Showing posts with label english. Show all posts
Showing posts with label english. Show all posts

Documentaries to watch

Here is a copied list of high quality documentaries. You can get the actual docus from here http://docuwiki.net/index.php?title=Main_Page

Exact Science
[Physics]
Absolute Zero - BBC (series, 2 episodes)
Light Fantastic - BBC (series, 4 episodes)
Atom - BBC (series, 3 episodes)
Time - BBC (series, 4 episodes)
Shock and Awe - BBC (series, 3 episodes)
Everything and Nothing - BBC (series, 2 episodes)
Order and Disorder - BBC (series, 2 episodes)
Invisible Worlds - BBC (series, 3 episodes)
The Fabric of the Cosmos - PBS (series, 4 episodes)
Elegant Universe - PBS NOVA (series, 3 episodes)
Hunting the Elements - PBS NOVA
The Secret Life of Chaos - BBC
The Big Bang Machine - BBC
Feynman: Fun to Imagine - BBC
Do You Know What Time it is? - BBC Horizon
How Long is a Piece of String? - BBC Horizon
What is Reality? - BBC Horizon
What is One Degree? - BBC Horizon
To Infinity and Beyond - BBC Horizon
What Happened Before the Big Bang - BBC Horizon
What on Earth is wrong with Gravity - BBC Horizon
Is Everything we Know about the Universe Wrong? - BBC Horizon
The End of God - BBC Horizon
Parallel Universes - BBC Horizon
Can We Make a Star on Earth? - BBC Horizon
Molecules with Sunglasses - BBC Horizon
Nanotopia - BBC Horizon

[Biology]
The Shape of Life - PBS NOVA (series, 8 episodes)
Evolution - PBS NOVA (series, 7 episodes)
How to Grow a Planet - BBC (series, 3 episodes)
Becoming Human - PBS NOVA (series, 3 episodes)
The Origins of Us - BBC (series, 3 episodes)
Inside the Human Body (series, 4 episodes)
Into the Mind - BBC (series, 3 episodes)
Superhuman - BBC (series, 6 episodes)
Brain Story - BBC (series, 6 episodes)
The Brain: A Secret History - BBC (series, 3 episodes)
Human Sensens - BBC (series, 3 episodes)
How to Build a Human - BBC (series, 4 episodes)
First Life - BBC (series, 2 episodes)
Wonders of Life - BBC (series, 5 episodes)
Secret Universe: The Hidden Life of the Cell - BBC (docu-film)
The Secrets of the Mind - PBS NOVA
Is Seeing Believing? - BBC Horizon
The Ghost in Your Genes - BBC Horizon
Fix Me - BBC Horizon
How Does Your Memory Work - BBC Horizon
Mad but Glad - BBC Horizon
Don't Grow Old - BBC Horizon
Are We Still Evolving? - BBC Horizon
The Secret You - BBC Horizon
The Secret Life of your Body Clock - BBC Horizon
Living Forever - BBC Horizon
The Nine Months That Made You - BBC Horizon
Why Do Viruses Kill? - BBC Horizon
Designer Babies - BBC Horizon
What Makes Us Clever? A Horizon Guide to Intelligence - BBC
Do You See What I See? - BBC Horizon
Playing God - BBC Horizon

[Geology]
Time Machine - BBC (series, 3 episodes)
Earth, the Power of the Planet - BBC (series, 5 episodes)
Journeys from the Center of the Earth - BBC (series, 6 episodes)
Earth Story - BBC (series, 8 episodes)
Journeys into the Ring of Fire (series, 4 episodes)
The Beauty of Maps - BBC (series, 4 episodes)
How the Earth Was Made - History Channel (series, 2 seasons)
Cloudspotting - BBC
Snowball Earth - BBC Horizon
The Core - BBC Horizon
IMAX - Journey to Amazing Caves (docu-film)

