Google Translate Unblocked in Bahrain

I don't know if it was a coincidence, but I sent the below email as my first step to unblock google translate in Bahrain. And then I come back on the 28th of December to find it unblocked.. I thought it would be harder than this.. I was planning petitions and advertising campaign.. But then again it could be only a coincidence.. What's important is that it's unblocked :)


12/12/09
to webmaster@info.gov.bh
date Dec 12, 2009 1:45 AM
subject Inquiry!!
mailed-by gmail.com

Dear Sirs,


I would like to inquire about the rules and regulations of the Kingdom of Bahrain that require the blocking of the site Google.Translate. I would like to understand the legal violations that this valuable tool present for it to be blocked by your respected Ministry.

I would really appreciate your clarification and your cooperation.


Best Regards,

Rawaa Kalassina
Resident in Bahrain

The other side of the mirror and google translate..

Yeah Yeah I said good night one hour ago.. but I'm still here.. This new medicine is making my head spin at the moment, but I have just missed writing so much.. Plus, I have a lot of things to say.

A loyal reader of my blog, one who believes i'm very sad because of how I write, have recently advised to talk about the city I live in. The things I see, things that are not as dark as what I describe, not as lost as they are. I appreciated the advice, and yes, I have thought about it.. I even took some pictures of things I wanted to comment about.. But, and it's a big BUT actually, it's just not me. I'm not a sad person either, for those who think that i'm someone in a constant depression I really am not. Of course I live ups and downs, but in general I was always content with my life, and most recently I became really happy with the way things are going, despite my constant nagging about my stay in Bahrain.

Well, if you were in bahrain with the type of salary I have, and the lifestyle I have, and the "entourage", you would complain too. However, tonight, I decided to do something good for Bahrain, before leaving it, sooner or later. I decided to petition for the unblocking of google translate! or at least a redirection to another online translator that the Ministry of Information would judge compliant with the laws and rules of the Kingdom of Bahrain. Not that I ever understood what's the problem with google translate! And I decided to complain also about the request form for unblocking sites that doesn't work. You click on a site, you get the message "this site is blocked as it does not comply with the rules and regulations of the Kingdom of Bahrain", then a small button saying "If you feel that this site should be unblocked please click here". You click, you get a form, you write your heart out justifying why this site is completely ethical, you click submit, then you get a message "sorry this service is not available at the moment, please try again later". After 7 months of trying, I came to a logical conclusion that it just doesn't work. So maybe someone should care and fix it.

Since the idea just started an hour ago, the plan is not really clear. Yet! But, I will petition the unblocking of Google Translate!

As for the flow of this blog.. cannot say it will remain dark, nor it will become cheerful. It was always a mix of ups and downs, but the downs better expressed.. It's just the way it is, and it's not about me, nor about you, it's just about a world, where some things are more highlighted than others. Where some things like to come to light, and others prefer to stay hidden.

"Build it and they will come".. And so this is what this is, a world where some people can feel completely normal to be lost and confused, to be sad for no reason, and to rejoice when they mourn.. Where they can see that someone has been there, someone is there, and someone is not.. The other side of the mirror, with their true selves, and my petition to get Google Translate back!

Detachment

There are days when you're just not in the mood to be happy, not in the mood to act alive.. Even when you have every reason in the world to rejoice..
Your common sense tells you you're abnormal, but you couldn't care less.. All you have in mind is this grey shade you're longing to indulge yourself in..
All you have in mind is this absolute pause, this life put on hold, and all these feelings tucked in a neutral zone. A zone of.. Nothingness..
Just like an autumn leaf detaching from a tree, and twirling in the void..
Slowly dancing in celebration for falling into nothing but an absolute nothingness..

Manama Nights! - 3

I used to have this habit with my sister, with whom I used to share my bedroom too, to talk in the middle of the night. When you have five years of difference you grow up to have less things in common. Sometimes we used to pass several days without exchanging any words of importance other than "wake up we have to go to school" and maybe some comments about the meal for the lunch. Each of us had her own little world in which she was consumed. Then in the night, we go to the same room, adjacent beds, big beds I may add now that I experience a way smaller one. And as we turn off the lights and settle down under the covers, few minutes of silence break up into long conversations. As if we're out of the silence and we need to use as many words as possible before the day breaks taking us back to our own little lives.

I guess, this is one of those times where I just need to talk.. It's not easy to live by yourself, no matter how independent it may seem, how liberating it could be.. It's not as easy as I thought at least.. When the urge to talk at three o'clock in the morning ravages you, and you look around to find nothing close to being alive except the air conditioner that keeps humming, and the fridge that lights up every time you open it, only then, you feel alone.. Only then, you realize that you're not as close to success as you thought, and that your years of achievement are still far beyond being recognized, because anyway, there's no one around to recognize them for you..

I'm not down at this moment, I'm not sad, and I'm not lonely.. I'm just awake, needing to babble at three o'clock of the morning..

