Here’s The BLOG T-shirt: “She wanted to stop reading it- but she had nothing better to do! Produced by average people who seem to think their lives are interesting. Filmed in thrilling HTML-O-Scope with exciting new fonts!” (via Dan Gillmore)

The government has decided to expand the membership of the Shoura Council from 120 to 150 members. The government said the council would be armed with more powers. I think the Shoura Council played some good roles in the past few years, but as long as this council is not elected, it will take it a long time before making any real difference.

Complete list: Academy Awards nominations.

According to a report by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, blogs have not yet become recognized by a majority of internet users. “Only 38% of all internet users [in the U.S.] know what a “blog” means,” the report said.

Al-Arabiya.net published a good story about the “emperors of the Arabic media.” The story was originally written by Rasha Owais for the Arabic edition of Forbes magazine. I was surprised to read that Rafik Al-Hariri, the former Lebanese PM, officially has no shares in Future TV, and he is controlling the popular channel by giving the shares to his family and close friends.

The Global Arabic Encyclopedia, one of the best Arabic encyclopedias out there, has a website now.

As William Safier is retiring, Dave Winer suggests that NY Times could accept a blogger in its op-ed page. “This would be a big door-opener between the two cultures,” he added. I think this would be great. Bloggers have been around for a while, some of them got book deals, and I think it’s time to see bloggers move to the printed media.