[Astronomy]
The Planets - BBC (series, 8 episodes)
Stephen Hawking's Universe - Discovery (series, 6 episodes)
Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking - Discovery (series, 3 episodes)
How the Universe Works - Discovery (series, 8 episodes)
The Universe - History Channel (series, 5 seasons)
Known Universe - NGC (series, 6 episodes)
Wonders of the Solar System - BBC (series, 5 episodes)
Wonders of the Universe - BBC (series, 4 episodes)
Space - BBC (series, 6 episodes)
The Search For Life: The Drake Equation - BBC
Titan A Place Like Home - BBC Horizon
Bye Bye Planet Pluto - BBC Horizon
The Death Star - BBC Horizon
The Hawking Paradox - BBC Horizon
Titan, A Place Like Home? - BBC Horizon
Supermassive Black Holes - BBC Horizon
Lost Horizons: The Big Bang - BBC Horizon
Most of Our Universe Is Missing - BBC Horizon
Seeing Stars - BBC Horizon
Are We Alone in the Universe? - BBC Horizon
Death Of The Universe - NGC
Origins - PBS Nova (series, 4 episodes)
Welcome To Mars - PBS Nova
Voyage To The Mystery Moon - PBS Nova
Journey to the Edge of the Universe - NGC (docu-film)
IMAX - Space Station (docu-film)
IMAX - Hubble (docu-film)

[Nature]
Private Life of Plants - BBC (series, 6 episodes)
Life in the Undergrowth - BBC (series, 5 episodes)
Nature's Great Events - BBC (series, 6 episodes)
Frozen Planet - BBC (series, 7 episodes)
The Blue Planet - BBC (series, 8 episodes)
Planet Earth - BBC (series, 11 episodes)
Human Planet - BBC (series, 8 episodes)
EarthFlight - BBC (series, 6 episodes)
Great Barrier Reef - BBC (series, 3 episodes)
Madagascar - BBC (series, 3 episodes)
Galápagos - BBC (series, 3 episodes)
Yellowstone - BBC (series, 3 episodes)
Wild China - BBC (series, 6 episodes)
Wild Pacific - BBC (series, 5 episodes)
Ganges - BBC (series, 3 episodes)
Africa - BBC (series, 6 episodes)
Life - BBC (series, 10 episodes)
Life on Earth - BBC (series, 13 episodes)
The Living Planet - BBC (series, 12 episodes)
The Trials of Life - BBC (series, 12 episodes)
Life in the Freezer - BBC (series, 6 episodes)
The Life of Birds - BBC (series, 10 episodes)
The Life of Mammals - BBC (series, 10 episodes)
Life in Cold Blood - BBC (series, 5 episodes)
Wild Sex - NGC (series, 6 episodes)
March of the Penguins (docu-film)
Microcosmos (docu-film)

[Mixed]
The Ascent of Man - BBC (series, 10 episodes)
Cosmos: A Personal Voyage - PBS (series, 14 episodes)
The Day the Universe Changed - BBC (series, 10 episodes)
The Story of Science: Power, Proof and Passion - BBC (series, 6 episodes)
The Human Animal - BBC (series, 6 episodes)
The Incredible Human Journey - BBC (series, 5 episodes)
How Earth Made Us - BBC (series, 5 episodes)
Chemistry, a Volatile History - BBC (series, 3 episodes)
The Story of Maths - BBC (series, 4 episodes)
The Code - BBC (series, 3 episodes)
Visions of the Future - BBC (series, 3 episodes)
Connections - BBC (series, 3 seasons)
Swarm - BBC (series, 2 episodes)
Dara Ó Briain's Science Club - BBC (series, 6 episodes)
Brave New World - Channel 4 (series, 5 episodes)
Through the Wormhole - Discovery (series, 4 seasons)
NatureTech (series, 3 episodes)
The Pleasure of Finding Things Out (Richard Feynman)
How to Build a Bionic Man - Channel 4
Explosions, How we Shook the World - BBC
Afterlife: The Strange Science of Decay - BBC
The Voice - BBC
The Satellite Story - BBC
The Story of One - BBC
Stuff: A Horizon Guide to Materials - BBC
The Hunt for AI - BBC Horizon
Diamond Labs - BBC Horizon
Fermat's Last Theorem - BBC Horizon
Who's Afraid of Designer Babies? - BBC Horizon
The Lost World of Lake Vostok - BBC Horizon
Human v2.0 - BBC Horizon
Moon for Sale - BBC Horizon
The Boy Who Was Turned into a Girl - BBC Horizon
Alien Planet - Discovery (docu-film)
Home (docu-film)