The New Age of Communication

I was watching this TV show about a serial killer, and one guy confesses murders that he didn't do just to get his few minutes of fame and be on the news.. He says that with blogs, podcasts, and all this social media invasion, it's hard now to make a breakthrough.. with people setting up their own TV channels on Youtube, others opening up their own magazines/newspapers.. Everyone is simply broadcasting.. I could just take a second to close my eyes and see the lights of all these connected devices, each one transmitting what we want to show the world.. The new age of communication.. Something that used to be more direct: Sender _ Message _ Receiver! When people used to know who they are addressing, and others knew who they are perceiving.. When connection was clearer, even if slower.. Compared o a time when we are all connected, but not really sure how.. Each setting his own world, his own rules, with some people passing by.. The real glory is when you get comments, the more you have ones the more you feel.. FAMOUS!! Is this what it's really all about? This new age of people beating their way up just to have others' attention? Is it why I'm here?
I used to write way before I knew what email is.. But it was for me in the beginning, then I started sharing among friends.. Then now with the world ( no matter how small or big is the percentage of the world really drops by).. But just the idea of being exposed to the unknown has a certain carnal pleasure that keeps me coming back for more..
Pleasure, fame, glory, all leading to a certain orgasm you only get when you're connected, when you have a mutual flow of.. Bytes, in this case?!! When you feel that you're opening up to be admired by some, criticized by others, and ignored by more, but mostly when you know that you got someone's attention..
This new age of communication, social media, and technology, all evolving around one idea: attention.. That's what everyone is looking for, that's what everyone is really fighting for.. Even those who pretend to like staying in the shadows, are just secretly hoping that by the difference they set from the crazy crowds around them, they'll caught some kind of attention.. maybe it's just a basic need, just like eating, then shitting, then eating again, then gaining some attention before shitting one more time..

بطل من هذا الزمان

لحظة تردد واحدة كانت كلّ ما تحتاجه لتقرّر أنّني لست شريكة حياتك.. أن كلّ ما جمعنا ليس حتى كافٍ ليرقى لمستوى الصداقة
لحظة تردد واحدة جعلتك تدرك أن ما بيننا لم يكن سوى لقاء عابري سبيل جمعتهما الوحدة و الحنين.. و أنّه لا جدوى من اقناع أنفسنا بأننا نتشارك أي شيء أبعد من ذلك
لحظة واحدة جعلتك تتعجّب كيف بقيت كل هذا الوقت دون أن تلاحظ أن ما بيننا هو عبارة فقط عن رغبة مشتركة لإرضاء مجتمع لا يؤمن بالفردية و لا حتى بالثنائية
فقرّرت، أيها البطل، ألّا تظلمني معك
واه! عجبي من النساء اللواتي يشتكين من انعدام الشهامة في عصرنا هذا

قرّرتَ أنه لا داعي لأن يتحطّم فؤادي، و أنه عوضاً عن ذلك من المستحب أن أنحني شاكرةً عطف قلبك و بعد الرؤيا التي تتمتّع بها وحدك. و قررت أيضاً أنه لا داعي لدموعٍ سأدرك بعدها أن فراقنا نعمة قرّرت أن تغدق بها عليّ
لحظة واحدة! جعلتك بطلاً، ناصراً للمظلومين، محرّر قلوب العذارى، أرقى أنواع الرجال! و تشتكي سائر النساء من حقارة جنسكم! يا للصفاقة
لحظة واحدة أكّدت لك أن قدري أن أتابع من دونك و أن أشغل نفسي موقتاً بصنع نصب تذكاري و أيقونات لتخليدك، منقذي من حياةٍ.. معك
لا تظنّني أشتكي، و لا أنني أبكي على أطلالك.. فرحيلك كان فعلاً نعمة! ليس لأن ما بيننا كان وهماً، بل لأن رجلاً تحركه لحظات تردد ليس سوى نصف رجل، في أحسن حالاته
في عالمٍ تحكمه أنصاف الرجال، و نصب تذكارية تخلد ذكرى كل من يرفض أن يدور الكون إلا حوله
لست هنا لأشتكي، أنا فقط هنا لأنصب لك تمثالك التذكاري

Zunzurt ( or however it's written)

Nostalgia has been haunting me today since the moment I woke up. Not that I don't miss home, but I'm more nostalgic today for the person I used to be, for life not put on hold. I miss the confidence I used to have, and the pride. I'm feeling nostalgic for all the dreams I used to have, and I'm disappointed by the simplicity of the ones I have now. The ambitions of climbing the highest mountains, replaced now by the ambition to walk straight without falling down. I'm nostalgic for the eagerness to experience a free fall, replaced now by an aspiration to have stable steps. I'm nostalgic for the times when I wasn't afraid of bruises, when I was calling for scars, when i aspired for glory. Aspirations now replaced with a pitiful need to be safe, to have enough to eat, and a reasonable space to shit.

I'm nostalgic for the person I was, the person I will become one day, and I'm repelled by the person I am now. But mostly I'm worried about the rehab time I would need to be normal back again, to wake up from this stagnation.