Dell double's it's Profits

The world's largest online-sales computer firm, Dell, has doubled it's profits in the fourth quarter. Dell's growth has been staggering since it's inception, however, in recent times it has introduced other electronic devices such as Palm PCs, LCD display screens, HD-TVs, and various other accessories for it's own PCs and laptops. Read here about Dell's profit growth.

President Musharraf on the Blasphemous Cartoons

Image Source: http://www.presidentofpakistan.gov.pk

President Musharraf of Pakistan was asked by a TV publication if the West's stance over the sacreligious depictions of Propher Muhammad were negating their goodwill acts, and he responded by saying: "To a degree, yes". Recent violence in protests have taken the lives of a little under 30 people around the world. There have been some violent, some peaceful rallies and protests in many of the major cities around the globe. Click here to read Mr. Musharraf's response to the question.

The "L" word

Image Source: www.ianai.net

Click on the image for a better quality display.

Vice-President Cheney shooting Incident - Opinion

I'm sorry I haven't been able to cover this story that has seiged almost every news channel and every talk show in America. Mr. Cheney 'accidently' shot and injured Harry Whittingington, a lawyer from Texas while they were on a quail hunting trip in a ranch in Texas.

According to press reports, Mr. Cheney mistakenly shot a 78 year old man, Mr. Whittington during the quail hunting expedition, in the words of ranch owner Katherine Armstrong, "peppering" the gentleman. The incident has been viewed as comical to many people due to the absurd idea of confusing a quail with a 78 year old man. Jon Stewart from the daily show made a huge mockery of the incident, stressing on the words: "shot him in the face".

Also, they played a clip of the White House spokesman, Scott McLellan announcing the agenda for the press conference. The agenda listed various issues, except for the shooting incident. The clip that was played showed McLellan saying: "I'd be happy to answer any of your *clears his throat* questions". Now generally, when someone is about to lie, or is inconfident, they clear their throat, giving away the cover, which Jon Stewart ridiculed again and again.

Quite frankly, I believe there are many more important issues to be addressed, but every now and then the American media needs something to entertain the American population to help release some of the stress from their mundane lives.

Happy Valentine's Day!

To all those lovers out there who are just as crazy about their partners as I am, I wish you all a very Happy Valentine's Day! Utilize this day to show the one you love most how important they are to you. Show them what they mean to you, and how you will be by their side, at all times. This Valentine, I give my heart all over again to my beloved girl R (Sorry I can't give out her real name) as I have over the past 3 years. I love her to death, and I pledge my loyalty to her for the rest of my life, despite the fact that we've been away from each other for 3 years and we may not see each other for another 2 more years. There can be no distance long enough to break the strings of love. I love you, R!

Response to SandMonkey's Rantings

This guy argues here that it was wrong to publish cartoons by the Egyptian newspaper, Al-Fagr in October, a month after they were originally published in a Danish newspaper called Jyllands-Posten. He had earlier taken snaps of the Egyptian newspaper showing the offensive cartoons. He argued that Muslims were being hypocritical by overlooking the same offense by an Egpytian newspaper and since Egypt is a Muslim nation, Egypt should be boycotted too.

Well, too me it seems stupid for him to say that, especially when he agrees that the Egyptian newspaper printed them to spread awareness amongst the Muslims of the world about these cartoons. Like every newspaper and television, they wanted to show visual evidence to the world by reprinting them. Now some may argue that the newspaper should have made its readers aware by writing an editorial on it, depicting the cartoons in writing. Sure, an article could have been written about it, but how effective would that be?

Imagine this, after the unfortunate event of 9/11, one newspaper writes an article on the monumental tragedy that occured on the day, without images. Does anyone think that would be effective? I certainly do not think so, at least not in todays world. Todays news media thrives on images, videos, and of course, written compositions. Some may say this was never such a major issue, but they would be wrong again, due to lack of knowledge this time. Blasphemy is considered a huge crime in the Islamic code of law, simply because respect for God, His Holy Book (The Qur'an) and His Prophets are all extremely important components of the religion.

If there are Muslims who are protesting because the cartoons were printed at all, then in that case, they should, according to SandMonkey, protest against the Egyptian newspaper and their government. If the Norwegian, French and German newspapers were republishing those cartoons to make people aware of what the cartoons entailed, then in that case, I personally do not have a problem with it, but perhaps there may be other Muslims who do not want the cartoons printed at all.

Being a pacifist, I think it is extremely wrong to anger someone by attacking or offending them personally (especially in the presence of other people), and then expecting them to take it as a joke. Any self-respectful person would find that offensive, and a knee-jerk reaction to such an action would obviously be an undesirable one. It is in human nature to be defensive or offended when something they cherish so much is made a mocker of, in front of the entire world. People without faith would never understand why this issue has been exaggerated to such a point.

Place yourselves in the position of a person who is assaulted from all sides of the world, mocked, provoked, and yet told to keep silent, not protest and accept it as humor. That is the position of Muslims today.