Humanities
[War]
The World at War - (series, 26 episodes)
Weird Weapons - History Channel (series, 2 episodes)
Atlantic convoys - War at Sea (series, 4 episodes)
Apocalypse: The Second World War (series, 6 episodes)
Last Voices of WWI - History Channel (series, 6 episodes)
Fog of War (docu-film)
Nuit et brouillard - Night and Fog (docu-short)
Hearts and Minds (docu-film)
Restrepo (docu-film)
Armadillo (docu-film)
Trinity and Beyond (docu-film)

[Prehistory & earlier]
Walking with Sea Monsters - BBC (series, 3 episodes)
Walking with Monsters - BBC (series, 3 episodes)
Walking with Dinosaurs - BBC (series, 6 episodes)
Walking with Beasts - BBC (series, 6 episodes)
Walking with Cavemen - BBC (series, 4 episodes)
The Mystery Of The Jurassic - BBC Horizon
Stone Age Columbus - BBC Horizon
The Day The Earth Almost Died - BBC Horizon

[Politics & Economics]
Commanding Heights - PBS NOVA (series, 3 episodes)
The Ascent of Money - (series, 6 episodes)
How Britain Made the Modern World - (series, 6 episodes)
In Europe (series, 30 episodes)
Frontline - PBS (series, 30 seasons)
The Love of Money - BBC
Manufacturing Consent - Noam Chomsky (docu-film)
Rebel with a Pause - Noam Chomsky (docu-film)
Inside Job (docu-film)
Nostalgia for the Light (docu-film)
Chavez: Inside the Coup (docu-film)
Taxi to the dark side (docu-film)
Taking liberties (docu-film)
Crude (docu-film)
Globalization is Good (docu-film)
The Corporation (docu-film)
Wal-mart: the High Cost of Low Price (docu-film)
Enron: the Smartest Guys in the Room (docu-film)

[Mixed subject]
Civilization - BBC (series, 13 episodes)
The Virtual Revolution - BBC (series, 4 episodes)
Science and Islam - BBC (series, 3 episodes)
Fry's Planet Word - BBC (series, 6 episodes)
Human, All Too Human - BBC (series, 3 episodes)
The NASA Missions : When We Left Earth - Discovery (series, 6 episodes)
Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends - (series, 3 seasons)
When Louis Met... - (series, 2 seasons)
Up - (series, 7 docu-films)
The Boy With the Incredible Brain
N is a Number
The Century of the Self (series, 4 episodes)
Guns, Germs and Steel - PBS (series, 3 episodes)
Transcendent Man (docu-film)
We Live in Public (docu-film)
Lake of Fire (docu-film)
Into Eternity (docu-film)
Titicut Follies (docu-film)
Rise of the Drones - PBS NOVA
Jonestown: The Life and Death of Peoples Temple - PBS
The Machine That Made Us - BBC
A War On Science: Intelligent Design - BBC Horizon
Triumph of the Nerds: The Rise of Accidental Empires - (docu-film)
All Watched over by Machines of Loving Grace - BBC (series, 3 episodes)

[Special cases]
Koyaanisqatsi (docu-film)
Powaqqatsi (docu-film)
Naqoyqatsi (docu-film)
Chronos (docu-film)
Baraka (docu-film)
Samsara (docu-film)
51 Birch Street (docu-film)
Our Daily Bread (docu-film)
Rivers and Tides (docu-film)
Encounters at the End of the World (docu-film)
Dark Side of the Moon (docu-film, don't research it (spoilers!) just watch!)

A list of Open Access Journals related to chemical engineering

This list open access journals can be useful when looking for the right journal to publish research work related to Chemical Engineering, Stochastic Optimization and Thermodynamics.


