نقطة انتهى.

 المفاجأة (أو الصدمة): التعليقات و التبريرات المخالفة للفطرة الإنسانية، خاصة المتمدنة، من بعض السوريين على هذا المشهد. بدءاً بإنكار هذا المشهد أو تبريره أو تحويره أو الالتفاف عليه بتحويل النظر لافتراضات أخرى لا يرقى أعظمها لمصيبة نحر نفس مواطنة بريئة!( و سأستخدم لتسميتهم الوصف الشائع:المنحبكجية)

بالنسبة لي لو شاهدت نفس المشهد تحت أي من المتغيرات(الزمان،الأشخاص،الانتماءات،.المعطيات،..) لما تغير موقفي قيد أنملة:إدانة هذا الإجرام الممنهج ضد الإنسانية و طلب إحالته لمحاكمة قانونية عادلة

نقطة انتهى.

لكن لمساعدتي على فهم تلك التبريرات الشاذة إنسانياً و حضارياً -برأيي-،لجأت لاستخدام تقنية تغيير/حذف إحدى المتغيرات ثم فحص نتيجة محاكمتهم العقلية(من مؤيدة لأفعال السلطة لمعارضة لها)،فجاء التحليل كالتالي:

فئة ١: بتغيير شكل الرئيس أو صوته أو طريقة حديثه تتغير نتيجة محاكمتها العقلية.

التعليق: فئة سطحية حمقاء.

فئة ٢: بتغيير طائفة الرئيس تتغير النتيجة.

التعليق:فئة متعصبة طائفية.

فئة ٣: بتغيير حزب الرئيس تتغير النتيجة.

التعليق:فئة متعصبة ضيقة.

فئة ٤: بتغيير مستوى المتظاهرين أو لباسهم مثلاً (برستيجهم) تتغير النتيجة.

التعليق:فئة سطحية مظهرية.

فئة ٥: بتغيير علاقة نفع قائمة مع السلطة (كمصلحة) تتغير النتيجة

التعليق:فئة مادية متسلقة منافقة.

فئة ٦:بتغيير علاقة ضرر غير قائمة مع السلطة(كوقوع أحد المقربين تحت تعذيب أو اغتيال أو ظلم بيد السلطة)تتغير النتيجة

 التعليق:فئة أنانية(جماعة “حارة كل مين إيدو إلو)”

فئة ٧:بتغيير أيديولوجية المعارضة أو انتماء أكثريتها الفكري أو المذهبي تتغير النتيجة 

التعليق: فئة مسيسة.

فئة ٨:بتغيير مواقف الدائرة المقربة المحيطة تتغير النتيجة.

التعليق:فئة تابعة مذبذبة.

فئة  9: بتغيير  المكان و الشخصيات (كأن تكون ثورة في بلد آخر أو مثلاً بين الفلسطينيين و الإسرائيليين)

التعليق: فئة مخادعة (تخدع نفسها أولاً)

فئة 10:  بتغيير البرمجة الدماغية أو العصبية الحسية تتغير النتيجة

شو بدي قول عن هالفئة؟؟؟ فئة ……إذا كانت القصة كلها تلخصها جملة (أنا إنسان ماني حيوان)  بس في فئة مصرة تكون:”لهم قلوب لا يفقهون بها و لهم أعين لا يبصرون بها و لهم آذان لا يسمعون بها”

What is the world we live in then so that we know how to better deal with it? Because ‘ideally’ speaking, if some criminal keeps committing same horrible crime over and over again, there should be some means to stop him and get him to trial.

May be to answer that question, it helps to know that world philosophies can be classified into: idealism, realism, and pragmatism.

Idealism assumes that true reality is derived only by ideas. On the other hand, realism accepts an argument as true only if it belongs to the world of physical objects. In this approach, truth should be objective and tangible. Pragmatism deems things as real if they can be experimentally observed. This approach assumes that reality is dynamic not static, i.e. it can change.

So what is the ‘big’ players’ take on this? May be, we can say that:

Assad is apparently living in the world of ideas. This is can be very much observed especially from his last speech yesterday, when he kept talking about Arabism, nation, conspiracy, etc., at the same time a four-month old infant body was submitted to her uncle by security forces with torture marks, and with thousands of horrible YouTube videos of killings and tortures (yes sir, we do live in the YouTube era!). But if the world of ideas contradicts boldly with the physical realistic world by bringing evil thing to it like killing, what else can we name it other than fantasia, hallucination, or simply lies and truth-manipulation?

