A few years back I read a brilliant article with the same title as this post. A friend of mine said the exact same phrase a couple of weeks ago and this instantly popped in my head. Did some digging and finally found it. Finally your questions are answered!

You could read the whole article with statistical analysis here.

A summary of the article:

(Statistical figures based on 1998)

A question that practically every male has asked himself at one point or another in his life.

Why don't I have a girlfriend?

The standards: First, the potential girlfriend must be approximately my age—let's say 21 plus or minus three or four years. Second, the girl must be beautiful (and I use that term all-encompassingly to refer to both inner and outer beauty). Third, she must also be reasonably intelligent.

Number of people on Earth (in 1998): 5 592 830 000

…who are female: 2 941 118 000

…in "developed" countries: 605 601 000

…currently (in 2000) aged 18 to 25: 65 399 083

…who are beautiful: 1 487 838
(I will say that for a girl to be considered really beautiful to me, she should fall at least two standard deviations above the norm.)

…and intelligent: 236 053
(Let's assume that I will settle for someone a mere one standard deviation above the normal)
 
…and not already committed: 118 027

…and also might like me: 18 726
(a girl would go out with someone if and only if they were at least one standard deviation above her idea of average)

At first glance, a datable population of 18 726 may not seem like such a low number, but consider this: assuming I were to go on a blind date with a new girl about my age every week, I would have to date for 3493 weeks before I found one of the 18 726. That's very nearly 67 years!

Since tomorrow is the big game, the Champions League final that is, between FC Barcelona and Manchester United, I thought it's about time I share my experience with Java U during the semi-final match between FC Barcelona and their rival Real Madrid.

Like most of the people in Amman, or the world, I went out to watch this match with a couple of friends. Every place we went to kept sending us off as the number of people there was insane and they had no places left. We kept going from place to place till we landed at Java U Abdoun. Now even from first glance you can tell that this place was running at full capacity but we decided that we might as well check it out since we're already there. One of the employees was standing at the door and greeted us in, well it wasn't so much of a greeting as much as it was a "come on inside we got space". So we inquire at the door that if there really is space in the cafe since it looked packed. He confirms that there are seats and tells us that there is a minimum charge of 10 Jds as he directed us towards the cashier.

Now apparently what these guys are doing is that they let people go inside, order from an already crowded cashier with a minimum of 10 Jds and then to there surprise, find out that there in fact are no seats for them to sit in and end up standing up or leaving.

Now we kinda figured that there aren't any seats for us and got out of there, but the number of people standing at the cashier, hoping to order and find a seat, was astonishing. There was no way for the shop to accommodate that many people and find them seats to sit in. So my advice for fans who feel like watching the game tomorrow with a crowd is to skip the option of Java U and find some other place to cheer away.

For as far as I can remember, I've always enjoyed playing tennis. Ever since I was a child, my parents would register me in tennis lessons. It started off as a summer time filler, but then evolved to a year round thing. As time passed by, so did my passion for playing tennis, but whenever I saw 2 people play, be it on TV or real life, I would stop and watch. I just find it very amusing, plus plenty of grand slams are held at times when we have exams, so they're a good excuse from studying.

I have recently got my hands on Top Spin 4; the latest tennis game by 2KSPORTS. I tried Top Spin 3 in the past and didn't like it that much, nor did I enjoy playing Virtua Tennis, its main competitor. Nonetheless, I decided to give this edition of Top Spin a chance and let me tell you this, it far from disappointed.


The game is a total hit! You start of at the academy floor where they allow you to practice shots thrown at you by a tennis machine. You go ahead to the main menu where you find a wide variety of game options for users to play, be it the classical 3 game-3 set match or a King of the Court, they are all very amusing. The Career Mode, though I felt it to be short-lived (around 20 hrs of gameplay), also adds to the game's experience, where you start off with a novice tennis player and make your way to stardom.

Gameplay is terrific, the players' physics are dead-on, the sound effects are magnificent and the graphics look as if you were actually watching a real tennis match. The learning curve is very shallow as you only need to know how to move the player and press any of the 4 buttons to be able to hit the ball back. This allows newbies not quite familiar with the controller to manage to play smoothly in a matter of minutes.



