I released another new module today. This is a somewhat custom module for a certain web site, but it may be of use to others. It allows users with  the right  permission to post "topics" and gather answers from registered users by email. It can be modified to be all web resident if needed, e.g. ranking of answers, making them viewable on the web site, ...etc. More information on the topic module, along with a download link, can be found on the topic project page.

The Stock API module  has been released to the public. This module was developed by Matt Westgate for the wonderful BuyBlue web site.The idea is that this module will fetch the stock data over the internet only when needed, and caches the info in a database table, hence network lag does not slow down the user response, and the system does not get bogged down if too many page views with stock data in them. Since Matt is busy with  E-Commerce, and other stuff, he asked that I take over this module. Of course, this is a good idea, since I do not want code duplication with my original stock module.

Turkish artist  Ekin Caglar has a really touching flash movie, called The Other Side of The Coin. Worth watching and spreading to everyone you know. It is available in many languages, if you so wish. However, pictures are worth a thousand words ...

PHPonTrax is another Model-View-Controller architecture using PHP.  It used to be called PHP on Rails,  attempting to be the Ruby On  Rails version for PHP.It uses Active Record for Object/Relational Mapping (ORM), much like Hibernate for Java.  

One technology that has been getting good reviews and lots of attention laterly is Ruby On  Rails (RoR). It is a Rapid Internet Application Development framework that is  easy to use and really fast to write applications in.

One of the drawbacks is that it requires the Ruby programmng language, which although powerful, is less widespread than other languages, and hence not available at most web hosts. 

Now there is CakePHP, which is supposed to be Ruby On Rails but for PHP, the most widely deployed web development language. CakePHP follows the Model-View-Controller architecture, and  provides basic  CRUD (Create, Read,  Update, Delete) operations. Of course, it is fully object oriented, just like RoR is.

I have a new niece: Laila Baheyeldin, daughter of Omar, the newest addition to the Baheyeldin Dynasty. She joins cousins Suhaila, Sarah and Salma, as well as older brother Ahmad in being the third generation of Baheyeldins.Welcome to the dynasty ... 

Sometime ago, I wrote about Interrupting Interruptions, or how technology affects daily life.Today, the New York Times has an article in Life Hackers, about the exact same topic. Here is the Slashdot discussion.

John Brown from Texas is drilling for oil in northern Israel based on him receiving divine inspiration that there is oil  in Israel, and  that he has to drill for it to help Israel. He says that "God sent me for one purpose: to help Israel with oil".Brown and other born gain Christians believe that the Bible spells out exactly where the oil is. The often wacko right-wing WorldNetDaily has an article with a map of where the oil is based on what Brown says are the verses that pin point the location. The verses are also listed in that article.

Most of the world does not know that many of the famous actors they see in Hollywood movies or TV productions are not Americans, but rather Canadians.Names such as Keanu Reeves (The Matrix), Carrie-Anne Moss (The Matrix), William Shatner (Star Trek), John Candy, Dan Akroyd, and even Leslie Nielsen (Naked Gun) and Lorne Greene (Battlestar Galactica, Bonanza), are all Canadians. There was even a mockumentary (Mock Documentary) in HBO in 1985 called  The Canadian Conspiracy poking fun at the fact that lots of Canadians are in the US, and are not overtly saying they are Canadians.

What do Sikhs, Jews, Catholics and Mennonites have in common? We all know they are monotheists, what else? All of them were deprived of certain rights or privileges in Western societies because of the Muslims!

Even though this sounds bizzare, it is true.

France and the Hijab Ban

In France, a ban on the religious headscarf in schools and public workers have been enacted for sometime. Although it was worded as  a ban on overt religious symbols, it was specifically targetting young Muslim women in school.