Thoughts and Photography

Invention Spark, an idea sharing community

2008-02-21T04:06:00.004+02:00

It is finally time to announce: www.inventionspark.com

I've been working on and developing this website in my spare time for the past few weeks, and the ideas being shared since its launch are inspiring!

It is an "endless global brainstorming session", a community where you can find innovative ideas for projects, businesses, and anything that makes you tell youself "Somebody should invent this!".

The content is managed based on user votes and the ideas' popularities, the best ideas show up on the front page.

So many inspiring ideas have been shared, and the comments and discussions are often more interesting than the original post.

What would you like to see invented?

Check out project and invention ideas.

Boat Through Buckhorn Lake

2007-11-18T04:01:00.001+02:00

Originally uploaded by echo4224.

Buckhorn Lake State Resport Park in Kentucky is a great get-away, with beautiful nature, plenty to do, and a very quiet night away from the city.

I've uploaded several pictures to my Flickr collection, enjoy!

Good bye "Thoughts and Photography" ?

2007-10-28T23:32:00.000+02:00

My blog has been around for over three years now, I remember being the 33rd addition to the Jordanian blog lists.

I always tried to include a new idea in my posts for my readers. I hoped I would spark a new idea, or take the reader's imagination where it hasn’t been before.

It's also personal. I had the need to share ideas, experiment, and sometimes express myself.

Now, I’ve become a busier person, and I don’t have those “personal needs” anymore.

I'm not gone yet!
Most probably, I will just update less frequently, perhaps monthly. I’m also considering buying a domain and dedicating it to photography and occasional written expressions, or maybe introducing new writers to this blog. I haven’t decided, I might just say goodbye.

I would really like to know your opinion; to me it was always about you in the first place. What do you think? What would you like to read and see here? How did you like the content so far?

Thanks.

Picture: High-tech kids

2007-09-16T03:41:00.001+03:00

Originally uploaded by echo4224.

My two nieces on laptops playing games. I remember I was about 8 when I first held a mouse. The young one, who still wears diapers, actually asked me to click "End Task" instead of "Cancel" when a program crashed and I had the mouse.

Growing Up

2007-08-23T20:00:00.000+03:00

You become more judgmental and less tolerant of the things you disagree with. You select some principles to go by, and suddenly it angers you when they are violated. You start to find the courage to stand up for them.

What do you do when you see a stranger throwing his trash onto the street?

I think it's courageous to stand up for the things you believe in.

Packing

2007-07-22T20:02:00.000+03:00

I should be packing; my flight is three nights away. I’m being very creative at stalling.

Two months ago I got my bachelor degree, and in less than one month I will start classes towards the masters.

You can look forward to photos from Lexington, Kentucky, while I will try to start packing. Let's hope I don't forget my camera!

I will miss you Jordan – My parents, my sister, my family, my friends, my anti-routine, the endless challenges and adventures ... my Jordan.

Wisdom on conflict between people

2007-07-13T23:59:00.000+03:00

“We are often unfair. We don’t blame ourselves for the mistakes we make and judge ourselves by our intentions, where on the other hand we make quick judgements about others by their behavior and can become very unforgiving.

It should be the other way around. You could wrong someone while you mean well; take responsibility for your mistakes. And always seek out excuses for others; perhaps they wronged you while their intentions were good.”

- From today's Friday prayer sermon, a mosque in Irbid, Jordan.

The idea may be common, but I think he worded it very well. In my humble opinion, I think people need to be "on the same team" more often, too many people have a “me against the world” attitude towards life.

Picture: Marinated Vegetables

2007-07-07T13:33:00.001+03:00

Originally uploaded by echo4224.

Close up of a jar of marinated vegetable. Most ingridients are from our garden in Irbid.

Check out my Flickr album for a few more new photos.

FREE web to SMS, in Jordan

2007-06-27T19:29:00.000+03:00

Zamerli.com is a free web to SMS service. You can send SMS from this website to any mobile phone on any of the Jordanian networks. Give it a try!

Zamerli is launched and maintained by my buddy Sinan, see PseudoRandom Ideas.

