I think the decision of Arab News to keep their content from Saudi readers behind some unexplained walls is foolish and it would hurt them more than they think. On the other hand, their competitors Saudi Gazette are missing on this opportunity to gain more readers online. The design of their website is awful and unprofessional. Furthermore, the fact that it does not work in Firefox makes it almost useless to me because I won’t run that piece of crap called Internet Explorer just to read their it (I have the IE View extension, but I never got to use it). I remember Okaz website had the same problem with Firefox, but after I left a comment on Fouad’s blog (who was involved with the new Okaz website) reporting the problem, it was shortly solved.

1 I’m sick of waking up from sleep, getting back from campus, or just leaving my room for whatever reason, only to find someone is gaming on PlayStation, and leaving no time for anyone else to watch any TV. Talk about inconsideration.

2 I’m sick of the fact that every place I want to go to in Riyadh is “for families only.” You made me hate families so much I think I’ll never start one.

3 I’m sick of a sick-minded guy who tried to steal my identity online, and now keeps on sending me freaky emails. Get over it, and then get a life.

4 I’m sick of this long-bearded racist freak in college, who attempts to mock my accent, and apparently purely hates me for the mere fact that I’m Shiite.

5 I’m sick of the dysfunctional train booking system, and that they have recently raised their prices 50%. I asked one of their employees about it and he told me it’s one of the preparations for the expected privatization of the National Railways Organization. I always thought privatization is supposed to offer better services for lower prices. It seems I don’t get capitalism. Silly me.

6 I’m sick of the internet illiteracy at KSU. Ironically, they formed an internet committee last year, and ever since they have been publishing photos of their meetings in the university newspaper every week. What have they accomplished so far? Nothing, really. It is so true: “You want to kill a project? Form a committee.”

7 I’m sick of going to the stadium, just to find myself surrounded by idiots who think a football match is the perfect occasion to show off their dirty dictionary publicly. Those idiots would curse everybody: the referee, the opponents, their own team and players, their fellow supporters, and even themselves.

8 I’m sick of watching movies on computer screens. Am I going to live long enough to watch movies in cinema theaters in this country?

9 I’m sick of people who suddenly decide to cover their faces from me. They put a wall that is unnecessary, irrational, and simply disturbing.

10 I’m sick of the fact that the living room of our apartment is always dirty just because some guy thinks it’s the normal thing for lads to live in a dirty place. I’m sorry, dude, I’m no Mr. Clean but I’d like to find a clear spot to sit on in the so-called living room.

I said that I will try to post more video clips from Al Jazeera Forum, and they are here, finally. First, there are two clips for Haitham Sabbah talking during the panel on blogging. There is also two clips for Shaden Abdul Rahman from her participation in the youth voice panel. And last but not least, here is the .3gp video of some sheikh talking to member of Shoura Council Mohammed Al-Zulfa, telling him to stop his calls for women’s rights. (Note: In order to watch these video clips, you have to download them to you hard drive first and then play them. None of these file can be played online. RealPlayer required)

A letter from Reporters Without Borders to King Abdullah.

Although I love kids too much, I have to admit that I’m no good at all when it comes to dealing with them. So, while my brothers were here for the weekend, we rarely really talked. However, I tried my best to let them enjoy their stay, and those two days were kind of exhausting. And as much I wanted them to have fun (I didn’t want to be the boring brother), I also wanted them to learn some stuff and see things they don’t usually see.

On Thursday morning, we went to the National Museum and it was great (I’ll post more on that later). After finishing our tour there, we roamed around in the parks surrounding King Abdul-Aziz Historical Center. The weather was nice, so I also took them to a walk in the good ol’ Batha, showed them where my father (may his soul rest in peace) used to stay during his visits to Riyadh.

In the afternoon, we went to the Science Oasis, recommended by a friend and a reader, but it was a big disappointment. I mean, after the tight security we had to go through to enter the Diplomatic Qr., we found that most of the educational games in the oasis were broken and did not work. There was nobody there but us, which was not a surprise to me, because I already know scientific experiments are not what come to the mind of Saudis when they want to have fun.

Next we went to Al-Watan Park, a nice little park where you can also find the Riyadh Water Tower. We bought the tickets, but the security man at the gate refused to let us in because “me and my brothers are not a family.” I went to the manger of the park, and thank God, he was understanding and told them to let us in. The kids liked it very much, but I wished the park was open to the other little parks and open spaces surrounding it. I can imaging how this place can be very crowded on holiday seasons. Later in the evening, my brothers were too tired to do anything or go anywhere, so we just went to have dinner at Al-Fakhar on Prince Sultan St.

On Friday, there are not much places that are open, and as the kids were leaving on the 1645 train, we had only little time. We went to the Riyadh Zoo in Mallaz. It was nice, especially that my roommates came along. My little brother Hadi was really excited as he was about to meet the lion, because he wanted to solve some problems with that creature (don’t ask me; Hadi has a lot of problems with a lot of people, animals, and things :-) But he was really disappointed, because the lion was not in its cage. So, we left the zoo, I took them to the train station, and that was the end of the boys’ trip to Riyadh.

The next day, I called my mom to ask her what the kids thought of Riyadh and if they had a good time. She said they liked it, and “your other brothers can’t wait to come!” I was like, yeah, right! Maybe next year :-/

Last week, Google announced the launch of Google News Israel. I’m wondering though, out of curiosity, how many people are there who speak Hebrew in this world? Don’t you think that Arabic deserves more attention from Google? I’m pretty sure there are much more Arabic speakers out there (at least more than Hebrew speakers) who would be interested in such product from them.

Bored of the boring acceptance speeches in the recent awards ceremonies? Check out these funny ones.