Other big players take pragmatic approach into dealing with the Syrian crisis. Some of them, like Russia and Iran for example, want to enforce pragmatism into the nature of the crisis, by trying to convince the world that there is no static truth in it and the truth is rather, changing. Well, it may be the case that the only changing thing is their own interests. Others prefer to apply pragmatism to the way they actually approach resolving the crisis, like the Arab League for example. In this category, key players tend to take an experimental approach, observing the results, and act accordingly. Example: visit Assad, listen to his explanations and promises, provide compliments, give it some time, observe the results, and act accordingly. Another recent example is the AL observers. It is all about acting upon experimentation with the real world settings and result observation.

While this seem the only viable approach in case of multiple powers with contradicting interests (or ideologies), it remains a painful truth (and shame on humanity) that the bill Syrians are paying amid these ‘experimentations’ and ‘fantasias’ is edited in their own blood and souls. This remains the one realistic truth, and it is a very painful one!

I sincerely apologize if you feel that my words in this entry are less organized. This is an unusual time I am (as well as many people in the Arab region and the world are) passing through and this is an extraordinary event that won’t differ much in its catalytic effect on my emotions than if I woke up one day to find that there is no sun, no solar system!  (Only difference is that I woke up a few weeks ago and found out that the sun is not censored anymore, and that the dark ages of some systems are over!)

I was trying to write down my feelings and thoughts and document the event for several days but writing seemed much harder than it used to be, may be because my thoughts ceased to  move as quickly as the earthquake that is shaking everything around. It is a political earthquake and it is shaking many of the allegations we (the 1980+ generation) have been spoon-fed for all those years. The effect of hypnotism is vanishing. 

Credit goes to people of Tunisia and Egypt.

For the first time, many of us (the ordinary citizens) sensed that our dignity is preserved in our nations, that our voices do matter, and that we can make a difference. For the first time, those people felt proud of their identity and countrymen. For the first time, many have cried not because of humiliation but because of pride.

Salute your brave hearts, you have written one of the brightest pages in our modern history.

While I will add no extra value to the lessons learned by analyzing and talking about the drivers that caused the lid to be blown out that way  (everybody knows the status of “most of” the ME in terms of freedoms, human rights, and living conditions) and the new dynamics (everyone acknowledges the role of media and social networking), and while describing my feelings, no matter how deep they are, won’t add much, but I want to make few points:

• The sense of identity is the one native nature and one of the deepest values of being a human. We need to sense individuality and be autonomous (able to determine own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors). Challenging these native values by trying to repress them have always proved to be a risky gambling. For the first time those diverse people with such massive amounts were moved by the collective and native sense of national identity (not external events, or the penchant of one man or one sect not even religious). And for the first time we witness in the last three decades in the Arab region that the abolishment of the national loyalty (by the leadership) for the sake of serving personal, sectarian, or external interests have counter effects .
• Some reactions were surprising (though not shocking). Some people (some western officials to be specific) deal with duplicity towards this common human right that they think the “Yes we can” motto applies (or may be deserves to be applied) on a certain class of humans and when it comes to the people of the middle east they switch to different definitions of morals and values. I can feel them telling themselves (well, “yes we can”, is a nice motto FOR US, but may be you shouldn’t try it).  Let me reiterate the eloquent say of Mr. Erdogan in his speech yesterday ”We believe that democracy doesn’t lead to radicalism and doesn’t cause chaos”. We want democracy and we deserve it. It was very touching to watch videos on how the people of Tunis and Egypt formed domestic committees to protect the neighborhoods, they even washed the streets. Those are educated and civilized people and THEY CAN because they wanted to, hence the destiny submitted. 
• Also some people tried to ignore or marginalize this event. Some of them think that expressing any emotions towards this popular revolutions can result in the authorities of their own countries to think that they have revolutionary tendencies and that they are to be tracked. They want to prove to their authorities that they are blind to such events because we have been tought that blindness and blockage is the one effective technique for preventing sinister temptations and ‘unwelcomed’ aspirations.

