You can use Sneak2 to bypass the blocking. (Thanks Trilnacer | Tyt)

The idiots at ISU have blocked the BlogSpot domain, so I can’t read my blogs, or any of those hosted there anymore. Prometheus thinks this time it is permanent. I don’t think so, but let’s wait and see. If the blockage lasted more than one day, then we’ll do the same thing we did when they blocked Blogger.com. UPDATE: It did not take that long. They unblocked it. But Flickr is still blocked.

Tareq al-Maeena tells the story of a “budding flight enthusiast” friend of his, who went to an air show in Dubai, and returned home frustrated after he found most of the display focused on military hardware. I was watching a report on the BBC yesterday about the same show, and according to the report, Gulf states spend about US$30 billions every year on defense. Are our countries so active in wars and invading other countries to spend these enormous amounts of money on buying these expensive things, instead of using them to improve anything else, like, say health or education?

Tariq al-Homayed says the news about the US plan to bomb al-Jazeera is a silly joke.

I have come to notice the hatchback cars are so back. Small compact cars such as Toyota XA, Suzuki Swift, and Nissan Tida, are supposed to be cute, hip, and cool. However, in a city like Riyadh, where young boys and beautiful girls (using dedicated chauffeurs) drive pricy big cars such as BMW X5, Infinity Q45, and Ford GT, the cars mentioned before look stupid and cheap.

The previous story reminds me with another stupid decision by the ministry of education, issued many years ago, forcing students in schools to wear thobes. It was so stupid, because, just like my college’s decision, there was one and only one role, which is the body of the decision itself: “all students should stick to the national dress” (btw, the expression “national dress” drives me nuts. It is just not right. An expression such as “traditional dress” is, imho, more appropriate).

The funny thing, there were many non-Saudi students who don’t even know how to wear a thobe, but they had to wear it anyway. Even funnier, on days when students have a PE class, they were supposed to wear their sports outfits underneath the thobe, because our schools, usually, have no such thing as locker rooms, where students can change their clothes.

Just imagine how the little bodies would be cocked under the sun in the extreme heat of summer.

Earlier this semester, I was leaving one of the labs, when I heard a voice calling on me. “Excuse me. Come over here, please.” It was the college’s deputy dean for academic affairs. “Are you a pharmacy student?” he asked me, and I said yes. He asked if I had a minute, and I said no. (I lied. I wanted to avoid meeting him, because these guys would never call you for a good reason.)

However, all my attempts to escape failed. “Can you come to my office at 10.05?” he asked. I had no choice but to say yes. I was waiting, wondering what the hell I have done. Have I broken any rules, or, worse, he found my blog, and did not like how I criticized them on previous occasions?

I was nervous. Have I committed a huge sin that he was willing to stop whatever he was doing just to come and talk to me? He arrived ten minutes late. He told me to come in, but he seemed on a hurry that he did not even sit on his chair. “Listen, I wanted to talk to you about your clothes. You know pharmacy students wear a grey scrubs. I don’t want to make you sign a paper saying you would never wear like this, so stick to the college uniform.”

What did I say? Nothing. He was not talking to me; he was giving orders. I just said OK, with a fake look on my face, and left the office.

Trying to figure out what was wrong with my clothes, I went looking for a mirror. I was wearing a light purple T-shirt, a pair of basic blue jeans, Adidas black shoes, and carrying my bag. (I know this combination sounds weird, but believe me, I looked fine.)

About a year-and-a-half ago, the college administration issued a decision stating that from this semester, “students should wear grey scrubs.” They did not say it is obligatory, and there are no rules, or a dress code or whatsoever to regulate this matter.

Due to the ambiguity of this decision, some students wear the grey scrubs all the time, some never wear them, and some wear them on days, and don’t on other days. I belonged to the second group. Not that I have a problem with wearing scrubs or anything. I don’t think that two pieces of grey would make me any less handsome ;-) But it did not make sense to me to invest in getting scrubs that I’m not obliged to wear, when I can put on different clothes on different days.

The absence of rules is disturbing, because it leaves you under the mercy of the official. If he were having a bad day, he would punish you for breaking a non-existent rule. If he is having a good day, and in a good mood, he would overlook hundreds of students wearing thobes, and even those wearing sweatpants with a najdiah, and not just that one student in a decent combination of a basic T-shirt and a pair of jeans.

I hate KSU, and I hate how it is run. You either have a clear set of rules (or a friggin’ dress code, or whatever), and you watch if it is respected and followed, and then you go to punish those who violate it, or, you keep your mouth shut, and leave students wear whatever they like, which makes more sense, because we are college students, for God’s sake, we are adults, and we don’t like to be told what to wear.