Category Archives: Internet

Blog About Palestine Day 2009

Posted by za3tar on April 21, 2009 63 comments

***UPDATE #1:*** A Facebook event for this initiative has been created. Please join the event and pass the message on to your friends (more info here).

***UPDATE #2:*** Topic Suggestions and a preliminary list of participating bloggers has been published here.

***UPDATE #3:*** A sample harvest list of blog posts contributed to this event has been published here.

Dear all,

It is my pleasure to invite you to this year’s second annual Blog About Palestine Day. Thanks to your efforts, last year’s event was a huge success with more than 70 articles published in at least 4 languages. I am confident that with your continued contribution and the contribution of new bloggers, this year’s event will turn out to be an even bigger success.

May 15th of this year is the 61st anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba –which marked the beginning of the modern age Palestinian plight and suffering. This date is remembered annually on local, regional, and global levels.

I am certain that many in the blogosphere will dedicate some posts to commemorate this tragic event. However, inspired by last year’s success, I would like to start a formal initiative to encourage everybody to dedicate one post on Friday, May 15th, to talk about Palestine or the Palestinian Experience.

There are no restrictions on what you can write, or the language that you can use. Really, anything that talks about Palestine, or the Palestinians; in the past, present, or future; political, social, economical, or any other aspect is welcomed. The goal of this event will be to share thoughts, and raise awareness about the Palestinian situation. Hopefully, with everyone’s support, this will be such a spectacular event that it will catch the eye of the mainstream media (specially that the Palestinian situation is inadequately and incorrectly represented in most of the western media outlets).

Blog About Palestine Day

FAQ:

  • Do I have to be Palestinian / Arab to participate ?
    No, everybody is welcomed to join in on this effort.
  • Does it have to represent the Palestinian point of view (or be a positive article) ?
    No, you are free, and encouraged, to write whatever you want.
  • Does it have to be about the Nakba precisely ?
    No, you can talk about the history of the Palestinian plight, current internal and external affairs, or outlooks for possible future resolutions to this conflict and how do you think can we achieve and maintain peace.
  • Does it have to be a political article ?
    No, you are free to talk about any aspect of the Palestinian life inside and outside Palestine. You are free to talk about whatever you want.

I would appreciate it if you could help me spread the word about this event. For your convenience, i have created some simple counters and web buttons for this event. You can find their code below:

Thank you in advance for your help and support.





**NOTE:** Blogs *hosted* on WordPress.com (and possibly other engines) might face some trouble embedding JavaScript code as is done above. If this is the case for you, you can use the following web buttons below:

Blog About Palestine Day
Blog About Palestine Day
Blog About Palestine Day
Blog About Palestine Day

Qwaider please don’t make QP too cluttered

Posted by za3tar on April 19, 2009 4 comments

.. 3aj2aa and website clutter make my screen cry :-(

QP Clutter

Why in the world is there so much talk about Twitter ?!!

Posted by za3tar on April 18, 2009 3 comments

I don’t get it. It is not a revolutionary technology, it is not a revolutionary concept, so why is there so much talk in the media about Twitter lately ? I understand YouTube’s success, it made sharing videos genuinely easier. I understand the blogging boom, it allowed people to publish articles periodically freely and without much effort. The social network bubble makes less sense, but it is still understandable, it connected friends (although people were able to do that before). However, why in the world is there so much hype about Twitter ? It’s not like it would allow anyone to really share ideas or thoughts with other people. I understand it could be useful in some situations to update your friend about your status, but every social networking site does that. So why is there so much fuss about Twitter ?

Honestly, this is very puzzling. And it is not like it happened gradually. No, Twitter was actually sort of considered like most non-revolutionary web startups, occasionally mentioned but not too much. Then all of a sudden you can’t escape it. Everybody on TV is talking about it. It is mentioned in TV shows, talk shows, and even news programs. And it hasn’t been mentioned casually as “hey, there is something called Twiiter” .. no .. it is repeatedly mentioned on TV as if it is the greatest thing since sliced bread. Every news reporter in almost every single news hour mentions twitter (“hey i’ve been twittering ..etc”) … this is just too much.

I don’t think this is natural growth of a technology, specially that Twitter hasn’t been making any money yet. What i honestly think has happened is that the investors in Twitter have probably paid several TV shows and personalities to start talking about Twitter constantly so that it becomes hype du jour and raise its value in preparation to sell it to some company.

Don’t get me wrong, i think there is some benefit to Twitter (and it is starting to be utilized correctly by some networks to interact with their audiences easily). However, i really don’t see the big deal about it. And it really feels sleazy that we are being bombarded about Twitter as if it is the next thing since sliced bread. The reason i am convinced that they must have paid these people to talk about it is because it never happens that politicians, celebrities, and news programs start adopting a relatively technology relatively all at once without some financial incentive.