Category Saudi Arabia

On Linky Love

Reading this piece from the NY Times about the Larry Craig case, I thought it was worth pointing to this quote by famous blogger Jeff Jarvis: ”A link is not necessarily an endorsement, but a way to say ‘you go judge for yourself.’ ”

link_meBecause blogging is still not well understood in this part of the world, there are some things that people don’t realize about this medium. Many people think that when I link to something it necessarily means that I agree with it. This is not true. In most cases, when I link to something I usually mean: “hey, check this out.” Another thing is that most bloggers here don’t know how to use linking properly to provide a better reading experience.

Old timers on this blog probably remember when I used to link to dozen of stuff everyday with short or no commentary at all. I stopped doing that, but I still provide a lot of links everyday to content that I think worth checkin out in right sidebar under the title Arabic Picks. I chose to make it all in Arabic because I don’t write in Arabic anymore and I thought this could be like an alternative to writing (I admit it’s not, but hey, at least I’m trying :-). I’d love to hear what you have to say about this, so kick things off in the comments.

Saudi Favourites

British expat Margrave is starting a series of posts called Riyadh Favourites (RF). The aim is to help you find places to go and things to do in the capital. I think this is a very nice idea. If we started to post reviews like that and tag them with tags like Riyadh Favourites, Jeddah Favourites, etc. we might end up with a good collective Saudi tourism directory. I have already tagged some of my old posts about restaurants and other stuff in Riyadh which you can find here. On a related note, check out the Jeddah Food blog.

More Women Demonstrate in Qassim

Blogger Khalid al-Nassir has been following the news since today’s afternoon regarding a second women’s demonstration in Qassim. The women were shortly moved to the governate headquarters for negotiation, which ended by detaining the mother of one the detainees. Reuters ran this story about the demonstration and reports that participants in the protest said the women carried placards bearing the image of King Abdullah and others saying “Ministry of Interior, try the detainees legally and openly”.

This is getting more and more intense. In a country where public demonstrations are illegal, two demonstrations during a short period like this should indicate that a significant change is probably taking place. Moreover, both demonstrations occurred in the most ultra-conservative part of the Kingdom. Some argue that these detainees deserve to be where they are, but I think that whether they were innocent or not, they have the right to a public fair trial immediately.

Saudi Laptop Sleeves from iNouf

Fellow Saudi blogger Nouf has collaborated with her sister to offer this neat collection of hand-made laptop sleeves. The price is SR 150 per piece and you can order from here. I like the shmagh one :-)

shmagh_sleeve

I already have a sleeve for my MacBook that is also hand-made, although it’s not as fancy and cool as the creations of Nouf and her sister. Last year I found this DYI on Lifehacker, so I gave an old T-shirt to my mother and she sewed the thing to fit my laptop. I was going to put a picture of my sleeve but it looks exactly like the picture below because somehow I ended up not just following the instructions but also using a very similar color.

my_sleeve

Divide and Conquer

After this, one can’t say he could not see that coming:

The Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice have asked the Municipality of Medina to segregate women from men in a sidewalk in the area behind the maternity hospital. The Commission have noticed mixing of sexes on the location and suggested making another sidewalk for men away from women’s sidewalk, Eng. Mohammed Al Ali, deputy GS of the municipality, told Okaz.

Oh and btw, news agencies have already picked up the news and it’s flying all over the civilized world now. Nice going, lunatics.

US Visa Web Chat for Saudi Students

For Saudi students who would like to pursue education in the United States, the US Embassy in Riyadh offer you a chance for a web chat with Council Kathleen Riley to talk about the visa application process. According to the Embassy website, she will discuss how to schedule an appointment for a visa interview, the documents that students should bring for their interviews, and the entry and registration requirements for Saudi students studying in the U.S. The discussion will take place on September 9th at 15:30, and you can join in here, but you need first to login using the address: student_visa@state.gov. No password is needed.

Govt to Establish New Medicine Firm

The government announced earlier this week its plan to establish a new firm that is expected to play a major role in the health care sector in Saudi Arabia. The newly formed National Company for Unified Purchase of Medicines and Medical Appliances will have a capital of SR 2 bn, and will sell 30 percent of its shares in an IPO three years later.

It is an interesting move by the government to change the game in the medicine market this way. The market is currently dominated by 10 companies which have captured 50 percent of a market estimated to be worth more than SR 5 bn. Of course these companies are not happy about the creation of the new firm, claiming it would drive them out of business. Let’s wait and see.

However, there is one more thing I would liked to add here. It is common knowledge that the Ministry of Health is one of the largest areas in the government where corruption is very prevalent, and a large part of this corruption is related to the medicine market. I really hope that the newly formed company would be managed in a professional and transparent manner in order to cut back on the corruption that has been flourishing in MOH for the past few (many?) years. I mean one can hope, can’t one?