Eating off the floor

2007-06-23T12:23:00.000+03:00

A few weeks ago, while waiting on the pizzas we had ordered at the main cafeteria in my university, I spotted something disturbing. In the back of the sandwich corner, one of the workers accidentally dropped a sandwich in progress, and spilled its contents on the floor. So I became curious of what was going to happen next! He was invisible to the sandwich customers, but from my angle I had a clear view.

He started to scrape the content back into the sandwich in a bit of a hurry. When he was done, he looked around himself, and noticed me staring at him with anticipation. He then gave me a wave of apology, like the one we know from Amman’s traffic, and threw the sandwich into the bin.

I had good faith in him the whole time, but it was not entirely impossible that he would go for it. I can’t stop wondering: What was he apologizing for?!

I am no longer comfortable eating food I cannot watch while being prepared.

Picture: Baby girl on the piano

2007-06-22T22:42:00.001+03:00

Originally uploaded by echo4224.

What happens when your uncle is a hobby photographer?

This is my niece, 4 years old, playing on the piano.

Picture: Merv the butterfly

2007-06-08T11:32:00.001+03:00

Originally uploaded by echo4224.

Long exposure photo. Our friend Mervat drew wings around herself using a cigarette lighter, she's quite the artist!

Check out a great sunset photo at my Flickr album.

More long exposure photos here.

It was a successful photographic evening.

Picture: Lapland Costume

2007-06-03T22:06:00.001+03:00

Originally uploaded by echo4224.

Celebrating my graduation, the new job, and the return of my parents from vacation, I went to play with dolls... Just kidding!

A gift from my Finnish aunt, these dolls are dressed in the traditional costume of Lapland, northen Finland. Children used to dress this way, the bright colors help make the children stand out from the snow. Lapland is covered in snow almost two thirds of the year, and for three months in the summer, the Sun does not go down. And similarly, in the winter it does not rise at all for three months. It is that far north.

Diary Entry: Bring It On!

2007-05-23T20:30:00.001+03:00

Tomorrow is my senior design project discussion. It is practically the graduation ceremony for engineering students, at least here at the University of Jordan.

I wanted to log this moment. We have just finished the presentation slides, and practiced. I was worried that I would have trouble finding words, but it turned out to be the complete opposite, I actually have to cut back on what I have to say. It's a great relief.

Now I'm off to watch Pirates of the Caribbean, At World's End. Tomorrow will be all about Suits, Friends, Photos, Chocolate, Singing, and Dancing.

There is alot to be nervous about, but I'm ready. Bring it on! I want the committee to ask me the toughest questions they can think of.

Picture: Red Rose

2007-05-09T13:14:00.001+03:00

Originally uploaded by echo4224.

Flowers and Roses are the easiest to take photos of, in my opinion. This is a rose bush that is carrying some 20 roses at the moment. It is the first thing I see when I leave the house every morning.

I would like to announce that you can only expect the next post in about three weeks. It is my final semester as an undergraduate student, and in the coming 3 weeks I have about 6 exams, 3 projects due, and our senior design project discussion. It has never been this hectic!

I hope all goes well. I'll be back, an "Engineer" :).

A Dose of Eastern Europe

2007-05-01T00:04:00.001+03:00

Originally uploaded by echo4224.

A set of Russian Matryoshka dolls. They have always seemed familiar, but finally holding a set and looking at them closely you could notice the "art" it is to create them. They are fascinating.

Languages and Cultures have always interested me. I find it amazing how some civilizations grow apart and are almost completely unique. Compare the Japanese, with Arabs, with Scandinavians, for example. I get a sense of perspective from the comparison; Different doesn’t mean odd or wrong. I am the odd one from the other point of view.

(Photo: From the Circassian dance performance by the Ahli Club, in April 2007)

What I like about Amman is the diversity and cultural events. Only recently, I joined my friends to a Circassian dance, learned a couple of Romanian phrases from my semi-Romanian friends, and enjoyed the Russian day at the languages center at my university.

It’s all very interesting. I can say that Romanian is an odd language.

Just kidding!

Picture: Adiga Costume and Dance

2007-04-16T16:46:00.001+03:00

Originally uploaded by echo4224.

Two days ago, we went to the circassian dance performance by the Ahli circassian club.

