Anyway, here is a link to the Facebook mobile phone website which allows you to see your friends' status updates in one fell swoop:
Link to see your friends status updates on Facebook all in one go
Facebook - get your finger out.
Wednesday, 6 May 2009
Nothing to do with Egypt - Facebook - How to see friends status updates
As a service to my readers - having arrived back from a few days break and gone on to my Facebook to open up my friends' status updates to see what was cooking, its no longer possible and you are expected to comb through the 'stream' on the homepage or click on individual friends (totally timeconsuming!!!)
Anyway, here is a link to the Facebook mobile phone website which allows you to see your friends' status updates in one fell swoop:
Link to see your friends status updates on Facebook all in one go
Frankly, this latest change has rendered facebook virtually useless. I'm not interested in 'finding friends', I want to see the present status of people who are ALREADY friends!!!! and I don't want to wade through stash loads of 'Bloggs got a new egg' kind of rubbish since you are no longer able to block applications which you don't sign up for posting rubbish on your home page.
Facebook - get your finger out.
Anyway, here is a link to the Facebook mobile phone website which allows you to see your friends' status updates in one fell swoop:
Link to see your friends status updates on Facebook all in one go
Facebook - get your finger out.
Thursday, 23 April 2009
The Big Read - Global Campaign for Education - 20-26 April
I just found out about this campaign. You can check out their webpage here and download the book itself (PDF file 9.5MB) in different languages. The Arabic translation is just 4.5MB because it is printed so 2 pages are on one page if you get my drift!
The Big Read
This press release explains the background behind the campaign.
The Big Read’: 10 million expected to read stories from Nelson Mandela, Natalie Portman, Desmond Tutu, Alice Walker and others
10 million people are expected to take part in The Big Read, to demand urgent action for the one in four women who are illiterate. Nelson Mandela, Natalie Portman, Desmond Tutu and Alice Walker and others have contributed stories to The Big Read - a book aimed at challenging the global education crisis.
What? The Big Read is a book of short stories about education written by leading figures, Nobel Peace Prize winners and award winning authors. It has been distributed in more than 100 countries free of charge to children, parents and adult learners. Readers will add their name to a declaration - demanding that all governments deliver a good quality free, public education. The Big Read is the Global Campaign for Education’s activity for Action Week this year (20th – 26th April 2009).
“Learning to read and write changes lives; it means jobs, money, health and dreams fulfilled,” commented Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan, who is the Honorary Chair of Global Action Week, 2009.
Why? There are 774 million illiterate adults, 75 million children out of primary school and 226 million children not in secondary school. Nearly all governments have promised ‘Education for All’ by 2015, yet the current global financial crisis threatens to worsen the global situation and leave millions more without an education.
“The world’s poorest did not create this financial crisis, yet they stand to pay the highest price. Budget squeezes in education are threatening to reverse progress made in recent years. We cannot allow illiteracy to rise. The rich world has a responsibility to education – one of the world’s best investments the world can make to combat poverty. We are calling for $16 billion, a small fraction of the cost of the bank bailouts,” says Assibi Napoe, Chair of the Global Campaign for Education.
Where? The Big Read is taking place across the world, in homes, schools, government buildings and public events. Here is a small glimpse of what is happening:
• Angelique Kidjo, Ishmael Beah and education advocates are having a press call, Tuesday 3pm GMT
• In the USA there’s a competition to be included in the Big Read book. The campaign aims to get 50,000 signatories to deliver to Obama just before the G8, asking him to contribute $2 billion to the Global Fund for Education.
• In Washington DC Queen Rania of Jordan (the honorary chair of Global Action Week) will join Congresswoman Nita Lowey and Counsellor to the Secretary of the Treasury Gene Sperling in a press conference on Tuesday 21st.
• In Malawi the President is taking part in the Big Read.
• In Denmark 187,000 students are reading the ‘Reading Rocket’ as part of Action Week, and 500 students and teachers will read speeches on education to the Danish Parliament on the 22nd April.
• In Brazil the campaign, UNESCO and National Parliament Education Committee is holding a Big Read event on the 28th April, entitled Read and Write the World.
• In South Africa a brand new education movement has been started called ‘Public Participation in Education Network’. PPEN are taking the Big Read to libraries and schools across the nation, with a highlight event taking place on the 16th June.
