Monthly Archives: December 2008

Wonders of Al Arabiya #2

Posted by za3tar on December 6, 2008 2 comments

This news site never fails to surprise me.

So there you have it ladies and gentlemen; the third headline is about a SImpsons episode, and the fourth headline is about a Facebook group against coloured Kuffiyehs !! However, they did not include their usual “sex headline” .. maybe because it is Hajj season.

Come on Al Arabiya, yes not all your news have to be political, but please prioritize and separate things correctly. I can hardly see why would you ever report a Facebook group on your front page!

Honestly, it it seems to me that Al Arabiya always tries to play to a target audience of highly emotional people. So if they want to have them feel happy, they would report a trivial non-news happy issue (like: the last Simpsons episode contained a none terrorist Muslim Arab). If they want to stir up Lebanese/Palestinian flame war, they would report on a regional non-issue (like: A Palestinian Facebook group protesting against coloured Kuffiyehs in Lebanon). If they want to get the audience buzzing for a while, they would report one of their usual sex items (examples are too many to list).

Come on Al Arabiya, you can report what ever you want, but please put everything in its correct place. I bet there is something happening regionally, in the Arab world, or globally that is more interesting than a Facebook group or a Simpsons episode.

Also, by the way Al Arabiya, the “right wing channel” was not airing an episode to “defend Islam”. It was talking about intolerance and prejudging people (American Muslims in this case) of being terrorists. So that episode was tackling issues of stereotyping Americans Arabs and Muslims rather than “defending Islam”. This is just another example of how Al Arabiya plays into an emotional audience.

What do your keywords say about you ?

Posted by za3tar on December 5, 2008 2 comments

A long time ago, when search engines were relatively primitive, the “meta keywords” section of your site/blog were used as a first heuristic for search engine optimization. All of us, of course, want search engines to find us; so when we created blogs back then, we would dump anything and everything that could be –even remotely– related to us or the topic of our blog into that meta keywords section (some blogging engines even asked you about that).

Nowadays, hardly any search engine looks at the meta keywords or meta description sections of your blog. So they are more or less useless (as far as i know). However, it is sometimes fun to look at these keywords to see what each blogger thinks of himself or his blog.

Just for reference, this is how the “meta keywords” tag would look like in an HTML file:

<meta name="keywords" content="keyword,another keyword ..." />

For a little entertainment, i checked out the meta keywords of some of the folks on QP. Not everybody had them, and mostly all who did included their names or misspells of their names. Here are some of the interesting keywords:

  • AndFarAway: Jordan, Design, Art, Amman, Islam, Arab, Chat, Blog, Pictures … (ok this one kinda works out)
  • KJ: UAE, Dubai, Moogle, Humor, Funny, Thoughts, Hani Obaid (huh ??), Sheep, Holidays, Adha, Turkey, Thanksgiving, Religion, Ambush, Grand Theft Auto, Lost and Found, Police, Eyelashes, James Bond, Nutcase, OCD, Psychology, Traffic, Women in Coma  (what ???), Photography, Blood, Scary, Video, Violence, Zombies …..(essentially KJ encompasses everything under the sun!! .. and then some! :-) )

Now if KJ’s keywords didn’t catch you, then his meta description might lure you in:

  • KJ’s meta description: Jar of Juice is your ultimate source for humor, randomness, and your occasional serious post! … (somebody is confident :-p … actually this one also kinda works out)
  • Hani Obaid (who apparently also is a keyword for KJ): Jordan, Amman, Blog, Canada, WordPress, Montreal, Blogger … (what ? no mention of KJ ?!! ;-) )
  • Qwaider: Photography, Philosophy, Movies,  Jordan, Arab, Blog, Islam, Computers, Science and Technology … (ok this one also works out .. but what’s up with that “LutsToLove” email address in the meta text ?)
  • Cinamon Zone: Animals, Arab World, Art, Blog about Jordan Day, Books and Literature, Children, Courage, Diaries, Fekra, Funny, Health, Science, Miscellaneous, Nakba, Palestine, Phobia, Pictures, Comments, Ramadan, Movies, Sports, Thoughts, Translation, TV, Videos, Women, Work, Zucchini … (also everything under the sun …. but what’s up with Zucchini as a keyword ?!! :-) )

I only posted this for a little smile, no harm intended. I would have also posted my own meta keywords if i had them.

Restraint

Posted by za3tar on December 2, 2008 4 comments

I think this is my personal sign that i have grown up. Restraint! The other end of the dialog was sitting there making wild inaccurate claims, patronizing me, and softly attacking me. Not once, not twice, but many times. For a solid half an hour. Two years ago i would have fired back at the first instance. But this time i remained quite. As the conversation grew longer, my internal conflict escalated: “Don’t take that! Type! Yell! Do something!” a voice inside me was shouting. But i remained quite. Let time show them the error of their ways.

I knew i had done nothing wrong. I knew it was not my mistake. The other end of the dialog was not my boss, so i did not stay quite out of fear, respect, or protocol.

I knew i could have talked back, for hours if necessary. But i also knew that discussion was futile. So i fought my inner demons and stayed quite. I showed restraint. I can not say that i am completely satisfied yet. Part of me still wants talk back. But i am generally happy with my decision: Restraint!