 10, there was no room for 10.00. The maximum score which could be displayed was 9.99, so officials had no option but to show a 1.00, la3alla wa 3asa el naas tefham enha 10

That wasn't the only perfect score, she went ahead to score 10/10 six other times during those Olympics.

Nadia Comaneci proved that perfection was not always in the eyes of the beholder.

Sunday, August 28, 2005

Silence of the man

There is no good way to tell someone he has cancer. Reactions vary, but usually you'll see a reaction you've never seen before.

I'm working with a lung specialist now and I went to see a gentleman with a mass found in his lungs.I usually get the patient's age from the chart just to avoid asking about it, because all of them including men hate this question.

I forgot to do that today, so I asked him about his age,

It looked he was waiting for the question "I'm 51, and TODAY I'll turn 52"

I said "Sorry I don't have a gift for you!"He laughed

"The best gift would be to let me out of here (the hospital)"

I went back my boss to look at his CAT scans. There was a big tumor with the size of a tennis ball sitting there in his lungs. This was probably cancer.

We went back to break the news "you probably have lung cancer".

Very quietly he asked "So is this really a cancer?"

My boss was very clear "All the cases like yours that I've seen in my life turned to be a cancer, we'll do a confirmatory test but this will probably show cancer. It has spread to many lymph nodes and to the liver, it's quite advanced......"

Silence prevailed. He looked straight into the window without uttering a word for five minutes, fixing his eyes on it as if he was trying hard to read something written there.

With such big lung cancer spreading to different areas, the chance of survival is ...nil. The chance of living for a few years is also extremely low.

He was still looking at the window, and his wife, who I knew later was a breast cancer survivor, was holding his hand.

In such moments you would like to jump and tell him "it will be OK, it's not that serious, you'll be cured" but we would be lying to him. He will not be OK, it really is very serious, and he won't be cured."

The news was my birthday gift to this man, on his last birthday.

Thursday, August 25, 2005

Fatwa from America




Pat Robertson, who claims to be a Chrisitan preacher, called for the assasination of Hugo Chavez the Venezuelan president.

It's well-known that most regimes in Latin American countries like Venezuela are corrupt, and even the US has actively supported the regimes of horrible dectators like Penoche in Chile , for over three decades, during which hundreds of thousands of Chileans have disappeared.

What makes Venezuela so special is basically what made many Arab countries special: oil, but they have a regime which refuses to communicate with America, the story is more complicated but that's not my point....

My point is how a regular man like Robertson took advantage of his knowledge of the bible and Christianity to claim he is a Chrisitan preacher and his speaches are meant to lead people into Salvation while his mission is all political, namely supporting Republicans.

Jesus Christ was on the cross, bleeding and in the worst pain a man can ever have, yet his last prayer on the cross was to forgive those who crucified him.

We have Robertson on the other hand asking people to support a man who directly killed hundreds of thousands of people, and now it has become Roberston's turn to ask to kill people.

People like Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell have hurt Chrisitanity so bad, and they are just another example of how religion which calls for peace and understanding has become a weapon of mass destruction.

Thanks to Reobertson and Falwell, America and pretty much the entire world will remain under the leadership of Bush the Holy Son....

Jesus forgave his crucifiers but we can wonder "will he forgive his neo-crucifiers?"

Monday, August 22, 2005

Larger than Life



This famous picture to the left was for an "Unknown Rebel" or who was called later a Tank Man. It demonstrates the strength of a Chinese man standing against governmental tanks and eventually climbing one of them and asking the soldiers to leave his town.


Given its political signficiance (a movement against the communist government in China), this picture and video were distributed worldwide by the Associated Press and this man became a symbol of the Tiananmen Square protests.


I used to think of this man as the most courageous man ever ....

until I saw the other 2 pictures of Palestenian children throwing stones at an Israeli tank

can you even try compare the sizes of those children and the tank?

Those kids are physically smaller than the tanks but for me they are larger than life.

