Mido Aboshihata

Iced Coffee has nearly 3 times the caffeine of a Double Espresso? It takes 30 minutes of fighting to burn off a Mocha Frappe Latte?

Love this...

Created this Arabic text using Google Translation by typing phonetically

عزيزتي أمبر،
أتمنى إن هذه الرسالة الموجزة تعجبك
إختبار: ١ ٢ ٣ ٤ ١٠٠ ١٠٠٠
أبجد هوز !!!
بحبك يا أمبر :‎-)

Translates to:

Dear Amber,
I hope that this brief message you like
Test: 1 2 3 4 100 1000
Lorem Ipsum!!!
I love you, Amber: -)

I don't have an Arabic keyboard but I typed phonetically and Google translate generated the Arabic text and simultaneously translated it to English. This is amazing as it steps into territory for small software firms that specialize in language translation on the fly.

What's fascinating is how did they translate أبجد هوز to Lorem Ipsum. Totally different. This is the standard alphabetical order used in lists and for numbering paragraphs similar to the Greek.
The full list is as follows:
ابجد هوز حطي كلمن صعفس قرشت ثخذ ضظغ

Some of you may remember this alphabet from this Layla Morad Song
(ليلى مراد... أبجد هوز)

You might already know that Lorem Ipsum is basically dummy text generated to be used for the printing and typesetting industry. Some of these words though have Latin literature roots going back 2000 years! http://www.lipsum.com/

Without further ado, the 2009 Word of the Year is: unfriend.

unfriend – verb – To remove someone as a ‘friend’ on a social networking site such as Facebook.

As in, “I decided to unfriend my roommate on Facebook after we had a fight.”

“It has both currency and potential longevity,” notes Christine Lindberg, Senior Lexicographer for Oxford’s US dictionary program. “In the online social networking context, its meaning is understood, so its adoption as a modern verb form makes this an interesting choice for Word of the Year. Most “un-” prefixed words are adjectives (unacceptable, unpleasant), and there are certainly some familiar “un-” verbs (uncap, unpack), but “unfriend” is different from the norm. It assumes a verb sense of “friend” that is really not used (at least not since maybe the 17th century!). Unfriend has real lex-appeal.”

Wondering what other new words were considered for the New Oxford American Dictionary 2009 Word of the Year?  Check out the list below.

Technology

hashtag – a # [hash] sign added to a word or phrase that enables Twitter users to search for tweets (postings on the Twitter site) that contain similarly tagged items and view thematic sets

intexticated – distracted because texting on a cellphone while driving a vehicle

netbook – a small, very portable laptop computer with limited memory

paywall – a way of blocking access to a part of a website which is only available to paying subscribers

sexting – the sending of sexually explicit texts and pictures by cellphone

Economy

freemium – a business model in which some basic services are provided for free, with the aim of enticing users to pay for additional, premium features or content

funemployed – taking advantage of one’s newly unemployed status to have fun or pursue other interests

zombie bank – a financial institution whose liabilities are greater than its assets, but which continues to operate because of government support

Politics and Current Affairs

Ardi – (Ardipithecus ramidus) oldest known hominid, discovered in Ethiopia during the 1990s and announced to the public in 2009

birther – a conspiracy theorist who challenges President Obama’s birth certificate

choice mom – a person who chooses to be a single mother

death panel – a theoretical body that determines which patients deserve to live, when care is rationed

teabagger -a person, who protests President Obama’s tax policies and stimulus package, often through local demonstrations known as “Tea Party” protests (in allusion to the Boston Tea Party of 1773)

Environment

brown state – a US state that does not have strict environmental regulations

green state – a US state that has strict environmental regulations

ecotown - a town built and run on eco-friendly principles

Novelty Words

deleb – a dead celebrity

tramp stamp – a tattoo on the lower back, usually on a woman

Notable Word Clusters for 2009:

Twitter related: Tweeps Tweetup Twitt Twitterati Twitterature Twitterverse/sphere Retweet Twibe Sweeple Tweepish Tweetaholic Twittermob Twitterhea

Obamaisms: Obamanomics Obamarama Obamasty Obamacons Obamanos Obamanation Obamafication Obamamessiah Obamamama Obamaeur Obamanator Obamaland Obamalicious Obamacles Obamania Obamacracy Obamanon Obamalypse

Egypt to apply for first Arabic domain name

By TAREK EL-TABLAWY (AP) – 1 day ago

SHARM EL-SHEIK, Egypt — Egypt will apply for the first Internet domain written in Arabic, its information technology minister said Sunday at a conference grouping Yahoo's co-founder and others to discuss boosting online access in emerging nations.

