2009, rough start

Unfortunately while some of us were out drinking, partying and celebrating the coming of the new year, some people while they were drinking and dancing, died in a horrible way. Last night, dozens from differently nationalities in a nightclub in Thailand died after the nightclub was set on fire, cause still unknown. That is seriously a really sad start for the families of those who died, and for those who were burned and are wounded.

On the other end of Asia, Gaza is still under fire. Israel is not accepting any ceasefire. More than 400 so far are dead, while a big part of them are civilians.

Too cliché to wish for Peace, too cliché. But nevertheless, I wish that 2009 will carry some wisdom with it, less natural disasters, more awareness of the global warming issue, and more stable financial situations. As we say in my homeland "Save your white penny for a black day".

Internet filtering still exists!

I have only recently learned that there is Internet filtering in China, I have had heard about Internet filtering in some Arab countries (i.e. Bahrain, Saudi Arabia) or Islamic countries (i.e. Iran) though, but still not in depth. A little bit too late till I looked it up, and surprisingly, the filtering remains till today.

It is a serious issue though to see that some people in some countries are being deprived from truth about things. That is propaganda in itself. Every person has the right to know about anything he desires. I understand in some cases, hiding a very dangerous truth from the public in order not to cause panic and chaos, but preventing the people from know about anything, anywhere at any time is just immoral and unethical.

Having said that, technically speaking, after of course making a special "Google" for China, and not with the purpose or concept of the Google for Holland or France or any country, but in the purpose of "hiding" facts and only showing China (communism) appropriate events and history, it is still quite remarkable to see such technologies. Nevertheless, sadly used.

Fortunately, despite the large amount of problems and political craziness Lebanon endures, and even though sometimes certain books were banned from entering Lebanon, such as "The Satanic Verses" and "The Da Vinci Code" (which actually intices people into buying them more, and eventually they were snuck in to the country), we have access to anything we want on the Internet, and I believe this is a bliss.