Saturday, August 20, 2005

The god that terrorists believe in

the god they believe in is a weapon of mass destruction

a god which rejoices when an innocent person gets killed and a criminal claims victory

a god which tells them they are always right no matter what, a god which made them blind and deaf and inhuamn

The terrorists who attacked Aqaba and previously hit other places definitely believe in a god
which is not God.
It's a god they made, a god they worship and a god they are willing to die for, but it's not God.

God bless Jordan and for those who applaud for terrorists and try to find excuses for their actions , maybe you'll change your attitude when you find a rocket striking your house or burning your children. Many like you did.

Thursday, August 18, 2005

The Very Angry Man

He sat down in the chair next to me, and at the moment I closed the door I could sense a strange feeling in the room. He was looking straight forward into my eyes, and he looked angry, very angry. He started telling me about his back pain, then quickly changed the subject, and went on to talk about his failed marriages and family problems, then how much he hated doctors, in a way he wanted me to feel uncomfortable.

I was asked to see him and evaluate him for his back pain. I spent 50 minutes although all I needed was ten minutes. Most of the time I was trying to calm him down, ask him to repeat what he's saying or elablorate on his medical issue. I did my best to focus on his medical problem but he kept telling me about his crappy social and marital life, and honestly I felt threatened by the way he was talking and the tone of his voice. I was just thinking "what the hell is wrong with this man?"

I checked his chart for some more information....."The patient has a history of illicit drug abuse, Alcohol abuse, previous suicidal attempt, he was a Vietnam veteran and here we go.............. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

PTSD is relatively common among people who experienced a major psychological traumatic experience, like surviving a natural disaster or a plane crash or a rape event but the biggest example are veterans who participated in Vietnam and the Korean wars. They experience symptoms such as hyper-arousal, sleep problems, being over-alert and sometimes having bouts of anger or irritability for no obvious reason.

Those who participated in the Vietnam war have seen horrible things, they've killed people and they've seen their friends being killed, they've been under serious threats and pressures and very often had dilemma on why are they fighting those people.

Many soldiers survived the war, many without a single physical injury, but an amputated arm or a paralyzed leg are not the only disabilities people suffer from wars. This guy could talk, walk, drive, read and eat but he was unable to live one day now like he lived before the war, which has ended more than 30 years ago. He became with whom any communication is extremely difficult.

With all these wars going on in the world, I wonder how many PTSD victims will we see in the future.

Sunday, August 14, 2005

My Sad Ending !

في نبا عاجل، اعلن بطل الكراتيه هاريغا- حريقة- اعتزال لعبة الكراتيه بعد مشوار حافل استمر اسبوعا و نيف.
و صرح هاريغا من منزله في اريزونا شمال المكسيك "قررت اعتزال الكراتيه بعد ان اكلت ضربا على قفاي خلال اسبوع اكثر ما اكلته من امي طوال حياتي. قراري لا رجعة عنه. ثيس از ماي فاينال ديسجن"
و فور اعلانه النبا تجمهر الالاف من محبي لعبة الكراتيه خارج مبنى هاريغا ليشكروه على القرار.
و قال الفونسو مارتينيز بطل العالم لسبع سنوات (2002-2009) " منذ بدا هاريغا لعب الكراتيه، اصبحت اخجل من نفسي انني امارس نفس اللعبة. جيراني استهزؤوا بي و زوجتي هددتني بالطلاق"
و لم يتطرق هاريغا الى تفاصيل النبا في المؤتمر الصحفي الذي عقده في مدينة طوصوون، لكن شهود عيون لمحوا ان سبب الاعتزال يعود غالبا للضرب المبرح الذي تلقاه من الطلاب الصغار معه في دروس الكراتيه، مثل الكركي مهاوش الحرايقة، و الروسي فاشخ نافوخك، و الايراني عليم الله عاللارض ببطحني.
وكان هاريغا قد قرر احتراف الكراتيه في نهاية تموز الماضي في خطوة جريئة اثارت استياء اتحاد الكراتيه العالمي و جمعيات المحافظة على الطبيعة. واطلق تنظيم القاعدة بيانا نفى ان يكون لهم صلة بهذا القرار

Saturday, August 13, 2005

Questions to all bloggers

I've been tagged and, despite a thorough explanation by Eman, I still can't understand it fully. She asked me "What do you have on your nightstand-kommodeena?"