  1. Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Quarterly
  2. Chemical Engineering Research Bulletin
  3. Chemical Industry and Chemical Engineering Quarterly
  4. Brazilian Journal of Chemical Engineering
  5. ISRN Chemical Engineering
  6. Macedonian Journal of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
  7. International Journal of Engineering Research and Applications
  8. American Journal of Engineering Research
  9. Bulletin of Chemical Reaction Engineering & Catalysis
  10. International Journal of Chemical and Environmental Engineering
  11. Journal of Engineering
  12. Advances in Chemical Engineering and Science
  13. International Journal of Engineering & Technology
  14. Journal of Engineering and Technology
  15. International Journal of Chemical Sciences and Research
  16. Mathematical Problems in Engineering
  17. Journal of Current Engineering Research
  18. Journal of Engineering Studies and Research
  19. Polish Journal of Chemical Technology
  20. Journal of Engineering Research
  21. Chemical Bulletin of Politehnica University of Timisoara
  22. Indian Journal of Chemical Technology
  23. American Journal of Oil and Chemical Technologies
  24. Hemijska Industrija
  25. International Journal of Chemical Engineering and Applications
  26. Advances in Mathematical and Computational Methods
  27. International Journal of Industrial Chemistry
  28. Facta Universitatis Series : Physics, Chemistry and Technology
  29. Journal of Applied Mathematics and Stochastic Analysis
  30. Journal of Soft Computing and Applications
  31. Global Journal of Technology and Optimization
  32. Advanced Modeling and Optimization
  33. International Journal of Modeling and Optimization


A word to policy makers in Higher Education and Research


The key to solving Egypt's higher education and research problems is fostering people. Put aside all projects, quality initiatives, new buildings, etc and make the development of high-quality people your priority. Focus on recruiting the best young individuals, pay them handsomely, fund their initiatives, expand their international exposure, let them work freely, provide them proper recognition, give them prizes, provide extra funding competitively, let them organize their work together, reward achievers, and then see the results.

Conflict of loyalty

I'm preparing a lecture on ethics to be given to Humanities students. I'm planning to discuss with them this quote to understand the complexities of loyalty in one's professional life.

—"He must set aside any nationalistic attitudes and appreciate that in the last resort his loyalty must be to his shareholders of the parent company, and he must protect their interests even if it might appear that it is not perhaps in the national interest of the country in which he is operating. Apparent conflict may occur in such matters as the transfer of funds at a period of national crisis, a transfer of production from one subsidiary to another or a transfer of export business."

—W.J. Kenyon Jones, chairman of Ronson, defines the duty of a corporate executive.

Dealing with conquered states

"Conquered states.... can be held by the conqueror in three different ways. The first is to ruin them, the second for the conqueror to go and reside there in person and the third is to allow them to continue to live under their own laws, subject to a regular tribute, and to create in them a government of the few who will keep the country friendly to the conqueror."

Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince 

My message to Muslim American friends

In preparation for a visit by my dear friend Hossam AlJabri, I prepared the following 10 points for discussion.

My message to Muslim American friends

1. Do not allow Hollywood to have any impact on you or your children. Do not watch sitcoms. 

2. Never allow yourself or your children to be disillusioned by sports, music, or celebrities. Focus on lofty issues and live for mighty goals.

3. Fight against the consumerism culture and the excessive consumption of food, water and energy in America that results in the deprivation of basic needs to billions worldwide.

4. Do not fit in. You are different with a unique religion. Fitting in will result in being treated as second-class citizens.

5. Never vote Republicans or Democrats. Stand only with principled politicians who do not belong to the two dominant parties.

6. Fight against the military-industrial complex and never allow your children to work as minions for them.

7. Fully resist the American foreign policy in all countries.

8. Teach your children about the 9/11 hoax and lead the 9/11 truth movement.

9. Revolt. Lead the revolution against the current state of affairs. Be in the forefront of such activities as Occupy Wall Street.