It was a beautiful and exciting evening. I enjoyed the music, dances, and costumes. The language was a bit unusual, making the evening even more interesting.

There is so much to enjoy, you have to see it for yourself!

Why Electrical Engineering ROCKS!: Our graduation project, the SkyWriter

2007-04-08T20:36:00.000+03:00

It's difficult to find words, when you are this excited about something!

This is our senior design project as Electrical Engineering students at the JU. It is a "SkyWriter". The video will explain the idea very clearly, you have a single column of LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) that is spun with a regular motor. On board is a "microcontroller" that deals with tricky timing issues to turn those LEDs On and Off at precise times, and at the same places each round, so that it draws an image. When the motor spins the LEDs fast enough the image that is programmed into the controller appears to be floating in mid air. The human eye will "remember" and construct that still image.

It does not flicker in reality! The camera is not like the human eye, the "illusion" can not be captured over video.

Cheers to my buddy Ali! my partner.

Picture: Bird house visitor

2007-03-25T20:50:00.001+02:00

Originally uploaded by echo4224.

When you look closely, you'll notice that it's not a butterfly. It seemed to have a hard shell, like a roach or a grass hopper.

I was careful appraoching it. As my friend says, imagine that getting stuck in your hair!

Pictures: Amman Snow in March

2007-03-15T20:55:00.000+02:00

Originally uploaded by echo4224.

Originally uploaded by echo4224.

It started to snow in the early morning, and kept snowing until sunset with occasional breaks now and then. It may seem odd that it snows in mid March, but this happened in Jordan in the past years as well, while December and January are relatively warm. Very odd weather!

Picture: Cloud Break

2007-03-08T20:55:00.001+02:00

Originally uploaded by echo4224.

The clouds are not that dark originally, I created more contrast to highlight the rays of light. The photo is one week old, I took it during a picnic with family.

Picture: Total Lunar Eclipse over Amman

2007-03-04T15:35:00.001+02:00

Originally uploaded by echo4224.

Last night was the perfect night for Jordan to experience the total eclipse of the moon. The weather was very clear unlike last week, the region was going to see a 'total' eclipse along with Europe and Africa, and the timing was reasonable to some degree.

So, I set up a telescope, prepared my camera, and stayed up for a few hours. Enjoy the photo!

In my opinion, the best part was when the total eclipse occurred; the moon turned red, and the stars around the moon appeared very clearly. It was something no camera can capture!

Pictures: Blue Spring Flower and Butterfly Caterpillar

2007-03-01T22:29:00.001+02:00

Originally uploaded by echo4224.

Spring is here! This flower is actually as big as a finger nail, my sister had picked them out for a vase at home.

Originally uploaded by echo4224.

I've been told these grow up to become butterflies!

It tickles when it walks on the hand. It's pretty fast. It kept running towards shadows and holes, and it is beautiful in it's own way.

Picture: Laughing Dove

2007-02-09T00:53:00.000+02:00

Originally uploaded by echo4224.

The "laughing dove" is the common name of the Streptopelia Senegalensis.

Working on our bird tracker project the past year we started to notice birds and their songs. I would like to invite you to start noticing too, bird songs are very beautiful! They can make your walks, if your day includes any, much more interesting. Now that it's migration season again, it is a perfect time to start to listen.

I think that applies to me more than my team mates, since I was concerned with the sound analysis at the early stage where we needed to solve the whole "Recognition" problem. So I spent several months listening to bird songs, trying to see how they are different and thinking about how we would teach the computer to tell the difference.

This photo has been taken in Irbid. They were two birds, at first, standing on the apple tree just outside the living room window.

Always find more photos at my Flickr album.

Picture: Winter sky in Irbid

2007-02-09T00:21:00.000+02:00

Originally uploaded by echo4224.

Sunset on a winter's day in Irbid, Jordan. This photo got the most feedback among the latest batch of photos. The shot was very spontaneous, I took it while walking back home after a photo hunt, I took a bunch of other photos of a few settings I had in mind that day and they didn't turned out as I expected. Spontaneity beat design. I didn’t expect much from this shot and it turned out to be the best.

Always find more photos at my Flickr album.