Approaching 2006

Many people created events that created history and tragedy and others brought glory.. many things defined this year and how we will remember it.

There was the good, the ugly, the serious and the bad...we had it all!

My heart goes out to all the heroes of the water tragedies (tsunami), my heart goes out to the Kashmiris/Pakistanis who endured the earthquakes, the Iraqis in the midst of war and working out democracy, the Palestinians in the Pal/Isr conflict and the Africans who are plagued with Aids.

Join me as I journey through the past year and wish you all a happy 2006!

Defensive Driving Course in Oman

I started a new job so it was mandatory for me to attend a Defensive Driving Course. Prior to attending the course, I was like 'yeah, whatever, I don't see why I need to do this', partly because I did attend a somewhat defensive driving course when I was learning to drive in the US and partly because I feel I try to drive safely.

Anyhow, the reason I'm writing about this is because the Omani instructor was so informative, courteous, humorous, fluently bilingual and more supportive than most instructors I've come across. Yes, I do know how to drive but I have to admit that I learned many other things; the way to observe the road, the way to identify and proactively avoid hazards on the road, not to assume that we know what flickering flashing lights mean when someone is behind me or what indicators mean when we're behind a truck and he explained it with real tragic events of deadly accidents because the local traffic language is not as understood as many people think.

He also explained how I should fix my mirrors - apparently apart from the wing mirrors, the middle mirror inside the car should be adjusted in a way that we can look straight out at the road and into the mirror without moving our head, just our eyes.

Alright, I'll stop here but I learned a whole bunch of other things and I was extremely impressed by our fellow Omani instructor.I think this kind of course can prevent many accidents because they also play disturbing videos that would make you think twice, or how differently one would be hurt if he wasn't wearing a seatbelt etc.

I'd like to add that everyone including police drivers, government drivers, taxis, and the young Omanis who drive the little trucks desperately need this course, I'm positive it would make a difference to our alarming rate of deadly accidents.

Katie Malua Rocks!

This young woman sings incredibly well, smooth and soft jazz with a bluesy feel to it. She's certainly naturally talented.

I heard some of her songs when I was at HMV in the UK especially the song 'Call off the Search'. I watched the video Nine Million Bicycles on the plane that had a chinese flavour to it and I helplessly fell in love with her compelling hypnotic voice as I did the first time the week before.

Buy this album without second thoughts!

Relevance of Intelligence

I don't understand how many intellects actually believe that intelligence and goodness are correlated or that intelligence coexists with wisdom or what does a member of Mensa really translate to?

Not long ago, a study was undertaken by a doctor and another professor to study the IQ's of presidents in the last 5 decades and the one with the highest IQ was Clinton followed by Carter and JFK but the ones with the lowest IQ's in descending order were Reagan, GHWB followed by his son..the present President Bush. Guess what? that's a lie, there was no study but I bet you were pleased with the results, right? The point I'd like to make is that if we look back at history, it seems that from the former US presidents, the one with common sense was Truman and he didn't even have a college education.

Intelligence is one the new designer items, the new Chanel item which is invisible. Intelligence seems to be associated more with rudeness and ruthlessness. Isn't it? Nursery schools have turned into pre-schools. Carter, the nuclear engineer, the sophisticated talker...where as Bush was get too confused if he attempted at being sophisiticated, his lack of sophistication shows us all that he has no shades in his talks, it's black or white really and so we quickly assume he's dumb.

Unfortunately intelligence is not in the service for idealism, in the real world, it seems to be in the service of festering immorality. What is more important is the character of the person who holds the intelligence or at least common sense.

Many intelligent people and geniuses believed in the most stupid things whether they are presidents, snobby intellects or scientists

Idea: World domination :-)

Total world domination: a larger scale of the Chilean Pinochet's work with no mercy, no justice, just torture and abuse, open warfare, spare no victims, hostile take overs and shake hands with super powers without them noticing that you are slipping the knife from behind.Once we gain power, we can work on universal healthcare and education.

It worked for Castro, didn't it?

Educational Psychologists

Do Educational Psychologists exist in Oman?

Are any at all employed by local education authorities to tackle problems associated with learning difficulties, social or emotional problems?

I've noticed a number of kids suffer from learning difficulties which ultimately becomes a social and emotional problem. One of my cousins was at Sultan's School and he has now been transferred to ABA because they supposedly have educational Psychologists, however, his mom has not witnessed much of an improvement. If anything, the 10 year old boy told me that the kids at school call him 'stupid'. That just broke my heart.

