I frequently find that I have to explain to candidates joining Cloudera (and existing employees) how not to be overly concerned about dilution of their percent ownership when a company is experiencing strong growth.

Towards that end I created the chart below to illustrate how percent ownership is just a small part of the total equation. The core concept is that the “paper” valuation of your stock options is equal to twice the area of your sector under the pie, and the area of your sector is proportional to your angle (i.e. your percent ownership) multiplied by the radius squared (where radius is the stock price). Hence if a startup raises a new round of funding at a large radius then that quickly out weighs any shrinkage in the angle of ownership due to the to the squaring of the stock price. I am not saying that you shouldn’t worry about dilution at all, you should obviously try to get the best deal and keep dilution low, but don’t be overly obsessed by dilution, it is just one factor in the grand scheme of things.

Fortunate startups that demonstrate repeatability/efficiency of their business model raise additional funds at a large radius so that they can fuel further growth thus making the pie larger for everyone. On the other hand startups that get overly concerned by dilution and avoid raising money (depsite being in a growth market) can fall in a penny-wise pound-foolish trap where they end up being a zombie company that goes nowhere (I know many such startups, and by the time they realize their mistake it is usually too late).

Cheers,

– amr

PS: For stock options, the “paper” value is (area of sector) minus (cost of sector), where cost of sector is angle * strike-price^2.

[There is a call to action at end of this post, please skip to it directly if you don’t have time to read]

First, I would like to start by thanking all my dear US friends for the flood of messages asking me how things are going. My mom/dad are ok, they are both 65+ so they locked themselves up at home and are glued to the TV/Internet all day long. That said, they are *very happy* with what is going on, they are no longer oppressed, they are no longer afraid.

Two weeks ago I wouldn’t have had the courage to write what I am about to say, but this revolution in Egypt changed me in the same way that it changed Egyptians across the globe. See, we Egyptians have been bred to be scared of the ruling regime and never question them (this probably goes back thousands of years to Pharaohs era). While growing up in Egypt I was taught that if we speak up against the ruling regime then we will disappear into an undisclosed “dark room”, we’ll get whipped, our nails will be pulled out, wild dogs will rip our flesh off, and we might never return. Generation after generation was taught that lesson, and the government controlled media re-enforced that message in full force.

I came to the US in 1995, and at that time I was actually very happy and grateful for the 25 years I had lived in Egypt. My goal was to get my EE PhD from Stanford University then head back to Egypt to teach. It took about one year for me to start seeing the liberties people enjoy in the US, the lack of fear from being “excessively” oppressed, and the realization that the ruling regime is supposed to be working for us, *not* the other way around. I then felt betrayed that for all this time I was lied to and cheated, there is a better way to live out there, I didn’t have to live in such fear all these years. However, unlike the current heroes in Egypt, I choose the easy way out; I choose to make the US my home. In 2009 I got my US citizenship, so I am now an Egyptian American, and I hold citizenships with both countries. I am loyal to both countries, but more importantly, I am now loyal to freedom and justice of people across the world.

The sad part is, despite being a US citizen, I was still afraid to write or stand up against the ruling regime in Egypt. I was afraid that if I do so then next time I visit Egypt to see my parents I will be pulled to the aforementioned dark room, or they’ll get back at me by pulling my dad/mom instead. However, two weeks ago, when the Jan 25 revolution started, that changed overnight. Don’t ask me how or why, but that is what happened to me and many other Egyptians across the world. It was a spark that lifted the fear and awakened all of us. My dad took a bit longer to change though, understandably so, he endured many more years of conditioning and brain washing. I remember calling him in the first week of revolution, and when I would ask him what he thought about Mubarak he would divert the question and say “so how are the kids doing?”. He was still afraid of saying something bad about Mubarak lest phone lines are wiretapped, which is a very common practice in Egypt. Now the amazing thing is on the second week of protests, in which Mubarak cavalry killed many Egyptians but the peaceful demonstrations continued regardless, the wall of fear collapsed for my dad and *everybody* in Egypt (there is a minority that still supports Mubarak, but that is because they are benefiting from the regime). When I call my dad now he says everything in his heart, he isn’t afraid anymore, it is amazing (and hopefully this last sentence won’t get him in trouble). IMHO the fall of fear is actually the most important thing achieved by this revolution; it is the seed that will cause everything else to happen. It is because of this that I think Egypt is now on the right path, there will be a bit more turmoil, but things will get better.