  Well, let me tell you folks,  pathetic is the soul that fears to admire the glory. And let me tell you (authority man in case you are reading this) that we are rational enough to know that upheavals are the one very extreme resolution to incurable corruption and intolerable repression. We love our countries and advocate its stability. We applaud every sincere effort for improvement. And we (the educated citizens) are aware that the road to a  prosperous society is long and may take  many careful, wise, and gradient steps. I think that the first step starts from our inside, we need to have civilized manners, tolerance and respect to each other. We need to value education and work hard to construct a record of reputable achievements in the fields of science, culture (including arts and sports), and business.

May this region be blessed, and may it have a bright future of prosperity. Salutation to the rise of freewill and dignity.

Here is a summary of the most important events I went through and things I encountered in 2010. This is just my personal list. For a global list check the Time’s Top 10 of Everything.

Top Event: Malak’s birth.

Top Book: Dear Undercover Economist – Tim Harford.
Although I spent the first half of the year with one book in hand: “What to Expect When You Are Expecting: The First Year”. But as things settled down back to normal with the newborn I could find some time to practice my normal life and read some books.

“Dear Under Cover Economist” is the collection of the best letters from the ‘Dear Economist’ column of the Financial Times by the brilliant best-seller author Tim Harford.  This book had the same dazzling effect on me as of a delicious molten cake. With 5 chapters (1. Love and Dating, 2. Work, School and Money, 3. Family, 4. Entertainment, 5. Miscellaneous), every answer (1 page for every question and answer) presents the rational (in terms of self-interest first), witty, and practical advice of an economist to some everyday concern. 

I am also currently reading two more (so far) engaging books: Mathematics and Politics (by Taylor and Pacelli) , and makers (a novel by Cory Doctorow). I may write some reviews for these two books once completed in 2011.

Top Movie: Agora.
Unsurprisingly, this year I was deprived of the joy of attending movies in the cinema. The only movie I got to watch was ‘Agora’. That was in Jan, only few days before my labor. My hormones were on the climax, playing a roller-coaster game with my nerves. I spent the last 40 minutes of the movie in heavy tears and I went out with a surge of emotions that were unleashed with a  poetry I wrote the next day before I could stabilize myself back again. 

Top TV Episodes: “تخت شرقي”
This Syrian TV show was on display in Ramadan. For many reasons (I may mention them later on) this show was an eyebrow-raiser to me. The nature and the context of the script were original and it (in someway) raised the standards of Syrian drama productions.

Top World Story: Soccer World Cup
Although there might be other more important political events (for example, the WikiLeaks which I personally think it is the strongest boom of information in the political world), but I am mentioning this particular one because during the weeks it lasted it was like a lively family festival..like a special edition of the days..like taking a break of the daily routines..and getting together, sharing yells, laughter, adrenaline raises, popcorn, and comments. I was not a supporter of any particular team (whatever team I liked its play, I’d support it in  the next game). 

Top Poetry: محمود درويش- خطب الديكتاتور الموزونة
I just read it recently and I shared it on my FB with a comment: محمود درويش: عبقرية القصيدة، قصيدة العبقرية. القصيدة التي تمنيت كتابتها.

Top Achievements: 
1. M.Sc. IT. My masters degree from the British University in Dubai. Although I haven’t graduated yet. But I am almost there. I shall write a special blog once I am done to share with you my experience and give a brief about my thesis.

2. MCTS - BI certificate. Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist in Business Intelligence.
Besides some other minor achievements (one is some new cooking recipes certified by my husband!)

free2blossom’s 2010 special applaud award goes to: Mark Zuckerburg the father of Facebook (also the Time’s Person of the Year 2010). Thank you for turning our social life into a better connected one like never before!

In the hope of having so many other important achievements in the coming year, let me wish everyone a happy and fruitful year!

Yes, all [the accumulated sophistication gained through learning and exploring and stored in the 100 billions brain neurons  (or the ones remain intact) is to be summed up] in 4-6 words and a period (and the period is very important btw.). I left it blank for over a year until the moment of Eureka blinked up just yesterday and here is the One quote:

 “Maximizing gains, Minimizing waste/cost of scarce resources”

Sounds too materialistic? too dry? Seems to be taken out from some Economics textbook? or some  boss declaration for the new company’s strategy after the credit crunch? nop, nop, nop..you missed the point. So before you can mistakenly stereotype me, here is my justification.