10. Do not be mainstream Americans.

Eyewitness Account of Tahrir Square Revolution - Dr. Hossam Fahmy

This eyewitness account was written by Dr. Hossam Fahmy. His outdated website can be found here: http://arith.stanford.edu/~hfahmy/webpages/index.html
Dr. Hossam Fahmy, when he was a graduate student at Stanford University
Dr. Hossam Fahmy, when he was a graduate student at Stanford University

You asked me to write a few notes on what happened in Tahrir in the last two weeks. Here it goes:

I spent a total of 11 days in Tahrir. Specifically I was there in the last nine days and nights (interrupted only twice for a couple of hours each during the days of Sunday 6 February and Tuesday 8 February to get clothes and food).

Al-hamdulillah, I worked mostly on the entrance of "Kasr Al-Nile" the main entrance to the square near the bridge by the same name. By "worked" I mean guarding, receiving newcomers, giving moral support to those staying awake all night, defending, building shields, talking to foreign reporters, putting out fires from the molotov cocktails, calming down nervous colleagues, distributing food,  helping others make wudu, praying, contacting the army officers and building communication channels with them, putting blankets on the cold people, bringing medical supplies to the clinics, negotiating with the "invaders", planning to defend against attacks, sleeping on the street to be ready if anything is needed any time, chanting, .... the list goes on.

Every individual there did all that and many more. I was just a simple soldier in the battle field and ALLAH guided us to act in unison in many critical moments. To give you a glimpse of that I will cover a bit of what happened on Wednesday 2 February. Around 3:00PM on that day I was with some other colleagues near the center of the square and another colleague came to ask for help at the entrance since many of the "pro-Mubarak" were coming. The main job was to ask people to show their ID cards when they enter, open their bags for checking, and do a simple body search in fear of having any hidden weapons. The "gate" was a make-shift gate made up from police barricades and the metal fences surrounding a building site within the square. We put the gate between two army tanks that were standing to the side of the road. The comers would pass between the tanks and then arrive to our gate near the end of the tanks. We were standing between the tanks to receive them.

When many of the pro-Mubarak were trying to come in we started to say that those who say no to Mubarak are welcomed to enter, those who say yes to Mubarak are welcomed to hold their own demonstration outside the square in front of us, "We do not want any friction". The pro-Mubarak insisted on entering and started some verbal assaults and threatened that they will force their way in so we closed the gates with our bodies and stood in one row to prevent anyone from entering or leaving. I took turn with two of my colleagues to pray Asr while standing in this mess. One of my own professors at the university was just arriving then and asked me to let him in. I refused and he exclaimed
"Do you take me as one of them?"
"No, but if we open the gates to any one the flood will follow you. Please turn your back to me and stand with us to defend the place."
He (and many others that came later) obeyed that and we formed a human shield against those who were pushing us to get in. We were reminding ourselves to stay calm and chanting "Silmiyah" (Peaceful) but to be honest we were also boiling from inside because the pushing was so hard and some of the old people (including my professor) were on the verge of collapsing.


All of a sudden, rocks and stones started flying over our heads to hit our colleagues behind the gates.


We ran to enter from the gates and ducked behind them. Those who were pushing on us opened the way for the thugs behind them to continue the assault. Those of us who were standing inside the gates fled back to avoid the stones. Some of them started to collect the stones and throw back. I was with a few others ducking at the gate that became a "tennis net". Those who were at our back rows ran to the building site to get more of the metal construction barriers to fortify our gate. Some of us started shouting at both sides "silmiyah" (peaceful) and we tried to hold back our throwers.

The zeal overtook some of our throwers and they would not listen to us. In any case, the thugs were not holding back and in fact they increased their assault so we could not anymore hold our side from throwing back in defense. A few minutes passed and our back rows arrived with fortifications. We put more shields on the gate. The invaders saw that our position is getting strong and that our throwers are continuing despite the many wounds that they are having. They started shouting and asking for calm. Those at the gate waived to our throwers to calm down and stop.