• In Vietnam 50,000 students have already sent in essays into a Big Read competition.
“Learning is as fundamental a birthright as freedom. Denial of education is denial of freedom. The Big Read is a campaign that gives a second chance for every youth and adult", stated GCE President Kailash Satyarthi. (End of press release).
========================================
Did you know:
A 10-year old girl saved over 100 lives in Phuket when the devastating tsunami struck in December 2004 BECAUSE SHE WAS LITERATE.
link to Alexandria Proclamation on Information Literacy and Life Long Learning
The Big Read
This press release explains the background behind the campaign.
The Big Read’: 10 million expected to read stories from Nelson Mandela, Natalie Portman, Desmond Tutu, Alice Walker and others
10 million people are expected to take part in The Big Read, to demand urgent action for the one in four women who are illiterate. Nelson Mandela, Natalie Portman, Desmond Tutu and Alice Walker and others have contributed stories to The Big Read - a book aimed at challenging the global education crisis.
What? The Big Read is a book of short stories about education written by leading figures, Nobel Peace Prize winners and award winning authors. It has been distributed in more than 100 countries free of charge to children, parents and adult learners. Readers will add their name to a declaration - demanding that all governments deliver a good quality free, public education. The Big Read is the Global Campaign for Education’s activity for Action Week this year (20th – 26th April 2009).
“Learning to read and write changes lives; it means jobs, money, health and dreams fulfilled,” commented Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan, who is the Honorary Chair of Global Action Week, 2009.
Why? There are 774 million illiterate adults, 75 million children out of primary school and 226 million children not in secondary school. Nearly all governments have promised ‘Education for All’ by 2015, yet the current global financial crisis threatens to worsen the global situation and leave millions more without an education.
“The world’s poorest did not create this financial crisis, yet they stand to pay the highest price. Budget squeezes in education are threatening to reverse progress made in recent years. We cannot allow illiteracy to rise. The rich world has a responsibility to education – one of the world’s best investments the world can make to combat poverty. We are calling for $16 billion, a small fraction of the cost of the bank bailouts,” says Assibi Napoe, Chair of the Global Campaign for Education.
Where? The Big Read is taking place across the world, in homes, schools, government buildings and public events. Here is a small glimpse of what is happening:
• Angelique Kidjo, Ishmael Beah and education advocates are having a press call, Tuesday 3pm GMT
• In the USA there’s a competition to be included in the Big Read book. The campaign aims to get 50,000 signatories to deliver to Obama just before the G8, asking him to contribute $2 billion to the Global Fund for Education.
• In Washington DC Queen Rania of Jordan (the honorary chair of Global Action Week) will join Congresswoman Nita Lowey and Counsellor to the Secretary of the Treasury Gene Sperling in a press conference on Tuesday 21st.
• In Malawi the President is taking part in the Big Read.
• In Denmark 187,000 students are reading the ‘Reading Rocket’ as part of Action Week, and 500 students and teachers will read speeches on education to the Danish Parliament on the 22nd April.
• In Brazil the campaign, UNESCO and National Parliament Education Committee is holding a Big Read event on the 28th April, entitled Read and Write the World.
• In South Africa a brand new education movement has been started called ‘Public Participation in Education Network’. PPEN are taking the Big Read to libraries and schools across the nation, with a highlight event taking place on the 16th June.
• In Vietnam 50,000 students have already sent in essays into a Big Read competition.
“Learning is as fundamental a birthright as freedom. Denial of education is denial of freedom. The Big Read is a campaign that gives a second chance for every youth and adult", stated GCE President Kailash Satyarthi. (End of press release).
========================================
Did you know:
A 10-year old girl saved over 100 lives in Phuket when the devastating tsunami struck in December 2004 BECAUSE SHE WAS LITERATE.
link to Alexandria Proclamation on Information Literacy and Life Long Learning
Wednesday, 15 April 2009
Nothing to do with Egypt...
.. but its my blog and I'll sidetrack if I want to...
came across this tail (sic) of a naughty cat
Bowled Over
A Rat in a Cat in a Hat to totally misquote the great doctor himself.
Anyway, folks, I'm back again now. Had a lot of academic work to complete and a trip to the UK - half business half pleasure, so didn't have the energy for blogging, but here I am.
came across this tail (sic) of a naughty cat
Bowled Over
A Rat in a Cat in a Hat to totally misquote the great doctor himself.
