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	<title>za3tar</title>
	<link>http://www.za3tar.net</link>
	<description>Comments, Observations, and Brain Dumps from Ramallah (at heart).</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Sat, 09 Jan 2010 17:59:43 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<item>
		<title>Why I Like Linux</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8230;. Or, Re: Mhd Badi Latest Mac Post.
Apple fanboys are annoying. This is a mouthful to say for a guy who really hates generalizing. Yes, I hate generalization and I hate blind prejudice, but I&#8217;ll talk about that in a later post.
This ranting post was triggered by Mohammad Badi&#8217;s recent post, however it is directed at [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.za3tar.net/2010/01/09/why-i-like-linux/</link>
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		<title>&#8220;Search War&#8221; is heating up</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Happy new year!
If I tell you that search is crucial for using the web and indeed the web&#8217;s growth and future, you&#8217;ll probably shrug and ask what&#8217;s new. Indeed, web search is almost becoming like our sixth sense and we rarely give it much thought. Looking for something? just search for it, or, Google it.
Fun [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.za3tar.net/2010/01/02/search-war-heating-up/</link>
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		<title>Remembering Gaza</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
A year ago to this date, a brutal Israeli offensive on Gaza took place. This tiny strip of land had been besieged for many months already and its people were already denied the very basic amenities of life. Yet, a year ago Israel launched a brutal and bloody attack on Gaza that killed at least [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.za3tar.net/2009/12/27/remember-gaza/</link>
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		<title>Unexpected Religiousness</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I have to admit; I am rather surprised by how many of my international colleagues are religious.
In the middle east religion dominates and dictates many aspects of our lives. This does not imply that people adhere to it strictly, but it is usually the scale by which almost everything is measured. Religion is so tightly [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.za3tar.net/2009/12/25/unexpected-religiousness/</link>
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		<title>Fun with Simulators and Thought Experiments</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Computer simulation and modeling are amazing disciplines. They are used all over the place. Examples include predicting weather (weather models &#38; earth simulations), testing engineering designs (simulating the design and operations), simulating physical phenomena (testing physical, chemical, and biological models before running experiments), and simulating networks to test things such as computer networks or even [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.za3tar.net/2009/12/22/fun-with-simulators-and-thought-experiments/</link>
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		<title>Za3tar goes to England .. (or what have I been up to this summer)</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Gosh! I haven&#8217;t blogged in ages. I know, I know, I am terrible. So for the sake of the good ol&#8217; times let me share a long-overdue post about what I did these past few months.
This summer was nothing short of amazing! I got the opportunity of a lifetime to go do summer research at [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.za3tar.net/2009/12/17/have-i-been-up-to/</link>
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		<title>Gunman vs. Terrorist</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Human life is sacred. I think we all agree on that. So certainly one is saddened at any one&#8217;s death. But still, one can&#8217;t help but wonder. Usually the way something is conveyed is at least as important what is being conveyed.
Today an attacker in Tel-Aviv opened fire at a club for gay teen Isralis killing at [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.za3tar.net/2009/08/02/gunman-vs-terrorist/</link>
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		<title>Eat &amp; Chew Quietly Please</title>
		<description><![CDATA[God! I hate people who display a &#8220;big effort&#8221; while they are eating or chewing. I hate it when some people chew gum with open mouths or loudly. It is so freaking annoying! I hate it when people breathe heavily or make &#8220;internal grunting sounds&#8221; that you would associate with hard physical labour or terrible [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.za3tar.net/2009/08/02/eat-chew-quietly-please/</link>
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		<title>Review: A Little History of The World</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
It is always nice to learn about the fascinating stories of the past. History can be very entertaining if relayed correctly. Unfortunately, many history textbooks are filled with boring dates and badly narrated stories. In his short book, E.H. Gombrich tries to remedy that. He narrates the history of the world more like a story. [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.za3tar.net/2009/07/19/review-a-little-history-of-the-world/</link>
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		<title>Israel West Bank occupation tourist exhibitions</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I was browsing online when I accidentally stumbled upon this site: http://www.israellawcenter.org/Missions-general-information.html (link not added purposefully).

Apparently this organization takes tourists on some sort of live military tour where they penetrate illegally occupied territories and sit in on courts of Palestinian captives.

Screenshot of the &#8220;tour highlight&#8221; !!
What year is this? Are we back in Roman times [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.za3tar.net/2009/07/13/israel-west-bank-occupation-tourist-exhibitions/</link>
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		<title>The Uberhype of Google Chrome OS</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I am a Linux fan. A quick look at my site will tell you that. So naturally I was pleased when Google announced a new Linux distro (Google&#8217;s &#8220;Chrome OS&#8221;). It is good because it will hopefully encourage more OEMs to write better drivers for their hardware.
What I hated though is how some techies and [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.za3tar.net/2009/07/09/the-uberhype-of-google-chrome-os/</link>
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		<title>The Coffeeshop</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I am almost halfway through my summer internship in this new town. One thing that I am glad about is that there is an Arabic/Middle-Eastern street in town with a bunch of Arabic shops, turkish restaurants, and some coffee-shops, something I deeply miss in my collegetown.
I&#8217;ve been diligent to eat my fair share (and a [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.za3tar.net/2009/06/17/the-coffeeshop/</link>
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		<title>Madaba &amp; Google Maps</title>
		<description><![CDATA[For a while now, Google Maps has been displaying the names of towns and cities in the countries&#8217; local languages when you pan over them. So for example, when you go over Japan, you&#8217;ll see the name of towns in Japanese with English subtext. This is similar for European and Arabian countries.
Interestingly enough however, Israel-Palestine [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.za3tar.net/2009/06/07/madaba-google-maps/</link>
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		<title>If you&#8217;re in the mood</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8230; this will really brighten your day   (at least it did for me).

