In this MSNBC article, research at Columbia University showed that, among other findings:

According to this CBC article, an IPSOS Reid survey shows that Canadians now spend more time online on their computers over watching TV.

No wonder social networking sites, such as Facebook have a big share in this ...

On Friday March 19, 2010, Muslims attending the weekly congregation prayer at the Waterloo Masjid were greeted by vandalism of their house of worship.

The 666 number of the beast was sprayed on most windows and doors. Two windows were broken, including the funeral room, where the deceased are washed and shrouded in preparation for burial. Pentagrams, symbols of magic, were sprayed, as well as many insults, most of them misspelled, "Satan", "Deat [sic] to you all", "Devel" [sic], "soul collector".

The BBC has an interesting look at the African-Palestinians in Jerusalem.

Their ancestry comes from Chad, Nigeria, Sudan, and Senegal.

They settled and married from other Muslim Arabic speaking non-African Palestinians in Jerusalem, and face the same challenges that the broader Palestinian community faces.

Limits on the Prime Minister's power to prorogue parliament have been passed.

A few days ago, on a Hamilton TV channel a news presenter mentioned that he saw a robin.

Today, I saw one here in Waterloo. The first one this season.

Spring is near ...

The sea gulls have been back for a couple of days. Circling high and making their distinctive calls.

Today, another spring visitor was in our backyard: the colorful house finch with its long and distinctive song ...

The following are some proverbs أمثال. You can tell by the content that they are either recent in origin (from 1960s and some in 1990s), or adapting old sayings with modern metaphors (e.g. Rabso and Omo detergents, or mobile phone balance).

قليل الاصل لا تعاتبه ولا تلومه ، ده زى البقعه لا يطلع برابسو ولا بأومو

العيلة اللى مفيهاش صايع ... حقها ضايع

اضحك والضحك رخيص قبل مايغلى و يبقى فى قراطيس

طلعت فوق السطوح هز الهوا كمى .. كل العيال اتجوزوا و انا لسة جنب امى

الحياه من غير نسوان زى المسقعه من غير بتنجان

اللى يسكت و مايقولش لمراته ليه ؟ رحمة الله عليه

How low can criminals go? Kidnapping for ransom is repulsive, since it preys on the fears of the victim and the victim's family who are forced to give money to the kidnappers in order to get their loved one back.

How how low can someone go, ransoming the remains of a dead person? Here is a case where the ex-president of Cyprus remain were held for ransom!

Over the past few weeks, I reconnected with people I have not seen in many decades from EGC. I had a chat with Patrizia Amante (Grand Kayman), Karim Abdel Hadi (Alexandria), Gianpiero Gelato (Italy), Samar Mamoun (Germany), Nayera Mokhless (Kuwait), Zeinab (Yeldez) Murad (Alexandria), and Mohamed Tawfik Elgayar (New York).

This is the part that impressed me when I was chatting with Gianpiero:

Khalid: Do you still speak Arabic, or forgot it?