Answer is : I don't have a kommodeena... seriously !

I got a group of questions, and since i don't understand the rules of tagging, I'll tag them to all bloggers, they kinda help us understand each other more

1- When did you start blogging? (month and year)

2- Have you ever thought that you'd keep blogging that long ?

3- When do you think you'll stop blogging?
(Answers: less than one year, 2-5 years, more than 5 years, when i get married, or NEVER)

4- What pisses you off in the blogs you see?

5- Are there certain blogs you avoid going to on almost permanent basis? And why?

6- Do you think one day of changing the theme of your blog or creating another blog?

7- What topics you like to see being discussed more in blogs?

8- Do you think jordanplanet.net is a good reflection of the life of most Jordanians?

9- Have you ever lied in your blog ? Elaborate :D
(you can avoid this question, but plz don't lie even in this answer!"

10- khait 7areer 3ala 7ait khaleel, say it ten times 3al saree3 nonstop, o eza ma kharbashto i promise i'll stand on a big table in the library and take all my clothes off.

You can answer here or in your blog

and thanx Eman for your komodeena question!

Friday, August 12, 2005

We are the Champions.......... of 1500 meters







منح العداء البحريني رشيد رمزي بلاده اول ميدالية في بطولة العالم وكانت من المعدن الاصفر الثمين عندما توج بطلا لسباق 1500 م مسجلا 3:37:88 دقائق ضمن بطولة العالم العاشرة لالعاب القوى المقامة حاليا في هلسنكي

يذكر ان لقب سباق 1500 م لم يخرج من جعبة العدائين العرب منذ البطولة الثالثة في طوكيو عام 1991، ففاز به الجزائري نور الدين مرسلي ثلاث مرات اعوام 91 و93 و95، والمغربي هشام الكروج اربع مرات اعوام 97 و99 و2001 و2003

Saturday, August 06, 2005

Sex Education in Jordanian Schools

All children will learn everything about sex. All your kids and future kids will, like it or not. And the question is "how"?

Do you want children to know about sex by surfing porn sites on the net or by reading a scientific book? Do you prefer for your child to know about reproduction by watching porn or watching an educational program in their schools?
Do you want your kids to learn about sex from a science teacher or a doctor or from their friends in their who'd tell them a girl will lose her virginity if she kisses someone and a guy will become blind if he masturbates?

Those young children will always ask questions and look for answers and if parents or schools ignore them they'll just look for other sources, one way or another they'll learn about it just like we did. We've been there before. All Jordanian parents have been there before. Schools should seriously think about it and I believe it's a very healthy thing to do.

Harroog

Tuesday, August 02, 2005

If you really want to help cancer patients.....

If you want really to help cancer patients, you can do something else other than going to a Nancy Ajram concert where 5% of funds would go to cancer patients, or buy LiveStrong bracelets like crazy as if you only do it to help cancer patients.

I worked in king hussain cancer center (al-amal) for a few months, and we had a serious problem: shortage of blood. Many patients (well maybe all of them) needed blood transfusion and the only way to get it was to ask one of the family members to donate.

I once had a patient who needed blood to be transfused on semi-urgent basis. I asked him whether or not he has relatives to donate blood, he just said that his son donated blood so many times that now he's not allowed to do it anymore, he barely had relatives and his son called all of his friends and they stopped showing up to donate blood. You can't imagine how sad he looked like ... Just telling him we can't gibe you the treatment because you don't have enough loved ones to help.

If you really care for cancer victims, you might give them money it usually helps. If not, give them something else.
Blood donation is an example. If you don't like needles , then go get some flowers or toys and knock on any sick child's room and give him a small gift, and the joy you'll bring to that child is just unforgettable. It wouldn't take a long time to think of the family of a cancer victim who are having a hard time coping with their loved one's death. Just go there visit them and you can add a smile to the sad family and their loved one who's watching from heaven.

Blood, a smile, a hug or a flower.... Those are small things that money cannot buy, and those are the very precious things.

And for everything else, there's master card.