The characters are very responsive as well, they cheer or feel frustrated according to the situation they are placed in, somehow also dragging you into feeling the same way. The sounds that the players make while hitting or missing shots also help in making the game seem much more realistic. And to add to that, there are plenty of on-court assists that help improve your gameplay and greatly enhance your gaming experience.

All in all, this is a fantastic game that is recommended to all tennis enthusiasts and casual fans alike.

It starts off with an indirect humorously placed tweet

Then that tweet actually gets noticed and replied to


Finally what was meant to be a small nab at things that are thought annoying, actually ends up benefiting the person who made the tweet, all from the comfort of his computer


And the best part is that that small tweet caused the whole Assi family to have a say in it

followed by

and finally


Now tell me how you could dislike such a wonderful and beneficial tool as Twitter?!

Just found this website that has apparently developed a chess board that allows 3 players to play against each other.


You can notice green lines ("Moats") on the bordering squares between players, apparently these prevent players from killing each other from the back row onwards, though that complicates things a bit. You can find a list of the rules here.

As if chess wasn't a challenging game already; now not only do you have to out think 1 opponent, but you also have to keep up with the second. And obviously your typical chess strategies don't work with this round board either.

What do you think, worth a try? I personally would give it a shot.

I haven't wrote a single article in my blog for over a month now, and it's not because I had nothing to blog about, it's just that I didn't feel like blogging anything. I guess this is the time in every new bloggers 'blog-cycle' where you face this crossroad; you either get back on the horse and return to blogging or stop writing and move from blogger to blog reader, though I find that the latter is more likely due to the fact that what little traffic you had prior, would have largely diminished due to this lack of posting.

I've been through this once before, I blogged for a small time interval a couple of years back, faced the same issue, and stopped blogging. However this time round, I don't want to. I will be trying my best to at least have a post on a weekly basis, and not to keep the traffic flowing, but to keep this blog alive. They might not be the most interesting blog posts around, I'm even thinking of starting to review games and whatever gadgets I can get my hands on, just to have something to write about.

Blogging is a medium that allows everyone to be heard and if you are facing the same issue, do tell me and I will make my best to visit your blog on a regular basis and comment, just to keep you in the loop.

Hahah and don't be surprised if this is my post of the week.

This gamer might be one of the coolest sports fan I have ever seen. I do the exact same thing while watching a game on TV. I shout out at the screen: "LT + Y" (L1 + Triangle for Playstation users), usually followed by "Aaaah, idiot!", when I see someone rushing past defenders.

Last night I was driving down Share3 il 2ordon (Jordan street) and to tell you the truth, I honestly hate that road. It's filled with radar traps, curves and hills going up and down, killing your momentum. Going down Share3 il 2ordon was sadly the optimal route of me getting to my destination, so I ended up driving down there anyway. I was doing 75km/h on a 90km/h road so that if someone tries to bullshit me, I'm way below the speed limit.

So I was getting far into the street and close to my destination of Shmesani when a police jumps into the middle of the street to stop me while I'm driving on the far left speed lane. Now forget his complete negligence towards his safety or the safety of the cars on the other 2 lanes to my right, I instantly began my deceleration and shifted to the right. So, to his annoyance, I was only able to stop a good 50m away to avoid a complete wreck behind me and then had to reverse back to him. I thought he just wanted to see my license and registration and then let me off. Gave them to him when he asked and then he goes ahead and tells me "Do you know you where driving at 76 km/h?", I was speechless. I conjured up the will to ask him how much the speed limit was and found out it was 60! So apparently, even though I still am on the same road, the speed limit was able to decrease a good 30 km/h at a single instant and these cops were standing right after that point. Now if that was a pedestrian filled area, I'd totally understand, but the sidewalk is actually barred down and there's no way across except through a pedestrian bridge.