Anyway, folks, I'm back again now. Had a lot of academic work to complete and a trip to the UK - half business half pleasure, so didn't have the energy for blogging, but here I am.
Saturday, 14 March 2009
Public holidays and daylight savings times Egypt 2009
CLICK HERE FOR 2010 AND 2011 INFORMATION
Please note that the information below relates to 2009. Information for 2010 and 2011 see link at top of this post.
RAMADAN HAS FINISHED IN EGYPT FOR 2009
CLOCKS IN EGYPT HAVE NOW GONE BACK 1 HOUR - END OF DAYLIGHT SAVINGS 2009.
SOURCE OF INFO FOR ABOVE STATEMENT
PLEASE NOTE THAT SOME WEBSITES ARE STILL SHOWING DIFFERENT DATES AND ALSO THAT YOUR COMPUTER CLOCK TIME UPDATE SERVER HAS NOT CHANGED EVEN WITH A MANUAL SUBMISSION.
Other dates you may see are 27th August 2009, Thursday September 24th and Thursday October 1st (printed in my Egyptian diary!)
Original Post below:
I haven't posted for a while because I have been ill ('man' flu - ie a bad cold), entertaining a friend over here for a while, and have also been incredibly busy trying to finish off some academic work which I had 18 months to do and of course am trying to get in to the last 2 weeks!
Anway, I thought that I would make a post about public holiday dates, just to keep things going! Generally speaking, big companies, banks etc have holidays on these dates, but with the exception of the end of Ramadan, you will find most of the smaller businesses, malls etc open (possibly with later start times).
Apparently a new public holiday "Taba Day" has also been declared for March 19th. link about new public holiday
source of info on public holiday dates
2009
7 Jan* Coptic Christmas Day.
9 Mar Birth of the Prophet.
(20th Apr - might be coptic easter, see comment by 27th April).
25 Apr Sinai Liberation Day (Sinai only).
27 Apr* Sham el-Nassim (Coptic Easter). {I have been advised that this date given on the link above is possibly wrong and maybe 20th April).
1 May Labour Day.
23 Jul National Day.
11 Sep* Coptic New Year.
20-23 Sep Bairam Feast (End of Ramadan).
6 Oct Armed Forces Day.
27-28 Nov Grand Feast.
18 Dec Islamic New Year.
Source of info on Daylight Savings
Clocks go forward 1 hour for Daylight Saving at midnight on 23rd April 2009. This means that from midnight on 28th March until midnight on 23rd April, Egypt will only be 1 hour ahead of the UK instead of the usual 2.
**NOTE WELL: amended information** Clocks will go back 1 hour at MIDNIGHT on Thursday August 20th 2009. (i.e. as soon as it gets to MIDNIGHT, the clock will go back to 11pm that night) so we will be only 1 hour ahead of the UK again for nearly 2 months until the UK clock goes back at 2am on Sunday 25th October 2009.
Please note that the information below relates to 2009. Information for 2010 and 2011 see link at top of this post.
RAMADAN HAS FINISHED IN EGYPT FOR 2009
CLOCKS IN EGYPT HAVE NOW GONE BACK 1 HOUR - END OF DAYLIGHT SAVINGS 2009.
SOURCE OF INFO FOR ABOVE STATEMENT
PLEASE NOTE THAT SOME WEBSITES ARE STILL SHOWING DIFFERENT DATES AND ALSO THAT YOUR COMPUTER CLOCK TIME UPDATE SERVER HAS NOT CHANGED EVEN WITH A MANUAL SUBMISSION.
Other dates you may see are 27th August 2009, Thursday September 24th and Thursday October 1st (printed in my Egyptian diary!)
Original Post below:
I haven't posted for a while because I have been ill ('man' flu - ie a bad cold), entertaining a friend over here for a while, and have also been incredibly busy trying to finish off some academic work which I had 18 months to do and of course am trying to get in to the last 2 weeks!
Anway, I thought that I would make a post about public holiday dates, just to keep things going! Generally speaking, big companies, banks etc have holidays on these dates, but with the exception of the end of Ramadan, you will find most of the smaller businesses, malls etc open (possibly with later start times).
Apparently a new public holiday "Taba Day" has also been declared for March 19th. link about new public holiday
source of info on public holiday dates
2009
7 Jan* Coptic Christmas Day.
9 Mar Birth of the Prophet.
(20th Apr - might be coptic easter, see comment by 27th April).