Now that I have the courage to write against ruling regimes, I need to direct *strong* criticism to the US government. First, they knew about these atrocities/brutality, they knew that Mubarak was an oppressing tyrant, they knew that he controlled the Egyptians with fear, but they wanted him there, because he listened to them and did what they asked for (or believed the lies he told them about radicals, more on that later). But even if we were to assume that the US government didn’t know that the people were being terrorized (which I find very hard to believe), now they know for a fact that this is the case (see the many links at end of this post). Many say the US shouldn’t intervene in this matter; it is for the Egyptians to resolve. I agree with that, however, the US helped Mubarak stay there, so if we have any shred of decency left in US then we should at least undo our interference and back his removal now (it is our chance to smoothly bring around democracy in Egypt without raging a bloody expensive war like Iraq).

I will tell you outright that Mubarak is purposely lying to the US government by elevating the threat of radical Islamists to scare us into believing that they are causing this revolution to take over power (which is scary, I agree). However, this is absolutely *not* true, this revolution is by a new generation of youth whom the ruling regime couldn’t encapsulate in fear like previous generations. These youth had access to non-Egyptian censored media and were able to see how freedom tastes like in the rest of the world. When I came to US in 1995 the satellite broadcasting revolution was just starting in Egypt. This was a very pivotal point, since it allowed people to see media which isn’t controlled by the government. Then the Internet and mobile communications waves started in 2000 which allowed them to have virtual meetings to discuss, talk, and organize (anybody who participated in political gatherings in Egypt had the risk of being pulled into the dark room). Obama, a black man, being elected as president was also part of that taste, his marvelous Egypt speech in 2009 further emphasized that strong message of freedom and democracy. Anyway, the key message is that this revolution is by the people for the people, it isn’t by the radical Islamists whom are a minor fraction of the Egyptian population. If you watched the 8 million people who demonstrated last Friday (Feb 4th, aka Departure Friday), they broke into song and dance after finishing their prayers [http://youtu.be/ahCwBBndlVY], radical Islamists hate song and dance. Furthermore the crowd had women mixed with men, side by side [http://youtu.be/HErSVpn7vA8], another sign that radicals were a small part of this. Last, but not least, the Christians (about 15% of Egypt’s population) did their prayers before the Muslims, and then they proceeded to make a human chain to protect the Muslims while they were praying [http://bit.ly/hHfCS4]. It is a very diverse group; it isn’t the radicals at all.

Mubarak’s message to the US of “you need me in power to keep your interests safe” is 100% false, it is FUD [http://bit.ly/ejziyB] so the US keeps him in power. It is similar to the FUD he is creating internally, he pulled the police forces from the streets then unleashed goons to terrorize and steal so he can tell the people “you need me in power so I can keep you safe”. What a bunch of baloney. I can understand and sympathize with how some simple folks in Egypt can fall for that FUD (many did), but to see the US falling for it too is just unbearable. BTW, his latest trick is that the current Egyptian constitution doesn’t allow him to leave, he has to serve the rest of his period (yes, the 30 years period) then handoff the power to newly elected president in September. That is actually true, the constitution does say that, but only because he changed it to ensure so. The constitution was changed before and can be changed again. The people are saying we don’t want this, the people make up the constitution, not the president who is supposed to abide by it.

In conclusion, not unlike the 1789 French revolution asked for “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity”, the Egyptian people are asking for “Bread, Liberty, and Human Dignity”. They are asking for Mubarak to step down *now* since trust is completely broken, he came on TV one day “promising” that he will leave in September then the next day his cavalry rammed into the protestors. I would say that stepping down isn’t enough, he should be prosecuted for the fear/oppression he planted in our hearts for all these years, and the billions he stole should be returned to the poor people who deserve it (or to the US who paid it at the first place). To the heroes of Jan25 I say thank you from the bottom of my heart for lifting the veil of fear, and to the brave ones still camping in Liberation Square I say “no retreat, no surrender”.

Finally, if you care about liberty then I urge you to tweet the following: @BarackObama: Mubarak Out *Now*, and stop financial aid to tyrants #egypt #jan25 (please RT). If you don’t have a twitter account then please email it to the White House using this form: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact. If you are so inclined, you can also signup for the virtual “March of Millions” on Facebook: http://on.fb.me/i5ye8e. Other ways to help at: http://seda.me

Thanks,

– amr (twitter: @awadallah)
http://www.awadallah.com

PS: I paste below a number of links with some of the key videos/photos from the events of the last two weeks:

* Peaceful unarmed protestor gets shot in Alexandria
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OlmTWpcmvk#t=119s

* Diplomatic car runs over at least 20 people, just like they’re zombies!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cWOK0Lfh7w

* Another peaceful civilian gets sniped
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XnhHzs91MY

