So, there is this push in Saudi Arabia to do away with the stone-age rule of women not being allowed to drive on their own. BBC News presents four viewpoints from a cross-section of Saudi society. Three of them present pretty valid point of views. Now, read what Ibrahim Hussain, an immigrant from India has to say on the issue (emphasis mine):

I am from India, but I have been living in Saudi Arabia for 20 years.

I am married and I have daughters. We don’t have a driver – I drive them about myself. This works fine and the women in my family do not want to drive.

Women should not be allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia. If this happens, there will be more crime, accidents and disorder.

There will be more accidents because of the increase in traffic. However, the government is preparing for more traffic by building new roads and new overhead bridges.

If Saudi Arabia allows women to drive, there will have to be more law-enforcement officers in and around the cities.

There would also have to be more night patrols throughout the kingdom. There would also have to be women-only garages and service centres.

It will mean more social problems in the future.

Maybe a few women do want to drive, but this is not really a big issue.

In the interests of safety and security – I don’t want women driving in Saudi Arabia. [BBC News]

I am speechless.

Why did it took three years for Osama bin Laden to record a tape?

He didn’t want to dye.

—–

How come bin Laden’s beard is black now?

They found a copy of Photoshop.

Iraq(2007) – Iraq(2003) = Immense Sadness

John Simpson, BBC World Affairs Editor, writes how things have changed over the past four years of American invasion of Iraq.

After Baghdad fell, I would satellite reports back to London about attacks in which one or two people were killed. It was big news in those days. Last Thursday, a bomb exploded near the end of the street in central Baghdad where the BBC has its office. Eight people were killed and 25 injured, and we had rather good pictures of it.

But I did not ring London to offer a report about it. To get on the news, or the front page of the newspapers nowadays, a lot of people have to die. I would say the current figure is 60 or 70; and it certainly wouldn’t be the lead.

This is not because editors do not care; it is because it happens so often it scarcely seems like news.

Sad but true.

NY Times has this interesting article.

Ms. Laalaa is a Muslim and has voluntarily worn the burqa, the traditional head-to-toe covering for Muslim women, since she was 14. It is hard to swim, she said, if your body is swathed in cotton, which is very heavy when wet.

Now, her clothing quandary solved by a novel fashion, the burqini, Ms. Laalaa, a vivacious 20-yearold, has become a Surf Life Saver, as volunteer lifeguards here are known, lured to the beach by a new outreach program for Australia’s Muslims.

Good stuff.

An Indian citizen is now believed to be the first in line to be the king of France, if there were one.

Balthazar Napolean de Bourbon, a jovial Indian lawyer and part-time farmer settled in Bhopal, has been told that he is the first in line to the lost French throne.

According to media reports, “Bourbon may soon make his first trip to Paris, after he was visited by a relative of Prince Philip, who told him that he is the first in line to the lost French throne.”

However, it seems there are a lot of people claiming to be the first in line to the French throne.

I never imagined I would read about Incheon in New York Times. I lived in that city for two years before coming to USA and it is to Seoul what Faridabad is to Delhi. Industrious but overshadowed.

Will NYT now surprise me by featuring Lucknow? Or may be Aligarh.

I never thought I would see Inzamamul Haq and the Pakistani cricket team on the front page of New York Times. But then we live in interesting times.

Good job Darrell Hair, it was not possible without you.

Here is the story.

Neha wonders why she sees such ads in her Gmail Inbox. I think I have found the answer in one of the ads at a geeky website.

What percentage of geeks would not want to scroll the (unscrollable) bar? Actually, the ad is pretty effective:

The beautiful (and apparently nude) woman has been strategically placed.

The scroll bars and missing ‘ing’ of missing creates the impression that there is more to be seen.

The word ‘see’ has been naughtingly highlighted. Half of the geeks are voyeurish. Q.E.D.

There is ‘I am a : woman’ seeking ‘man’ instead of ‘I am a : man’ seeking ‘woman’. Women are smarter than men in matters of heart, more Q.E.D.

If one gets caught by the boss while looking at such women, there is that brialliant excuse of ‘Advantages of PHP Over Java’. Yes, the original page. If boss is any good (that means a good geeky and that would mean single and lonely), he would be looking for options himself, so not much to worry.

Scriptsfinder.com has enough knowledge about online geek behaviour and hence such ads.

When you go to the actual mate1.com site, their default search is ‘I am a man seeking a woman, age 18-35′. They know who would be finally coming to their site !

At an online Forum I am a part of, one of the members posted various interpretations of Zidane’s headbutt.

As seen by the Germans:

As seen by the French:

As seen by the Italians:

As seen by the Americans:

As seen by Israelies:

As seen by the press:

As seen by the readers:

Thanks to all those readers who suggest that Zidane was in fact saving Materazzi’s life.

do Ghaz zamiiN bhii na milii kuu-e-yaar meN?

If you still are not sure what is happening in Lebanon, see these photos at Flickr.

I have no sympathy for the self-destructive Hezbollah and I am totally against Israel meting out collateral punishment to the entire Lebanese population.