At that moment the "invaders" ran and climbed over the tanks to talk to us. (The army soldiers were inside the tanks and closed on themselves for protection.) Basically, the thugs were standing in large numbers up high and we were below their feet level. Some of them started sweet talks about the unity of the Egyptians and how we should together work for the best of our country as one hand. Others, showed their reality through verbal assaults or signs with the middle finger targeted at us. We stood in rows hand in hand as a human shield to prevent them from jumping on us or gaining any more land.

The athan of maghrib was announced from a mosque near the square. Those on the tanks asked us to pray all together "we are all Egyptians". One of us shouted out loud "we are in a stituation of war we will pray maghrib and isha together later" all of us agreed immediately. Those on the tanks forgot about their call for prayer and continued the sweet talk. They played on the emotions and chanted "clear the way for them" asking us to go out and be "safe". Many of us understood that this is a plot to drag us outside the square. Suddenly stones were flying again over our heads. Our ranks trembled but our throwers returned the assault. The guys on the tanks were scared and stepped down from the tanks to hide behind their own throwers.


One of us ran in the open with a barrel to put it in front of the tanks and told others "take the tanks. These are Egyptian tanks and they belong to us." We started to move our barricades to have the "high lands, i.e. tanks" with us. The invaders increased their assault to prevent us from that and we had many wounded in this move. They also started throwing the molotov cocktails and fire was errupting around us in various directions. We made the move thanks to God and gained land.  We were not able to position ourselves on top the tanks and throw from above. The thugs had a much higher supply of munition.

Stones continued  for several minutes. Suddenly one of the army tanks started moving and turned in its place (we have no idea why exactly). That caused the left side of our gate to collapse but at the same time scared the invaders. We ran ahead again with our barricades and some of us ran behind the invaders. We felt that they are making a tactical escape to drag us behind them away from the square. Some of us asked our colleagues to stand by our new position and fortify the barricades at their current place (which was their place till the end of the revolution). This ended the main battle of the night on this front and "Kasr El-Nile" was the first front to be cleared.

The front at the mosque of Omar Makkram followed then the one leading to the square of Talaat Harb. The greatest and longest battle was on the road leading to the square of Abdel-Moneim Riyad to the side of the Egyptian museum. All the night the thugs were staging small attacks on all fronts while continuing the main assault on the front of Abdel-Moneim Riyad. There, thugs used stones, molotov, and guns.


I stayed at Kasr El-Nile till about 3:00AM when I moved to Abdel-Moneim Riyad. At Kasr El-Nile, we felt that we were like the soldiers asked by the prophet peace be upon him in the battle of Uhud to guard the mountain. If we leave our position before the appropriate time, the tide may move against us. By dawn all the fronts were secured and most of the forces moved to the side of Abdel-Moneim Riyad.

After Fajr, I was with French reporters at the Abdel-Moneim Riyad front describing the night and translating their discussion with the medical doctors who were supporting us. Those reporters had spent the night inside the square. During our discussion, a new assault started from the 6th October bridge flying over the Abdel-Moneim Riyad entrance. Thugs came again with Molotov and stones. The female French reporter was scared. Her two colleagues (a reporter and a photographer) charged forward to take photos of the Molotov descending on us from the bridge. Thanks God our barricade was far enough from the bridge that most fire fell before reaching us. We were shouting to each other to take cover and let them finish their fire. "When they finish the fire, we can respond back with stones".  In a few minutes the fire was reduced and the stones started. We started to respond back. In general, the reach of a stone is longer than that of a bottle of Molotov. Suddenly the French reporter asked me about a small white truck that came on the bridge
"What is that?"
"I think it is munition."
Yes, it was a truck loaded with stones and the thugs ran to it to get stones and throw us. Some of us went to the roof of  a nearby building and started throwing on the thugs from the building which was higher than the bridge; others were throwing from below. We managed to clear the bridge (for the second time that night, I am summarizing and cannot describe everything in one letter).

Those of us who were multi-lingual (I speak Arabic, French, and English) were handling reporters, showing them around the various fronts of the battle field, showing them the ID cards of captives indicating that most of them are police soldiers or carrying membership cards of the ruling party, translating to them the interviews they make with various people, ... We had people speaking Spanish and German as well but in any case, most reporters were able to work in English so things were manageable.