25 Apr Sinai Liberation Day (Sinai only).
27 Apr* Sham el-Nassim (Coptic Easter). {I have been advised that this date given on the link above is possibly wrong and maybe 20th April).
1 May Labour Day.
23 Jul National Day.
11 Sep* Coptic New Year.
20-23 Sep Bairam Feast (End of Ramadan).
6 Oct Armed Forces Day.
27-28 Nov Grand Feast.
18 Dec Islamic New Year.
Source of info on Daylight Savings
Clocks go forward 1 hour for Daylight Saving at midnight on 23rd April 2009. This means that from midnight on 28th March until midnight on 23rd April, Egypt will only be 1 hour ahead of the UK instead of the usual 2.
**NOTE WELL: amended information** Clocks will go back 1 hour at MIDNIGHT on Thursday August 20th 2009. (i.e. as soon as it gets to MIDNIGHT, the clock will go back to 11pm that night) so we will be only 1 hour ahead of the UK again for nearly 2 months until the UK clock goes back at 2am on Sunday 25th October 2009.
Monday, 2 February 2009
Jessica Simpson put on a few pounds.. weight and Egyptian women
Apparently this lady has put on some weight and its BIG news (pun intended!)
As she says "people focus on things that are completely pointless".
check the story here
Now here's some photos of her and she looks completely stunning!
For me, one of the great things about living here in Egypt is seeing how many very overweight women are in positions of relative authority (professors, doctors, etc) and no one thinks anything of it.
(By the way don't misinterpret to mean that I think its great that women are really overweight. My comment is about how it is just one aspect of them and doesn't overshadow everything else. Female obesity is an issue in Egypt article about obesity in Egyptian women and a report published 15-20 years ago found that Egyptian women had the highest incidence of national obesity in the world. Here's a google search link if you want to find out more.)
In the UK it seems to me that very overweight women are rarely found high up the career trees, rarely pushing themselves forward for higher status positions preferring to stay out of the limelight. It doesn't help that the typical image of women 'breaking the glass ceiling' in the UK is of slim, beautiful 30 year olds in power suits.
On those occasions when I return to the UK, I am struck by the rows upon rows of 'celebrity', 'gossip' and women's magazines which are utterly obsessed with weight. In Britain, girls grow up thinking the only way to get rich and famous is to become known for constantly putting on or losing a few pounds or shagging a footballer. Problem is, they're right! Never mind how many A* GCSEs you manage to get - what counts is being famous for being famous. The crap that passeth all understanding in the form of "X factor" "Celebrity this or that" "Pop Idol"...
In Egypt, there is an almost complete absence of these kind of magazines. Yes, there are a few lifestyle magazines - but to me they seemed designed more to appeal to relatively wealthy metropolitans. Long may it stay that way.
As she says "people focus on things that are completely pointless".
check the story here
Now here's some photos of her and she looks completely stunning!
For me, one of the great things about living here in Egypt is seeing how many very overweight women are in positions of relative authority (professors, doctors, etc) and no one thinks anything of it.
(By the way don't misinterpret to mean that I think its great that women are really overweight. My comment is about how it is just one aspect of them and doesn't overshadow everything else. Female obesity is an issue in Egypt article about obesity in Egyptian women and a report published 15-20 years ago found that Egyptian women had the highest incidence of national obesity in the world. Here's a google search link if you want to find out more.)
In the UK it seems to me that very overweight women are rarely found high up the career trees, rarely pushing themselves forward for higher status positions preferring to stay out of the limelight. It doesn't help that the typical image of women 'breaking the glass ceiling' in the UK is of slim, beautiful 30 year olds in power suits.
On those occasions when I return to the UK, I am struck by the rows upon rows of 'celebrity', 'gossip' and women's magazines which are utterly obsessed with weight. In Britain, girls grow up thinking the only way to get rich and famous is to become known for constantly putting on or losing a few pounds or shagging a footballer. Problem is, they're right! Never mind how many A* GCSEs you manage to get - what counts is being famous for being famous. The crap that passeth all understanding in the form of "X factor" "Celebrity this or that" "Pop Idol"...
In Egypt, there is an almost complete absence of these kind of magazines. Yes, there are a few lifestyle magazines - but to me they seemed designed more to appeal to relatively wealthy metropolitans. Long may it stay that way.
