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A History of Violence (and Insanity)

About a month ago, I received one of those emails: one that is part of a chain and which you are supposed to forward to all the people you know... The email was in Arabic and it talked about some cartoons published in a Danish newspaper. I deleted the email, as I usually do. I was intrigued nevertheless, so I decided to do some research. I was surprised to find that not only the story was true but that it was some weeks old and seemed to be steadily degenerating. I did not expect the total degeneration it reached today though (which seems to be still escalating).

Those cartoons are not funny. They are insulting, intolerant, amalgamative and most of all non respectful. I think that this view is shared by a great majority of people, disregarding of their beliefs. The newspaper wanted a media publicity and it sure succeeded in getting it. However, I am still under shock by the reaction of some people with whom I share the same religion. It makes me feel sick and ashamed. How can they cry for tolerance when they are themselves intolerant? How can they claim that they are pacifists by burning embassies and threatening people? It is sad to see and say, but are they attempting to fit right in those caricatures they are denouncing? How can they demand of Westerners not to make amalgams while they themselves do them. Because these people clearly don't bother to mix between middle-east Christians or all the Christians of the world and the Danish ones or only the small group of the caricaturists. Although they don't accept the possibility that the Westerners may amalgamate between them and the terrorists. As far as I remember, they have always and systematically failed to make their point heard without violence.

Of course, I don't believe in absolute freedom of speech: it does not exist. And freedom of speech cannot exist without a minimum of respect. I believe that those who blindly support the newspapers are utterly stupid. Maybe they are as fanatical as those burning the embassies (it's only that their acts are not so spectacular and immediate). I also think that the newspapers which later published (or still doing so) the same cartoons as support for freedom are no better. Unless they want to get a lot of media coverage, that is. Which they seem to be getting anyway.

In short, I won't participate in neither the BoycottDenmark campaign nor in the SupportDenmark one. This stupidity and nonsense must cease as quick as possible...

Heh...

Which Nigerian spammer are You?

eBay Adventures

Try to sell your furniture when you are physically in another country! I had to sell, in October and November, the heaviest stuff I left in France. Most of it went smoothly. Except once. This time someone tried to lower the price of the oven in a way I didn't expect. Let's enumerate the steps (the initial price of the oven on eBay is 100 Euros via the "Buy Now" option and the auction starts at 90 Euros for 10 days):

1. A member (member-1) contacts me via email when the auction starts and proposes 60 Euros. He says that many buyers don't show up after a transaction. He also says that he can even come to take the oven that very day. My answer is 'No' (the oven is almost brand-new, we bought it 300 Euros... Also, I sold many things on eBay without any problems).
2. Another member (let's call him member-2) buys the oven with the "Buy Now" option (i.e. 100 Euros), almost simultaneously.
3. Member-2 desists a day later via email.
4. Member-1 emails me again (simultaneously still), and proposes 70 Euros in case my oven was not sold. I say no again. I tell him that I'm going to put the oven on sale for a second time. He can get it via eBay (maybe even for less than 100 Euros if he waits until the end of the auction and no one else is interested). I start to have some suspicions.
5. As soon as I put the oven again, another member (member-3) buys it and never shows up.
6. Member-1 proposes via email 80 Euros if my oven is still to be sold... Here I became sure that something was wrong. I told him the oven was definitely sold and I decided not to sell it via eBay (and stop this stupidity once and for all). Fortunately, someone who bought later the fridge was interested and took the oven for 100 Euros ;-)
   

Here are the arguments that make this a plausible fraud:

• The simultaneity of the emails coming from member-1 and the transactions made by (or emails from) member-2 and member-3.
• Both member-2 and member-3 have phony addresses and phone numbers (the latter differ only by the last 2 digits/10...).
• All 3 members have very recent accounts (member-2 and member-3 subscribed the same day of the transaction).
• Member-2 and member-3 vanished even though I tried to contact them via email.
  

Here are the arguments against the fraud:

• I wasn't able to find a match between the IP addresses. Unless the guy was very careful.
• I wasn't bothered by this guy again. Unless he had other people to bother or is only interested in reselling ovens ;-)

I finally got back most of, but not all, the related fees. I also had another benign problem with another sale (sofa) and decided to never use the "Buy Now" option again, although this solution is not a panacea. Later, I reported this to the consumer service, especially since this kind of fraud does not seem to be documented anywhere and their interface lacks the proper way to avoid it in the future, which gives anyone with enough "spare-time" the ability to spoil any sale. The replies I got (3 exchanges in total) was utterly poor: a simple copy-n-paste of the online help, go figure why there's a need for a consumer service in this case. Now I keep getting reminders every three days or so to pay my bill (or my account gets suspended), even though I sent them a check around two weeks ago!