Despite the different theories, philosophies, religious explanations, or gradient ages of light (darkness, illumination, renaissance), the two most important facts that everyone agrees upon on the face of this planet are:

a) we are mortal beings living in a world with scarce resources (our lifetime is the greatest scarce resource since it will come to an end, energy, food, job opportunities, etc) and,

b) how we can invest in these scarce resources in a way that maximizes our gains and minimizes our loss depends a great deal on the choices we make, and ,in turn, the results of our choices depend (in most cases) on the choices and actions taken by others!

(I know that many people fail to realize one or both of these facts, by either acting as if they have everlasting resources, or by assuming that they live alone on this planet and complaining about bad luck while missing the art of taking strategic choices by considering others’ actions)

Unsurprisingly, these two intuitive observations have been made long time before I write this blog and are now the basic pillars of a whole science called ‘Economics’ (I myself am one big fan of this science and am steering my academic research towards the field of computational economics).

The second point mentioned above (point b) is one big branch of Economics that is called ‘Game Theory’. In this context, a game is any setting in which an individual’s success in making choices depends on the choices of others.

By this definition, we are all players in the game of life! We all take actions and receive payoffs from the game’s environment based on these joint actions. The role of the world (environment) around is to give payoffs (or incentives) to the players after they take decisions (actions). The ‘rational’ player, it has been said, is the one who succeeds in making the choices that maximize his payoffs (hope that now you can conclude something nice from my quote!). On the other hand, to be stable the environment has to care about its incentives

Laying down these definitions I further make the following points:

• I know my time is a scarce resource but my willpower (as well as patience) is a scarce resource too! (this is the formal justification I present to myself when I am in a party-time mood and I want to take a big, messy, crazy fun time: I just need to renew my energy for God sake!).
• While we cannot control or even sometimes predict the actions of others, thus the payoffs are sometimes not satisfactory, but in many cases we can choose our partners in the game, those players whom their actions affect our payoffs, or we can change the environment altogether if it is not giving satisfactory payoffs although we take the right actions. A nice quote in this regard is “If you are truly spinning your wheels with no growth in your abilities or in the world’s interst in (or sufficient appreciation to) your output, then it’s time to regroup ”.
• As an example of the previous point, many people choose to migrate from their own homeland and live in another country because it has better environment that can give back greater payoffs that matter the most to the individual (in terms of many things: health, security, education, work opportunities, money, insurances, living standards, freedom of expression, etc) and this payoff becomes greater than the cost (nostalgia for example). Some people run away from corruption for example (see the corruption index for countries 2010).

  And guess what? Corruption is the result of the joint actions of individuals based on the setting of the environment and it has the following formula as given by the economist Robert Klitgaard (oh ya I love formulas):

                     corruption = monopoly + discretion – accountability.

I’ll not go further in discussing this formula (this is out of scope and it needs a whole new blog), but to cut it short, what this formula indicates is that corruption increases when: a) the monopoly increases (well just remember the description of most of ‘our’ countries: “republic/democratic under an authoritarian military-dominated regime”!! As an illustrative example, just take the latest parliament election in … your country if you are from this region),  b) the discretion increases (the discretion of both the giver and the taker of the bribery for example), and c)the accountability decreases!

As a final note: I choose to live in an environment that nurtures accountability, minimizes monopoly, and penalizes damaging actions..an environment where I can maximize my payoffs and minimize the waste of my scarce resources  because I want to be a rational individual (this doesn’t contradicts with the fact that am crazy at times) who is free2blossom!

He also discovered that birds are, too, ‘free to blossom’ by observing its flocking phenomenon. The flock succeeds in coordinating its motion and arriving to its destination by having each of its members adhering to a simple set of rules as follows. Each bird maintains three ranges and adjusted its motion accordingly:

a) Repel range. Move away a little bit from birds who become too close,

b) Direction range. Align with neighbors, and

c) Position range. Move towards neighbors.

من زنزانتي الرحيبة..

أخط رسالـةً جديدة

لأبشركَ يا صديقي..

أني كما عاهدت..

يوم غادرت..

قد فنَّـدتُ المزاعمَ القديمة!!