There goes my first speeding ticket after 7 years of driving at modest speed of 76km/h on a highway just because of, from what I think is, an extremely stupid method of traping people into paying tickets. So, moral of the story, by the end of the day, even if you try to avoid shit, shit is going to come looking for you.

Never really been one for street graffiti, I kinda saw it as a type of vandalism but there is no denying Banksy is as good as they get. During the past couple of years, I've grown more inclined to appreciate his art bit by bit. Not only are his pieces humorous and a joy for they eye, but they also creatively tackle an array of social and political issues happening in the world today.

However, I do find it difficult to credit all the painting found for a single unknown person, as anyone could have gone up and drawn these without credit to remain under anonymity, especially with them appearing all over the place. Regardless, they all fall under the same brilliant umbrella of "Banksy". Here are some of my favorite pieces:

You can find more pictures at the Bansky website here.

Also don't forget to watch the Banksy Simpsons intro:

For a long time now, I've been having trouble with the wireless internet reaching my room. The thing is distance is not the issue but I guess it's the amount of walls from the router to my room. My brother can connect from his room adjacent to mine without any effort and you can also connect from the tiny corridor between his room and mine but as soon as you enter my room the signal is lost just like that. I've tried various things to fix it, got a new router with a stronger signal, kept moving the router upwards till the cables just snapped out of their sockets and anything that came to mind but to no avail. The farthest along I ever got was a signal at my room door.

Last night I was surfing through Life Hacker when I came across this, a DIY homemade WiFi extender. I instantly printed the template got some glue and scissors and started working on it.





And after 10-15 minutes of work, I just point that little antenna at my room and to my surprise it actually worked! I now have a fluctuating signal throughout my entire room. I will go ahead and attempt to make one double that size to see if I could get a more stable signal but still, how cool is the fact that instead of heading to Smart Buy to purchase a 70 JD WiFi booster, I was able to do it with some cardboard and a piece of aluminum paper.

The first thing I feel like doing when I see one of the "in case of fire" devices is just do what it tells me to do:















 













I mean the amount of will to restrain myself from just breaking that glass or pulling the handle is just outstanding. Maybe similar to the post I wrote a couple of years ago, it's the urge to merely break stuff and cause havoc, maybe it's to see if that glass is easy to break and the sequence of events when it does or it might be, simply me wondering if that thing actually works (cause I've seen a number of these devices on university campus that don't work). I've never been one to causing trouble, so I know I wouldn't do it, and come think of it I would also rather not be in a situation where I would have to. But...

I just really feel like breaking that glass!

For some reason, 2 of my friends who just traveled, wanted me to mention them on my oh-not-so-famous blog. In their words "Say how much you'll miss us and that's why you're writing this post". So I guess that's the exact reason I'm writing this.

Hope you're having a great time Sally and Lama. :)

How cool (yet sad) is it that the University of Jordan still operates some equipment on Windows 98, I mean I haven't seen a 98 in ages!

Anyone with a Windows 95?

I used to think that I should make up my mind and decide on certain beliefs. That these beliefs are cherished and that I should stand by them no matter what. I have recently realized that even if you have these so called "cherished beliefs", you should be willing to hearing what other have to say. We should be open to different ways of thinking and to seek out and be guided by evidence and knowledge that fits withing reality. Even if it opposes these cherished beliefs of ours.

You see the thing is that beliefs should not be cherished but held onto until they can be proven to be incorrect or unfounded. That's when a change of position would be the appropriate response rather than trying your best to contend that change. I have seen plenty of people who refuse to acknowledge changes that happen around them and strictly hold to what they believe to be correct. This kind of reaction only leads these people to arrogance and to become oppressive. Leaping to flawed conclusions because you can not tolerate the ambiguity of not knowing might lead to comfort but it also prompts ignorance and false conclusions.

People should thrive to keep themselves properly informed about certain subjects rather than accept information given to them as is. They must be skeptic and suspend their judgment about certain claims until they think they've tackled the issue from multiple angles and that they are able to make an educated decision. People should be able to fully listen to, understand and, appropriately, accept others philosophies and ideologies. Curiosity helps people widen their perspective and widen their knowledge. I'm not saying that people should not argue with others because as you maybe be inclined to accept their ways of thought they should also be open to changing their perspective towards things.