Danish Cartoons in Egyptian Newspaper

It has come to my attention that a blogger from Egypt came across a copy of Al-Fagr, which supposedly reprinted the original, Jyllands-Posten controversial cartoons of Muhammad a month after the original caricatures were published. As you can see here, he has been kind enough to take snapshots of the newspaper, and circled the dates for our convenience. He claims Egypt should be boycotted as well by Muslims because an Egyptian newspaper had done exactly what Western Newspapers have been doing. However, what he has failed to specify is WHY Al-Fagr had printed those cartoons. I seriously doubt this newspaper printed those cartoons to make a mockery of Islam and its most valued icon, Prophet Muhammad.

I do not care if there are newspapers covering this controversy and in the process, showing these images. What I am concerned about is why they were printed in the first place. There may be some, who are against the idea of reprinting them altogether, but I believe to illustrate a news piece, it is important to add some visual aide. This is exactly what Al-Fagr and other Western newspapers may have been trying to accomplish and to protest against that is not sensible to me. The fact that the Danish newspaper printed it in the first place is most bothersome and all opposition must be against that particular newspaper, and perhaps the government, but not the media that is helping getting the word out to the rest of the world. The German, French, Norwegian newspapers are printing those cartoons to show the world what this global commotion is about, which is exactly what this issue demands.

Mr. Sandmonkey would do us all a big favor if he translated the news caption and informed us whether the cartoons were printed with the intention of mocking the religion, or to inform other Muslims about the issue. If the latter is the case, and it adds fuel to the Muslim anger, then it is serving the correct purpose, because such irreverence should not be committed by anyone, and all Muslims should be informed about it so that a united stand can be taken against such acts. Of course, pursuing violent methods to get one's point across is futile and should not be sought at all, and it is something that has simply plunged the issue from moderate to critical. Let us hope that this controversy ends soon and we can all go back to living our lives and also hope that people can be sensible and rational enough not to anger other people when they know beforehand that the repercussions of their actions may result in contention.

Saddam's overthrow may be costly - News

The head of Israel's domestic security agency, Yuval Diskin, has said his nation may regret having toppled Saddam Hussein. Read on.

"When you dismantle a system in which there is a despot who controls his people by force, you have chaos. I'm not sure we won't miss Saddam" - Yuval Diskin.

Ashurah, the 10th of Muharram

Ashurah is the 10th of the month of Muharram on the Islamic calendar, an important day in the lives of Muslims. For the Shiites, it is a day to mourn the death of the Prophet Muhammad's newphew, Hussein. For Sunnis, it is a day observed for fasting because on this day, when the Prophet Muhammad migrated to Madinah, the Jews in the area were fasting in remembrance of Moses. Therefore, Muslims at the time had adopted this as a day for fasting too, in remembrance of the great Prophet, Moses.

Gmail + Gtalk = Oh Snap!

In it's latest marketing move, Google has integrated Gtalk with Gmail, and will soon be available to its patrons. Users will be now be able to chat with their contacts while being logged in to their Gmail accounts! For more details, click here.

Anti-Islamic, Blasphemous Cartoons

It's all over the news, and it has stained the reputation of Denmark not only in the Islamic world, but in the West as well. Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten recently printed an article on self-censorship, along with an illustration of the Holy Islamic Prophet, Muhammad, in an extremely offensive cartoon strip. Islam forbids iconography and any sort of visual depiction of Prophets and God, such as in paintings, etc.

The controversial and proposterous cartoons triggered a wave of fury amongst in the middle east, and is fast spreading all over the Islamic world. Already, Saudi Arabia has boycotted all Arla Products, a mega-food giant based in Denmark. Also, the Municipal Council of Sharjah (one of the seven states of the United Arab Emirates) is the first official organization to approve of the boycott of Danish products by major supermarkets in UAE. Major supermarkets and retail stores in Qatar have also discontinued carrying Danish products.

In addition, Saudi Arabia has already withdrawn its ambassador from Denmark and Libya has closed its Danish embassy. In response to the growing anger against the intolerant publishing, Denmark has advised its citizens against traveling to Saudi Arabia.

There have been huge protests against the cartoons and day by day, the protesters seem to grow more and more vocal and infuriated, mostly due to the insensitive remarks and moves by most of the Europeans nations and their leaders. For more information, you may find the following links below helpful. I will try my best to constantly update this post with the latest news on this issue.

- Chirac warns media over Muhammad Cartoons

- Dutch MP Backs Muhammad Cartoons

- Iranian newspaper issues Holocaust caricature challenge

- Danish embassy in Beirut torched

- Muslim Lawyers to sue newspaper for sacreligious cartoons

- Danish and Norwegian embassies assaulted in Syria

- World Reaction to the controversy

- Reaction to the depictions from World Leaders

- European Press Review

- Insensitive and Ignorant remarks add fuel to fire

- Cartoon controversy hits France

- Danish Firms Face Economic Pressure

- Sharjah Municipal Authority bans Danish products

- Denmark Advises citizens against traveling to Saudi

- Boycott on Danish and Norwegian products

- French and German newspapers publish blasphemous cartoons