* Fire truck runs over and flattens a protestor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QgLrBp47a8

* Police APC truck runs through a group of protestors
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgwvCxS2nDw#t=50s

* Brave protestor stands up against police APC with mounted water canon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgxH93oSGn0#t=81s

* Dramatic video as thousands clash with Egypt riot police
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xWiBCIxjIk

* Police against protestors on Anger Friday (Jan 28)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBtYLBQPRGQ

* Mona Seif talks from inside Liberation Square on night it was attacked
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSBJwsjakcg

* Shahira Amin on why she quit Egypt State TV due to false propaganda
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pZl8yVwkn0

* Rachel Maddow on how reporters were being attacked in Egypt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeD9B3b4xzs

* Interview with Miral at Liberation (Tahrir) Square
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtLJpzUp2Z8

* Asmaa Mahfouz, one of the first youtube videos that started the revolution
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBg7O48vhLY

* 2min video compilation with highlights from the revolution:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ThvBJMzmSZI

* 9min video compilation with highlights from the revolution:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HGfFyqJMrk

* Wealth that Mubarak family accumulated ($40B to $70B, yes B for Billion)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Il-36NXye2c

* Wael Ghonim (Head of Marketing for Google Middle East) was taken to the dark room (he is still there till now)
http://nyti.ms/fo7JI7

* Misc photos from the revolution
http://blogs.sacbee.com/photos/2011/01/rioting-and-chaos-engulfs-egyp.html

* Photos for some of those who died during this revolution (at least the ones we know of)
http://1000memories.com/egypt

About two years ago I wrote about switching from Netflix to Blockbuster, well, now I am switching back to Netflix.

The reasons for the reversal:

1. Netflix now streams movies to my PC (in home office), Xbox 360 (in living room), and PS3 (in bedroom) . I only ask that they expand the online streaming selection to include newer movies, even if I have to pay an extra per movie fee for that (I don’t like to pay XBox Live or Playstation Network $5 to see a movie, that is such a rip off)
2. Netflix now is much better at shipping out blockbuster titles without a long wait (I actually timed Blockbuster vs Netflix head to head on a number of popular new movies, Netflix always shipped out first)
3. Netflix’s web user interface is more intuitive and much snappier than Blockbuster’s, especially when it comes to editing the movie queue and moving things around.
4. Last, but not least, previously with Blockbuster when I dropped a movie at the physical store, I could pickup another movie from the store then they immediately shipped another movie from my queue. They changed that system, they now don’t ship another movies from the queue until I return the movie I picked from the store. Furthermore, they now limit the number of in-store swaps that you can do. This was actually one of the main reasons why I started looking at Netflix again.

Bye bye Blockbuster.

– amr

This is pretty much your last chance to signup for Hadoop World, it is happening this Friday (Oct 2nd) in Newyork City. The registration prices are higher now since these are the last few days, but if you are interested in going then shoot me an email, I have a special deep discount code for “friends of amr”.

Below I highlight a number of news/blog articles that covered some of the use cases that will be talked about at Hadoop World:

• “Hadoop buzz continues to excite the cloud”. CNET, Dave Rosenberg, September 4th, 2009.
• “What’s the New York Times doing with Hadoop?”. InfoWorld, Savio Rodrigues, September 11th, 2009.
• “Telecom operators get the scoop on Hadoop”. Telephony Online, Rich Karpinski, September 15th, 2009.
• “Q&A: Visa dips a toe into the Hadoop pool”. CNET, Matt Asay, September 17th, 2009.
• “The Tech Behind eHarmony”. PC World, Eric Lai, September 19th, 2009.
• “Hadoop World Shows Diverse Uses”. SD Times, Alex Handy, September 21st, 2009.
• “Cloudera and Facebook Shed More Light on Hadoop Integration”. TechCrunch, Leena Rao, September 23rd, 2009.
• “Welcome to Hadoop World”. Network World, Jon Olstik, September 24th, 2009.
• “FeatherCast – Aaron Kimball on Hadoop”. Apache Feathercast, Rich Bowen, September 24th, 2009.

I look forward to meeting you there,

– amr

First, I can’t believe it has been three months since I last blogged, all I can say is that a startup will suck the life out of you

I still see many startups creating free online services and expecting them to generate hundreds of millions of dollars from advertising. I might be stating the obvious here, but that will only work out if these services get tens of millions of users, with those users returning to the service almost every day, and that will only happen if the service meet the essentiality criterion. Essentiality is the litmus test that differentiates a life-style business (e.g. a super popular blog that makes a few million $/year max) versus a venture business (i.e. a business which generates hundreds, if not thousands, of million $/year). By essentiality I mean both the ability to amass a large population of users, but become necessary to these users such that they need to visit the service almost every day (if not many times a day).