Does the government carry out any research on this matter? Do others feel strongly about this? In my humble opinion, a learning disability is probably more traumatizing than being physically disabled.

P.s. Happy B'day my dear beloved cousin Luby... Wish I was closer to celebrate it with you.

Medicine for Monogamy

A Florida State University team found that the brain chemistry responsible for addiction plays a role in love. Researchers said the messenger chemical dopamine, which stimulates the brains reward centre; helps keep male Prairie voles monogamous. Prairie voles are well known for forging long-lasting relationships. Dopamine is a brain chemical which produces feelings of satisfaction and pleasure. Elevated levels are linked to increased energy, motivation to win a reward and feeling elated.The team decided to study Prairie voles because they, more than any other animal, show signs of falling in love in the way humans do. Males and females bond after a single mating encounter. After which male voles also show signs of aggression towards other females.Researchers found that after mating, dopamine was released into the brains of males and affected an area of the brain known as nucleus accumbens, which is also present in humans.

The team then blocked the activity of a protein that is activated by dopamine in the vole's brain. They found males lost their usual strong preference for their mate over other females.Lead researcher Brandon Aragona said the bond which develops between voles was extremely strong. He said the study was the first to illustrate the way the brain reacts to prompt monogamy. And he added while humans would differ, the basic mechanisms would be similar.

Source: BBC news

Love; a multifaceted emotion. I believe there are neurophysiology variations in our brains when we fall in love or develop that quick crush on somebody. I can’t imagine all those emotions boiling down to one chemical in the brain. The feelings we experience must have multiple chemicals in action. I’m probably being erroneous but there’s a lot more that behaviour programming, neuroscience and neurobiology has to offer and we are most likely at the infancy of our discoveries. I hope we don't advance too fast otherwise we will all be high on man made love concoction :)

Oil Depot Explosion @Hempstead

People shaken out of their bed at 6am by a petrol depot exploding near their houses. No damage done for most part, I think, but over 3,000 people have been evacuated, some have been asked to seal their doors and windows because of the thick smoke... and some have spent hours watching flames, thick smoke and fireballs leap into the air.The environmental damage is going to be phenomenal (I hope not though).

I don't get one thing. I was 40 miles away from the blast and I didn't hear a thing. On the news, they claimed that Holland heard the blast! I find that hard to believe or perhaps while reporting the news, they just made a big bobo. Oh well!

Mum - you're adorable. You had no reason to panic - I'm pretty far from it and this weekend, I head back to Manchester which means I'll be further away from it. Big hug oxo

the five people you meet in heaven

Three melodramatic stories about a man called Eddie. The novel starts out by the death of Eddie and then followed by the 5 people he meets in Heaven who make him think and value what his life was really about. Each story has a secret to reveal and something new to learn from.

The novel is short, sweet, sentimental, and emotional. It is easy and fast to read (completed in a couple of long train rides). This book is definitely not for the intellectual snobs, you will not find refined literature or any sort of sophistication that would blow your mind so those with high expectations are only bound to get disappointed.

This book aids us in thinking about the meanings of things in our turbulent lives, the chances we have, the coincidences we encountered, the sacrifices people make no matter how small they are and over all, it brings optimism for those who are fashionably pessimistic.

Animal Instinct

Watched a documentary a few days ago and found it insightful. According to biologists, animals have the ability to predict things that would happen by the sounds of vibrations, electric changes etc, that they basically have Good telepathy. Apparently, no perished animals were found during the tsunami but almost quarter of a million people passed away. Besides that, animal instincts are also assisting in medical advances including cows! A woman who was diagnosed with epilepsy has a dog who warns her 40 mins prior to an eminent seizure and warns her a few mins before a minor one.

Good news is that we do have animal instincts. The Aboriginal culture have natural instincts that western societies have lost because we are so dependent on technology etc that we have allowed our natural instincts to be of no use or more like we are so hopeless that we can't even attempt to use our natural instincts. The Aboriginees use their brains more than we typically do by getting intouch with their natural ability to do things. Unfortunately, we live in an artificial environment.

An interesting study showed that cab drivers in London have a special brain power called hypocampus that is located somewhere in the brain. Cab drivers have to pass the knowledge test which comprises of 250,000 streets and over 100,000 landmarks. Brain scans of cabbies showed that part of their brain which is also known as the hypocampus is massively developed because it's exercised on a daily basis.

In a nutshell, Brains could be trained and developed so everyone GET started!