The reporters asked me who was leading us in those battles, how did we learn to stand in rows and to do tactical moves, how did we manage to capture some of them, how did some of us do "commandos" actions and clear the bridge (the first time) while there are gun shots, molotov bottles, and stones falling on their heads, how were the doctors working under such dire conditions, how can the wounded sustain the pain and still fight with their blood gushing from their heads, how can a man have stitches in the head without any anesthesia and go back to fight, .... I had no answers to these and so many other questions. The only answer that we, fighters on the ground, were feeling was "God".

I personally saw many signs of ALLAH during that night and the following days and nights. It was not just in fighting but in the manner people were dealing with each others.

On one night (I think it was the night of Saturday 5 February), I was at one of the make-shift clinics talking to a medical doctor. The "fancy" dinner that was brought to those in the clinic were boxes of a popular Egyptian meal named koshary which is a mixture of rice, lentiles, and pasta. The doctor to whom I was talking did not want to eat so he gave his box to a passerby who sat to eat on the street in front of a store. After a few minutes, another passerby asked the one eating
"where did you get it from?"
"Here, take the remaining half."
"No, No."
"Seriously, it is too much for me. Take it."
"Thank you."
The box that was meant for one person was split in front of my eyes on two other people. Three hearts (as well as mine) were quite happy with this sharing.

For most of my time in the square, I was drinking and eating through this "sharing". We ate little since there were very few restrooms in the square and the thousands sleeping there needed to share. The mosque had three queues at the entrance for its restrooms: "those who need to use the restroom to the right, those who need to urinate in the middle, those who are just going to make wudu and pray to the left". The rest rooms queue was obviously the longest with an average waiting time of over an hour.

As the days in the square rolled, we thought of building more restrooms. A colleague gathered donations (from our supporters outside the square) and bought pipes, tabs, urinals, ... the plumbers amongest us (as well as our supporters outside the square) worked to build those new temporary rest rooms.

The artists among the protesters were crucial to uplift our morale with their drawings, singings, theatrical actions, ....

The religious scholars (muslims and christians) were a unification sign and absolutely needed to calm the situation when tempers were sparking like fireworks.

On many nights we were hoping to live just till the morning. On many cases, we were living minute by minute and unable to predict anything beyond the current second.

The square had all types of Egyptians in it living together side by side on the street. I saw an old couple in their late fifties that appear from the way they are dressed to be from the higher echlon of the upperclass in Egypt moving among the people on that night that I described above. They were moving slowly, talking to the wounded, helping in whatever way they can. On the same night, I saw a simple woman nursing her baby. I saw an old woman standing by my side near the tanks with the stones flying. One army soldier was shouting at her to get out of the mess, but:
 "I am not less patriotic than those young men, my place is here to their side."
I asked her "Please, at least stand behind the tank so that we can go back and forth easily."

On Saturday 5 February early morning I was greeting new comers by "welcome to the land of liberation" and greeting those leaving by "return safely to us". A woman with niqab was going out with three young men and when I told them "return safely to us" she stood and looked at me. I thought that she did not hear me so I repeated. She stared even more so I asked
"Is there something ma'am, I am just wishing you a safe return?"
"Do not tell me to return safely. But rather tell them to stay here (pointing to the youg men). These are my children and they came to take me back to their father who is staying at home."

She then turned to one of her sons and told him to promise me that he will return
"Promise him in front of me now that you will convince your father to come back. Look at his hands and his wounds, are you less of a man. I want to be here with these blessed people. You are a coward and these are brave men." I stood speechless.

I saw many old people crying in the square with every small victory we manage to get. My old neighbor (over seventy years old) was calling me on the phone jubilating with every step and saying you are doing what my generation was not able to do.

I saw many signs of solidarity and love among people. Things beyond description but only felt on the ground. We had many highs and lows, we had many excitments and dissappointments but the last moment of happiness was great.

Al-hamdulillah.

Salam.