Anyway, I'm so glad this is over. I just hope I won't have to do it again anytime in the future (soon or not).

عيد مبارك

Yeah, I know, a little bit late ;-)

Ramadhane was rather easy. Although far away from family and friends, and without its particular atmosphere, it was probably the easiest one since I left Algeria. I think it is essentially due to the time spent in transportations. In Paris, while the Ramadhane atmosphere is far more present than here, I used to spend almost 4 hours/day in transportation. Here, since I am only 15 minutes away by bus from the university, this comes down to half an hour/day. When the weather is fine, I can even go there by bike: 30 mn to get there (a hill to climb) but only 15 mn to return home (no need for pedalling)! There is also the fact that the time zone is set here differently. It's like having the London time zone in Paris. This means that Maghreb time is more reasonable: it spans from 4 pm in Winter to 9 pm in Summer (compare this to the 5 pm-10 pm span in Paris). I find it strange for a sunset to happen at 4 pm in Winter, but I found it even more strange for it to happen at 10 pm in Summer. It's funny to see how people adapt themselves to it, everything and every activity here seem to be programmed an hour earlier: working hours, meals, TV programs... Even though the length of day is almost equivalent (close latitudes).

Anyway, I'm glad the Eid is back. It is not easy to keep normal working hours while everybody around you are not fasting. Every year it is a challenge, and every year you are glad you succeeded. It's also nice to see that all (except one? ;-)) the Islamic countries agreed on the date (and with the scientific prediction). The beginning of Ramadhane was more hectic and as usual incoherent. Indeed, it is astronomically impossible for the crescent to be seen in the eastern parts of the Arab World, while it is unseen in Morocco. But in that case specifically, the scientific prediction was a little hard.

Is it necessary to fast 6 days in Shawwal after a whole Ramadhane abroad ? ;-) I suppose the answer is yes, but...

Update

It has been quite some time now since the last post. A lot happened during the last two months or so. First, the last few days in Paris were literally a nightmare: many things had to be done on the 3 or 4 days before departure, things that could not be done earlier and got accumulated. This resulted in some sleepless nights that was added to the large amount of mixed stress and excitement that was constantly rising since a few weeks. The trip however was very pleasant but nevertheless tiring: we could not help sleeping in the bus from Montreal to Sherbrooke during a serious rainstorm resulting from hurricane Katrina... Even half-asleep, it's impossible not to admire Montreal's highest buildings and the gorgeous nature between the two cities.

We were lucky to be housed by a friend during 10 days while we were searching for an apartment. The rent here is really cheap compared to Paris and it is rather easy to find an apartment. The people are very friendly and welcoming: we heard almost systematically the word "Welcome" whenever and wherever we said we were new comers. Being an "immigrant" does not seem to be a burden here. It is easy to feel serene and welcome. Of course, nothing is quite white nor quite black. There are some negative sides too, like the fact that you have to pay for everything. And it seems that the province of Quebec is the most left-winged province of Canada. I can't imagine what it would be in the other provinces. I was appalled the first time I saw publicity in the public toilets. Welcome to North America.

It is nice to get into the academic atmosphere once again. I am now preparing an MSc in Electrical and Computer Engineering. I am to study motions via sensors in a smart home destined for people with cognitive deficiencies. It is very challenging and motivating. I have to attend to some courses too. But I like the local way of teaching. Students are autonomous and involved and sometimes have to prepare the course themselves for their fellow-students. This brings a real efficiency in learning and avoids the sense of boredom that is common in the passive form of learning. It also prepares the students for teaching if they ever choose that way.

Of course, I could not wait to buy a bike in order to explore the nearby nature. There are circuits that go over tens of kilometers in the area that are destined to bikers only. This allows to admire the wildlife and observe the leaves turn from green to red and orange and gold. Even if I expected it, I couldn't help being astounded by the low population density. You can go for a while without meeting a single soul. However, I can't complain. That's one of the things I came here for.

The weather is very unpredictable as far as I'm concerned. After a summer that stretched until the beginning of October, we had some serious flooding 10 days ago and then two days ago the first snowstorm of the season! Due to hurricane Wilma this time. Quite promising for the winter, isn't it? I understand now why the Indian Summer is so important and so special here: if you experience a snowstorm, you'll be more than delighted when the summer is back for a week and the temperatures reach 20°C. It seems that it is not unlikely for this phenomenon to happen even in mid-November. So I am still waiting and hoping...

From Sherbrooke ;-)

I'm writing this from the university's library! We arrived here last Friday afternoon. Everything went well: good trip, almost no jatlag... We are in the process of finding an appartment and this is my first day at the university here. The town is very small yet very beautiful ;-)

More to come later...