The video picture quality is not good, but that is not important.
Figaro &#8230; Figaro &#8230; Figaro &#8230;  

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		<link>http://www.za3tar.net/2009/06/07/if-youre-in-the-mood/</link>
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		<title>Too many usernames &amp; passwords</title>
		<description><![CDATA[This is indeed rediculous. Not only that, but i also hate it when services require you to sign up with a username &#38; password even if you just want to try that service for a brief time. Too many user accounts online, ultimately you run out of memorizable unique passwords, and sharing passwords or using [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.za3tar.net/2009/06/06/too-many-user-usernames-passwords/</link>
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		<title>Thoughts at 4:24 am</title>
		<description><![CDATA[At first she was cute and fun to hang around with. Then as i got to know her i realized that woman had only two modes: off and crazy. The latter was more prominent than the former. I have had enough. My problem is that i can&#8217;t just switch off, i tend to overthink it. [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.za3tar.net/2009/06/01/thoughts-at-324-am/</link>
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		<title>Welcome to Your New Computer</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Let&#8217;s rethink what a computer is.
Computers are no longer those bulky devices under or on your desk. They are no longer those thin and slick laptops on your desk or lap. These have become merely interfaces to computers and computation power.
Your new computer is somewhere off in the &#8220;cloud&#8221;; you don&#8217;t own it, you can&#8217;t [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.za3tar.net/2009/05/31/welcome-to-your-new-computer/</link>
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		<title>In the grand scheme of things</title>
		<description><![CDATA[&#8230; each of us is insignificant, but we are all important.
-OR-
&#8230; we are all insignificant.

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		<link>http://www.za3tar.net/2009/05/25/in-the-grand-scheme-of-things/</link>
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		<title>Blog About Palestine Day 2009 &#8211; The Harvest</title>
		<description><![CDATA[
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This is the last of my Blog About Palestine Day 2009 posts. This harvest post contains a sample list of more than 30 articles (in 4 languages) and a video contributed to this [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.za3tar.net/2009/05/23/blog-about-palestine-day-2009-the-harvest/</link>
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		<title>[BAPD] Rewriting the History of the Holy Land</title>
		<description><![CDATA[There are many contemporary issues regarding Palestine and the Arab-Israeli conflict that one could talk about. However, today I would like to shed some light on an issue that is perhaps not as prominent in discussions as it should be.
As we know, the Middle East and the Mediterranean basin in general were the cradles of [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.za3tar.net/2009/05/15/rewriting-the-history-of-the-holy-land/</link>
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		<title>Blog About Palestine Day: Topic Suggestions &amp; List of Participants</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Tomorrow is Blog About Palestine Day 2009. The community response has been very refreshing so far. So many people have signed up both on the blog announcement and the Facebook Event. The event has been advertised and promoted on Qwaider&#8217;s Planet and Toot. This is a true grassroots community effort and I am so proud [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.za3tar.net/2009/05/14/blog-about-palestine-day-reminder-topic-suggestions-and-list-of-participants/</link>
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		<title>يوم التدوين عن فلسطين 2009</title>
		<description><![CDATA[إلى القرآء المحترمين،
يَسُرني أن أدعوكم للمشاركة في يوم التدوين عن فلسطين 2009. هذه العودة الثانية لهذا الحدث بعد النجاح الباهر الذي حققه في إنطلاقته الأولى العام الماضي. فبمشاركتكم الطيبة تم كتابة أكثر من 70 تدوينة عن فلسطين بأربع لغات! وأنا على ثقة بأن مشاركتكم هذه المرة ستؤدي إلى نجاحٍ أبهر وأكبر من العام الماضي.
كما تعلمون، [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.za3tar.net/2009/05/04/%d9%8a%d9%88%d9%85-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%aa%d8%af%d9%88%d9%8a%d9%86-%d8%b9%d9%86-%d9%81%d9%84%d8%b3%d8%b7%d9%8a%d9%86-2009/</link>
			</item>
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		<title>Blog About Palestine Day 2009</title>
		<description><![CDATA[***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 [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.za3tar.net/2009/04/21/blog-about-palestine-day-2/</link>
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		<title>Spring is on the way</title>
		<description><![CDATA[.. and not a moment too soon. I am finally starting to see a few trees blooming. Vivid colors here and there. More moderate temperatures. And frisbees being thrown around. &#8230; Ahhh i love spring!

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		<link>http://www.za3tar.net/2009/04/21/spring-is-on-the-way/</link>
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		<title>Know how to deliver your message</title>
		<description><![CDATA[You might have the truest message and the most noble cause in the world. But if you don&#8217;t present it in an acceptable way to the rest of the world then nobody is going to accept what you are talking about. Worst still, it will most likely negatively affect the cause you are trying to [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://www.za3tar.net/2009/04/20/know-how-to-deliver-your-message/</link>
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