We should be eager to acquire and apply the best knowledge and reason in all field and to be able and willing to acknowledge and correct flaws in our own thinking to become better equipped to create more profoundly effective solutions to the challenges we face each and everyday.

There is my corny post of the year.


Happy New Year :)

I am really amused with what happens in the couple of minutes when someone enters and exits a public bathroom. It starts off with the person ahead of you exiting the bathroom, a quick exchange of looks occurs and you study the guy. Yes, in these split seconds you turn into this Freudian philosopher and  memorize everything about this person, how he looks like, what he was wearing, whether he broke the eye contact by looking at the floor or ahead of him, I mean everything. And then you somehow make a small judgment about this person. Now that whole studying occurs for one reason, and one reason only; to blame him if you go in after him and you find that the place looks like someone died there.

Now if you go in to the toilet and find that the place was clean and as good as new, you instantly erase everything you just saved about this person as if it never happened, because let's get real, you expect a clean toilet and he just kept it up to par. But if you go in and find a mess, you spend every agonizing second just swearing at the guy, blast out at how he left it in that state. As you maneuver around the toilet trying your best not to touch anything, he instantly becomes the villain, your archenemy, everything you hate. You finally leave the bathroom to find that someone else is waiting for you to finish. You exit quietly still cursing the stars and as you finally make your way out it hits you; you're the villain for this guy who just entered in after you! You feel like turning around and explaining to the guy that it wasn't you and want to detail the real culprit, but to no avail. You are this persons culprit. Some people do actually go ahead and try to let the person behind them know it wasn't them by saying something like "Woah, I wouldn't go there if I were you, someone made a complete mess". But lets get real, it never does work now does it.

I'm amused by how different religious rituals are. For example, say during Easter celebrations, you get small eggs, maybe chocolate filled, hide them across a field and then have your children search the area for them. Maybe they want to paint on the eggs and pass them around to their friends. You also have that cute Easter Bunny, he's usually credited for the eggs being there, and is strongly associated with Easter to children.Children grow up loving that Easter Bunny and from there onwards they make sure it's a part of their child's mindset.

But what I love the most, is that during Eid il Adha, the fabulous sheep is its main image, and what a good job at establishing and maintaining that image (even though I don't find sheep to be even remotely 'cute'). But see I have a small problem with the sheep. It starts off with the father taking his child to the nearest farm, he talks to the friendly shepherd and is then taken to see the sheep. Plenty of sheep are available and the father happily asks his child to pick and choose his favorite sheep. The child browse through the sheep and picks his oh so favorite one. Tell his dad about that lovely sheep and then is taken inside and witnesses that sheep beheaded right before his eyes. The child is scarred for life and is no longer longing for that sheep pet.

So to recap, Easter Bunny made cut because he's loved by all children. Eid Sheep not advisable to make symbol of Eid.

I guess what I'm trying to say is: Happy Eid everyone!

Check out this really cool article from Adbusters.


They get to asking you to interpret the emotion of the person in the center and then go on explaining on how differently western and eastern societies interpret the central figure’s emotion.

It's a bit of a psychological article, which isn't everyone's cup of tea, but still I find it worth the read.

Here's an extract from the article:

"We congratulate ourselves on our individualism in our movies, our art, our personal relationships and, of course, our politics. But as we do so, we perpetuate this trait – perception informs culture, culture informs perception – until we mistake the way we see the world for the only way to see the world. "

 Read the rest of the article here What Do You See?

A bit late but felt like sharing

[Via: The Oat Meal]

Well, this whole post is just to emphasis on the second image; the mismatched heights one. It's so accurate it's scary, cause it's a very awkward position to be in. I'm more of a hugging person and I constantly feel like a parent giving their child a hug whenever I hug anyone, and I'm pretty sure they feel the same way. So here is my second entry in "The mind of the tall".

The Mind of the Tall:
On a High Note