و أنه توجد، فعلاً، أرضٌ..

 تُنبت أجنحةً للأحلام الوردية،

كيما تحلقَ قرب الشمسِ الذهبية

و أن التحليقَ لا يحتاج..

لتَمَـلُّـقِ الأنصاب!!

و أن ترتيلَ سِـفـرِالكرامة..

لا يحتاج غـُسلاً بعده أو إنابة

و أن الرأس لا يـُبتر..

إذا أومأ لغير الأسفل

و أن النغـمَ لا ينْـشُز

إذا خرج عن “دو ري مي” الجماعة

و احزِر ماذا أيضاً؟

أتذكر يوم كنــا

نراقب سِـرباً آخر،

لاح بسمانـا و غـادر،

و تشارطنـا؟

يومها دار لي خاطـِر

سـألتــُك: ماذا لو لم يكن..

هذا السرب طائر..

بأوامـرِ القائــد؟

و قلت لي بلهجةِ ساخـِر:

كيف ينسقُ حركاته إذاً يا شاطر؟

أُجيبـك اليوم يا صاحبي:

أنْ إذا نوى يوماً طائر،

أن ينضمَّ لسِـربٍ مُـهاجر..

لم يَخُـضْ حروباً و مجازر..

حتى يكون الرأسَ الآمِــر

و لا أرخى جناحيه..

و انتظر وحياً يأتيه..

إلى أن غدا الجناحُ ضامِـر  

و إِنْ مرةً جاوزَ المسافـة،

قربـاً منه طيـرٌ آخـر،

ما احتقن غضباً و إغاظة،

و أقسم أن “يورجيه”..

حتى يأتيه نادماً حاسر

وجدتُ يا صاحبي..

أن ما كلَّ العوالم مُشَوَّشٌ،

مضطرِبُ الضمائــر!!

ملاحظة: انظر الملف المرفق إجابةً على سؤالك السابق.

أنتظر ردك.. و السلام

صديقك،أبداً، المسافِـر

Translation (done in part using Google Translate):

From my spacious cell ..
am writing a new message
Glad tidings to my friend ..
I have, as I promised,
on the day I left ..
refuted the old allegations!!
And  [proved] that there is, indeed, a land ..
where wings sprout for the rosary dreams,
to fly near the sun so golden
And that the flight does not need ..
To curry favor with the monuments!!
And that reciting the dignity’s testament ..
does not require purification or repentance
And that the head does not cut off ..
If not signaled to the bottom
And that the melody does not fault
If deviates from the “Do Re Mi” of the crowd
 
And guess what else?
remember the day we were
watching another bird flock,
Loomed in our skies and left,
and we had that bet?
On that day I had a notion
I asked: What if this flock
was not following
the commander’s orders

in its motion?
And you answered in a cynical tone:
How  does it coordinate its moves,

then, you moron?
Today I am answering you my friend:
That if one day a bird intends,
to join a squadron of immigrating birds ..
it never fought wars and massacres ..
So that it becomes the commanding head.
It does not loosen its wings ..
and waited for a revelation ..
That tomorrow his wing is atrophic
And that if sometime overcrossed the distance,
Closer to him another bird,
it is not taken by anger and vexation,
and swears it will let him feel the regression ..
 
I found my friend ..
That not all the worlds are confused,
with troubled consciences!!
Note: See attached file as answer to your earlier question
Waiting for your reply .. and “Salam”
Your friend, ever, the traveler

1. I can easily find a nice outfit. I even dream that next Eid I wear my own design (even if it was only a digital design stored in my pc)!

2. I cook sweets and pass some to neighbors. I even dream of baking traditional Syrian ma3mool (given my current humble experience in making sweets, yes this is actually a dream)

3. I attend a play in the theatre or some creative show (may be produced by Zain). I even dream I participate in some show (may be in writing or directing. I went a bit far. Well, at least you don’t want to see me acting)!

4. I celebrate it with all beloved ones around. I even dream of having a gathering with everyone present. This Eid is missing two of my friends parents (a father of one friend and a mother of another). I know it is inevitable, when it is time to leave, no clock can  miss a tick. Only nice memories will keep swinging in the air and when a cool breeze passes by, I will close my eyes, see their faces in my head, tell them how much I love them in my heart, and smile.