Monday, 19 January 2009
Challenging new art exhibition at Palace of Arts, Opera House Grounds
I met up with someone yesterday and we popped in to the Palace of Arts (she was leaving Egypt today to go back to her country) and I just wanted to give her a taster.
They have a new exhibition there and it is NOT pretty! Its art at its most disturbing.
If you want art that's challenging its an absolute MUST! (Those who joined me in a visit in October - this is 100% totally different!)
Its absolutely free to visit - get off at Opera metro station, find the entrance to the Opera House grounds - the Palace of Arts is just over the grass from the Museum of Modern Art. It opens 530pm (I think its open during the day as well at some point but don't know the times).
They have a new exhibition there and it is NOT pretty! Its art at its most disturbing.
If you want art that's challenging its an absolute MUST! (Those who joined me in a visit in October - this is 100% totally different!)
Its absolutely free to visit - get off at Opera metro station, find the entrance to the Opera House grounds - the Palace of Arts is just over the grass from the Museum of Modern Art. It opens 530pm (I think its open during the day as well at some point but don't know the times).
Monday, 12 January 2009
War and Hate
The current war being raged on Gaza is affecting many of us here in Egypt. I have decided not to discuss the rights and wrongs of this war on this blog as there are many other blogs and forums around the net doing this - and indeed I have made some posts on some forums giving my opinions.
Egypt is receiving civilian casualties from Palestine into a number of its hospitals and a lot of people are visiting the casualties to take them the necessities of life in hospital such as clothing, toiletries and so forth needed as they have come only with the clothes on their back.
A group of women (mixed foreigners - British, American, Pakistani, Scandinavian, Iranian) I know visited the Sheik Zayed Hospital near 6th October today and talked with some of the Palestinian casualties. You can read about their visit and link to some of the photographs they took of casualties (posted with the permission of the relatives) here on this link: EgyptSearch- topic about visit to SZ Hospital
Update (20/1/09) This story has now made it into The Times: Report about the Sheik Zayed casualites brought to world attention by the group of women that visited there
Update - report from CNN iReport on the casualties in Sheik Zayed Hospital:
What you don't know..
I just want to make it clear that my belief is that this is about the affects of war on REAL PEOPLE, not a blame game. I don't have a link to any equivalent information on the impact of rocket attacks on individuals in Israel and if someone sends me one I will be happy to consider linking it through.
I am absolutely not in the game of saying 'your dead child/wife/husband/mother/father is worth more/less than our dead child/wife/husband/mother/father. Both sides should stop using violence to justify their positions. Each life lost will affect the lives of those around them the same - it is a personal impact. Counting numbers is irrelevant.
How to deal with hate at a time like this?
When is it ok to hate?
There's a 10 step programme towards the end of this link about letting go of hate. It starts from the assumption that you WANT to stop hating.
Egypt is receiving civilian casualties from Palestine into a number of its hospitals and a lot of people are visiting the casualties to take them the necessities of life in hospital such as clothing, toiletries and so forth needed as they have come only with the clothes on their back.
A group of women (mixed foreigners - British, American, Pakistani, Scandinavian, Iranian) I know visited the Sheik Zayed Hospital near 6th October today and talked with some of the Palestinian casualties. You can read about their visit and link to some of the photographs they took of casualties (posted with the permission of the relatives) here on this link: EgyptSearch- topic about visit to SZ Hospital
Update (20/1/09) This story has now made it into The Times: Report about the Sheik Zayed casualites brought to world attention by the group of women that visited there
Update - report from CNN iReport on the casualties in Sheik Zayed Hospital:
What you don't know..
I just want to make it clear that my belief is that this is about the affects of war on REAL PEOPLE, not a blame game. I don't have a link to any equivalent information on the impact of rocket attacks on individuals in Israel and if someone sends me one I will be happy to consider linking it through.
I am absolutely not in the game of saying 'your dead child/wife/husband/mother/father is worth more/less than our dead child/wife/husband/mother/father. Both sides should stop using violence to justify their positions. Each life lost will affect the lives of those around them the same - it is a personal impact. Counting numbers is irrelevant.
How to deal with hate at a time like this?
When is it ok to hate?
There's a 10 step programme towards the end of this link about letting go of hate. It starts from the assumption that you WANT to stop hating.
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