Tarek Kamel said Egypt on Monday would apply for the new domain — pronounced ".masr" but written in the Arabic alphabet — making it the first Arab nation to apply for a non-Latin character domain. The effort is part of a broader push to expand both access and content in developing nations, where the Internet remains out of reach for wide swaths of the population.

The registering of the domain "will offer new avenues for innovation, investment and growth, and hence we can truly and gladly say ... the Internet now speaks Arabic," Kamel said at the start of the Internet Governance Forum — a U.N.-sponsored gathering that drew Net legends like Yahoo Inc.'s Jerry Yang and Tim Berners-Lee, known as one of the Internet's founding fathers.

"It is a great moment for us," Kamel said of the domain name, which translates as ".Egypt".

The new domains stem from a decision taken at the end of October by the board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, a key Internet oversight agency, to develop a "fast-track" mechanism for domain names in languages such as Chinese, Korean, Arabic and others that do not use the Latin alphabet.

The decision marks a key step in the Arab world, where a mixture of censorship, limited content and access have stymied efforts to boost Arabic-language content on the Web.

The dearth of content has opened new market opportunities for Internet companies, with Yahoo, for example, recently acquiring Arab online community Web site

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Woho for Egypt but now what? Will the government start using these domains just like we do here in the US with .gov? I think that's a start to show commitment form the Egyptian government to this.

I do though recognize how difficult it this will be on many apps/engines on the web that are use Latin alphabet. I guess this is an evolutionary step on the web.

Google's Eric Schmidt interview on the Future of web saying that Five years from now the internet will be dominated by Chinese-language content. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHxub_yQfig

So how do Arabic domain names will look like? Well, first Egypt in Arabic is three letters (not sure how many bits this is) but it would look like
مصر
Now you might not know but it's written from right to left so the following are examples of to be registered domain names:
تاريخ.مصر
وزارةالثقافة.مصر
اتصالات.مصر
(in order, History.Egypt, CultureMinistry.Egypt, TeleCommunications.Egypt)

The Basics – Get personal and be real

Username: Choosing the right username is important – there’s no harm in using your actual name of course, providing someone else hasn’t taken it already! If your desired username has been taken, choose something that reflects you and how you’ll try to use your Twitter account. There’s no harm in being totally professional, but a little bit of character will make you seem more human.

Picture: Upload an image of yourself – preferably nothing too risqué! A nice simple headshot will do the trick, it makes communicating that little bit more personal. Alternatively, you can create your own cartoon avatar and customise it to make it look how you wish!

Bio: Write a short bio including who you work for and what your interests are. This will help tweeple (Twitter people) find you as well as giving them information about why they should follow you once you start tweeting.

Protected Updates: Privacy online is a hot topic and will continue to be so as long as your personal information is deemed valuable, and it is tempting to hide your updates to just your immediate friends. However, on Twitter if you’ve got something to hide people will want to know why and they will be cautious about following you, if not put off altogether! 

Website: Include your blog if you have one, this helps to make you more ‘real’ to anyone who comes across your profile. You can also link to a LinkedIn or Facebook profile, or even your Flickr page.

Copy adapted from Twitter User Guide created by @geetarchurchy from Edelman

Edelman launched TweetLevel a tool that checks your twitter account's influence, popularity, engagement and trust. There are lots of these tools out there, but what was far more interesting to me was the Tips page. Which assumes you want to increase your influence on twitter.

What's startling the home page of the big PR agency Edelman had the TweetLevel tool in as an interstitial page.

In this photo, on the right the subject shows more relaxed stance,
emotionally stable, open and likeable, the researchers found.