5. I listen to news with no news about natural catastrophes (such as the current Pakistan floods) or man-planned disasters due to racial or ideological fanaticisms. I even dream of a high “happy planet index”.

Wish you a very Happy Eid!

In one or two of these gatherings the dominant topic was the one everlasting common topic amongst the ladies communities in all cultures and societies: men (husbands in particular) and their inherent tendency to cheating. I thought I was watching a boring episode of desperate housewives, but in its conservative mid-fifties Syrian version this time. They exchanged typical stories, of poor wives who happened to fully trust their husbands and were later shocked of the jilt, that I spent the whole evening saying to myself “what the hell!! Why do we have to discuss precautions for mean-spirited cheaters?!”.

Of course the gathering was concluded with few recommendations such as: never offer a lift to even your close friend with your husband as the driver without you being there, ‘mixed’ gatherings, weddings, and parties are evil and should be restricted,….etc.

I woke up early the next morning to resume the work on my dissertation. I opened wide my half-closed eyes when I found that the paper I had to study discusses some computational aspects of the well-known stable marriage problem (SMP) in mathematics (Oh so it is a well-known issue in the nerdy communities also!!).

No matter how alien this language (of math) seemed when I was at school, it keeps astonishing me with its beauty in turning complicated issues of the world  into simple resolvable representations (well sometimes, especially when I was at school, I felt the other way around!).

Anyways, to give you a taste of how desperate mathematicians think of the problem (despite my intuition that it doesn’t have to be a problem in the first place!):
Given tow sets M, W of size n (I know you will start to skip the wierdy words now), if all persons are allowed to express their preferences (of the opposite sex of course), then a marriage (m,w) is said to be stable if: i) m prefers w the most and w prefers m the most such that there exists no other person  w2 (or m2) who m (or w) would feel better off with , or ii) if this other person exists then he/she is married to a person who he/she prefers more, i.e. if (a,b) is a married couple, and a prefers d more than b, then there should be (c,d) where d prefers c more than a.

To have some reflections (although the subject is controversial and is continued to be the hot subject for ordinary housewives as well as to high ranked mathematicians, sociologists and other scientists, besides it was not my objective to comment on the issue or analyze it) I would say that in the mathematical scenario, each person is initially assumed to have and express preferences and have free will, which requires that each person is aware of his identity and matching preferences,(with no set is privileged over the other!) as opposed to the picture portrayed by those ladies about a guy sipping off his morning coffee when his mom approaches and tells him about one candidate bride she found, and he asks: is she beautiful? (among other questions, if any), then yalla, ok, let us go ahead (you know the rest of the story, lululeeeeeesh).  Also, we can interpret the function ‘prefers’ as being a relation of love, which also mandates commitment or even commitment alone even in the absence of love, since we are only talking about stable marriages not happy marriages.

I just couldn’t resist the urge to write on how one everyday gossip topic is tackled in Math. Well, besides the gossip in this particular subject is sometimes enjoyable! (ladies, when is ur next gathering?)

يا مَســكـب العِــطــرِ أغدِق           لا حَـبـَسَــك اليــوم حــابِــــس

و أبشر إن غاضَ منك النبعُ       ما زال لك من [عطر] ذكرِهِ رافِد

و انثــرِ الياســميــنَ و أكثِــر         فــي ذكرى مــولـــدِ الفـــارس

أحــمــدُ الحــسَـبِ أكـرِم بِـه          إن فــخــــر بــــولــده والـــــد

رَدَّت دِيَـــمُ العــطاءِ خائــبةً          لمَّـا كفَـى جــودُه كــلَّ آيـِــس

سَـرى جِــدُّه مثلا”:إنَّ مَنَــال       المجــدِ بِـهـمة مُـثـابرٍ غـيرِ راكِد

يا جَدَّ الأخيارِ كنت مبغى كـلِّ        طالـبٍ لمَّا كان العِـرْقُ داسِـسِ

بـكلِّ ذي أَرَجٍ سيـري يا ريــحُ      لمـن كان لـرضا ربــه قاصـــــد

فَرُبَّ بَاغٍ عَـمَارَ الدارَيـنِ كان      له نورٌ أو قُيِّضَ له مَـلَـكٌ حارِس