Calculating the average of the top N numbers on Excel

When calculating the classwork grades, I sometimes need to calculate the average of the top N grades. For example, I asked the students to submit 11 problem sheets this semester; each is graded out of 10. Since the total grade assigned to the problem sheets is 10, I wanted to calculate the average of the top 8 grades for each student.

I calculate the average using the spreadsheet on Google Docs (equivalent to Excel). Last term, I sorted the grades of each student and I took the average of the first 8 cells. I didn't like this approach so I decided that I should come up with a formula for this calculation.

Here is the formula that I came up with. If anyone has a better formula, please share.

=(SUMIF(T6:AD6, ">="&PERCENTILE(T6:AD6, 1-8/COUNT(T6:AD6)))-(COUNTIF(T6:AD6,">="&PERCENTILE(T6:AD6, 1-8/COUNT(T6:AD6)))-8)*PERCENTILE(T6:AD6, 1-8/COUNT(T6:AD6)))/8

Note that the grades are in range T6:AD6. The number 8 can be changed to a cell reference if desired. If there is no repetition in the grades (not the general case), the formula simplifies to

=SUMIF(T6:AD6, ">="&PERCENTILE(T6:AD6, 1-8/COUNT(T6:AD6)))/8

So basically, I am summing up all the numbers that are larger than or equal to the eighth largest number and then dividing the sum by 8.

UPDATE
I got a shorter formula from my friend Raed Kafafy, which works just fine. Here it is:
=(SUMIF(T6:AD6,">"&LARGE(T6:AD6,8))+(8-COUNTIF(T6:AD6,">"&LARGE(T6:AD6,8)))*LARGE(T6:AD6,8))/8

UPDATE 2
I got an even shorter formula from my friend Ramy Harfoush.
=AVERAGE(LARGE(T6:AD6,{1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8}))"

Instead of writing 1 to 8 in an array, we can write the following formula and the press CTRL-SHIFT-ENTER.
 =AVERAGE(LARGE(D2:N2,ROW(INDIRECT("1:8"))))
 This way, we can only change the last digit of the list. This does not work on Google Spreadsheets.




-Seif Fateen

A quote from "Confessions of an Economic Hitman"

Is anyone in the U.S. innocent? Although those at the very pinnacle of the economic pyramid gain the most, millions of us depend - either directly or indirectly - on the exploitation of the LDCs [Less Developed Countries] for our livelihoods. The resources and cheap labor that feed nearly all our businesses come from places like Indonesia, and very little ever makes its way back. The loans of foreign aid ensure that today's children and their grandchildren will be held hostage. They will have to allow our corporations to ravage their natural resources and will have to forego education, health, and other social services merely to pay us back. The fact that our own companies already received most of this money to build the power plants, airports, and industrial parks does not factor into this formula. Does the excuse that most Americans are unaware of this constitute innocence? Uninformed and intentionally misinformed, yes - but innocent?

History repeats itself

Here is an 1850 quote from a British general about the government of Siam. In it, the steps of invasion are clearly identified.

1. Announce that the government is unjust and hostile, because it does not abide by the demands of the British.
2. Attack, invade, kill, and maim, under the pretense of teaching a lesson.
3. Install a puppet government
4. Steal the money of the people to pay the debt incurred from the military operations.

Here is the quote:
The Siamese Government is hostile -- its tone is arrogant -- its presumption unbounded . . . Should these just [British] demands firmly urged be refused, a force should be present, immediately to enforce them by a rapid destruction of the defenses of the river… Siam may be taught the lesson which it has long been tempted, . . . a better disposed king placed on the throne, and an influence acquired in the country which will make it of immense commercial importance to England . . . Above all, it would be well to prepare for the change and to place our own kind on the throne . . . This prince [Mongkut] we ought to place on the throne and through him, we might, beyond doubt, gain all we desire . . . And the expense incurred [of the military operation] would readily be available from the royal treasury of Siam."


(Quoted in M. L. Manich Jumsai, King Mongkut and Sir John Bowring, Chalermit, Bangkok, 1970, p. 21)
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