"Scientists have known physical appearance is important for first impressions and that such initial impressions can be hard to undo, particularly negative ones. Studies have shown judgments made at first glance of a CEO can predict his or her success. But until now little was known about how well people judged personality based on appearance and what physical factors are most important.

In the new study, 12 observers looked at full-body photos of 123 undergraduate students who they had never met before. Six observers viewed the students in a neutral pose and six saw the same students in a spontaneous pose.

The participants rated each photo on 10 personality traits: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, emotional stability, openness (open to experience), likability, self-esteem, loneliness, religiosity and political orientation.

To figure out accuracy of the judgments, the researchers compared the results with the posers' self-ratings and ratings from three close friends.

For the controlled poses, the observers accurately judged extraversion and self-esteem. When participants looked at the naturally expressive shots, which revealed dynamic non-verbal cues, they were nearly spot-on, getting nine out of the 10 traits correct (everything but political orientation). "

For more on this article check: http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20091109/sc_livescience/postingpicsonlinewhatyourphotossayaboutyou

By the way, interesting shirt. Wonder where this study was conducted...

BY Jake Pearson, Mike Mcloughlin AND Elizabeth Hays
DAILY NEWS WRITERS

Thursday, November 5th 2009, 4:00 AM

Hagen for News

Mayor Michael Bloomberg talks to reporters as he arrives at City Hall the day after the election.

Mayor Bloomberg may have squeaked out a third term across the city - but if it was up to Brooklyn voters he would have been tossed out.

In the Borough of Kings, Controller William Thompson trounced Millionaire Mike by nearly 6 percentage points, more than Bloomberg's victory margin citywide, preliminary election results show.

Bloomberg's dismal showing highlights widespread frustration in the borough - particularly among black voters - and shows that Bloomberg has his work cut out for him in his next term, voters and analysts said.

"He's not in touch with people here," said Cee Allah, 45, of Bedford-Stuyvesant - where Bloomberg lost to Thompson by a whopping 10,502 votes, the largest margin in Brooklyn.

"With Giuliani it was racial - but Bloomberg's a billionaire, so you know it's class," added Allah, an airport worker and father of three.

After Bed-Stuy - Thompson's home turf - Bloomberg's biggest losses came in Fort Greene and Prospect Heights, and in East Flatbush, Canarsie and Brownsville, all black or Caribbean strongholds.

Bloomberg also did poorly in parts of southern Brooklyn, such as Mill Basin and Bergen Beach, where he lost by 301 votes.

"The mayor has a lot of fence-mending to do," said City Councilman Lou Fidler (D-Bergen Beach), a Thompson supporter. "He has to understand the anger of people who are tired of all the rate increases."

In 2005, Bloomberg clobbered Fernando Ferrer in Brooklyn by 19 points, mirroring his citywide landslide win. But in 2001, when Bloomberg was first elected, he lost Brooklyn by 7 percentage points, while notching a 2-point win citywide.

This year, Brooklyn's tightest mayoral contest was in Sunset Park and Windsor Terrace, where Thompson won by a mere 148 votes amid an anemic 17% turnout.

Political analyst George Arzt said the tight split in the heavily Latino area shows that Bloomberg needs to focus more on minorities - especially since Bloomberg had strong Latino support in past elections.

"He needs to do more to get back where he was," said Arzt.

Alex Maldonado, 39, of Sunset Park voted for Bloomberg but said many of his neighbors pulled the lever for Thompson. "A lot people in this neighborhood are poor and Thompson understands that," he said.

Bloomberg's campaign downplayed his weak support in certain areas and said the mayor "is going to talk to Brooklynites to continue his record of progress and results."

Bloomberg's biggest support in the borough came from Sheepshead Bay and among the Jewish electorate in Borough Park and Kensington. He also did well in Republican-friendly Bay Ridge.

"He runs the city like a good business," said Bay Ridge shopkeeper Alex Voynar, 56.

I can't believe Bay Ridge is still republican...I agree with Alex that Bloomberg runs the city like a good business but That's NOT what the city needs we need the city to be run as a CITY!

I hope every Arab American would check Other and write in Arab. Special Thanks to NAAP Chicago Chapter President Morad Askar for the work you are doing in Chicago.