Hey everyone. I’m blogging from the KFUPM labs. But not for too long. I’m leaving after few minutes. The weather here in Dharhran is so humid. I hate it.

Riyadh was nominated for the World’s Most Masculine City award on Gridskipper‘s World’s Sexiest Cities contest. Check it out, vote for your favourites.

Tomorrow, I’m going to go to Dammam in order to get some things done, and probably meet up with some friends at KFUPM. I’ll probably stay there for a couple of days. If any of you is going to be in Dammam, or Khobar, on the same time, maybe we can meet up somewhere over a cup of coffee. Let me know by sending me an email: alomran at gmail dot com (you would make things much easier on me if you provide your mobile phone number) Thanks.

40 things that only happen in movies.

Abeer Mishkhas is unhappy about the negligence of the old parts of Jeddah in the brochures and ads promoting tourism in the city, “stressing only the beaches, malls and restaurants.” She fears that when we finally realize the importance of such areas, “they will have become ruins or non-existent,” she added.

Maybe it is too late. The Wahhabis who view historical buildings and sites as promoting idolatry have prevented us from saving some priceless treasures for many years, and they still active on that. Unfortunately, no one is brave enough to face the religious establishment in the county.

This is not only happening in Jeddah. It is the same case in every part of the Kingdom. This report by Reuters is paying more attention to the holy city of Mecca, where the case is much worse. “We are witnessing now the last few moments of the history of Mecca,” said Sami Angawi, an expert on the region’s Islamic architecture and the founder of Hajj Research Center. The 1400-year-old historical sites are removed for building towers and parking lots.

It is really depressing. This strict narrow interpretation of Islam has caused us troubles of all kinds, and yet there still some people who are willing to defend it. Wake up, people! Wake up!

The frustrated Nadine al-Bedair writes a column that is filled with sadness and disappointments. “Where do we go tonight?” she asks at the beginning. By the end, we will discover how hard it can be for anyone to entertain himself in this country. She writes specifically about women, but I think many of the things she mentioned can be said about men too.

I liked what she said about the absence of movie theaters from the country. “Unfortunately, a certain group has deprived the rest of people from following what’s new in the world international cinema, and they also prevent them from participating in it,” she said. She thinks this group of people is narrow-minded who could not understand the meaning of arts and acting, so they label them as infidelities.

Parents in Saudi Arabia are complaining that only 30% of students applying to medical colleges are accepted, while the remaining are forced to continue their education abroad or transfer to other colleges that they do not want. I think they have the right to complain. Saudis in the medical staff in the country are only about 15%. We definitely need more doctors that are Saudis. Many Saudi students are studying medicine abroad, and their families are spending huge amounts of money on them. I know of couple of my high school classmates who are studying medicine now in Bahrain because they were not accepted to study here.

One of the solutions suggested is to establish private medical colleges. The problem here is with the businessmen who hesitate in investing in this type of business because all they care about is fast money. This lack of commitment by businesses to the local community is really bad. Many of our problems can be solved by the help of big companies and influential businessmen, but only a minority of those are showing any sense of commitment for the community and people of this country.