For example, here are some essential online services:

• E-Mail/Chat/IM: It is essential that you communicate, almost continuously
• Search: We all need to find stuff many times a day
• News: Almost everybody needs to know what is happening. Facebook is news about your friends, it is communication too.
• Music/Movies/TV/Videos/Games/Sports: A decent population needs their daily entertainment “fix”, however very few destinations are able to aggregate a large enough audience due to content fragmentation

I was then going to list the many services/sites that I don’t think will make it due to failing the essentiality criterion. Many of these services will collapse due to fact that they are small/life-style businesses but their VCs expect them to hit venture scale (the ones structured as small businesses will live and prosper). But, to avoid alienating such businesses (since some of them are potential customers for Cloudera) I decided not to list them here . That said, the common pattern among them are: either they have a lot of users but are not essential to any of them, or they are useful but to a very small group of users, in both cases this means they will not be able to amass the huge volume of pageviews required to make venture-scale money based on advertising.

Cheers,

– amr

I seed funded a company called Diagnosoft a few years back, mainly because one of the cofounders (Nael Osman) is a life-long friend of mine, but also because the technology was very intriguing and came across as something that could save my life one day

In layman terms, Diagnosoft develops a program that analyzes cardiac MRI video sequences to generate quantities that show where the heart is weak. These measurements greatly augment the “eye balling” that physicians do today, which leads to faster and more precise detection of problems that can otherwise go undetected. The software also does visualization and integrated reporting, but the core differentiator is the proprietary quantification algorithms. The founders are from John Hopkins University and are the leading experts in this field.

The funding for Diagnosoft comes from a VC firm called “Technology Development Fund (TDF)“, which is based in Egypt. BTW, many of the life sciences VCs that we contacted in the US wussed out from investing in Diagnosoft, the reason they usually gave us was “it is too risky”! Well, yeah, inventing a new disruptive technology is risky, but Diagnosoft is ready to cross the chasm, it is already being used by early adopters at hundreds of research institutions all over the world. Diagnosoft HARP is now the de facto standard for cardiac tagged MRI analysis (more than 22 published papers involving more than 3000 test subjects).

The key premise behind this market opportunity goes as follows: the previous wave of heart treatment was heavy cardiac surgery, the current wave is non-invasive surgery, and the future wave will be pro-active treatment for which precise detection tools like Diagnosoft HARP will be a must. You can find out more by reading the press release announcing the funding and Diagnosoft’s new CEO:

http://news.prnewswire.com/DisplayReleaseContent.aspx?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/01-29-2009/0004963069

I am very passionate about Diagnosoft, not just because of the market size potential, but rather because it can truly revolutionize prediction and prevention of cardiac diseases, the number one killer of humans in the United States.

Congrats to the Diagnosoft team on this very important milestone, onward and upward.

Cheers,

– amr

I just returned from the most amazing trip in my life, it was two weeks with my wife in Saudi Arabia to perform the Hajj (Pilgrimage). Many of my American friends asked me about the trip and what it entailed, this blog posting tries to summarize that.

First, the Hajj is the fifth and final pillar of Islam, the other four being: (1) Conviction that there is only one God, and that Mohammed is his prophet, (2) Five daily prayers (to continuously remember God), (3) Fasting the month of Ramadan (to show obedience to God, but also to remember the less fortunate), and (4) Giving out charity to the poor and needy (about 2.5% of your wealth every year).

Hajj is only required once of Muslims who can afford it both in terms of wealth and health (it is a very tiring and expensive trip). In many ways, the Hajj is like confession, once you perform Hajj all of your sins are erased and you start with a new slate. But Hajj is also a time when God is most likely to answer your prayers, and hence we also ask God for things we want, in addition to asking for forgiveness (Cloudera got many prayers during this trip ).

The Hajj takes about five days, and it goes as follows:

1. You dress in just two white towels, one that covers your upper half, and one that covers your lower half (and that’s it, no underwear ). The idea is twofold: (1) rid yourself of worldly belongings so you can focus on just your worship, and (2) eliminate difference between rich and poor. However, women get to wear normal clothes. There is also a long list of dos and donts once you wear the Hajj costume and declare your intention to perform Hajj (e.g. you are not allowed to kill insects, fight with others, remove hair, clip your nails, get angry, or make love).


Photo 1: I and Shirin during Hajj, I was only wearing two towels

2. Next you go to Mecca, and walk seven laps around the Kabaa, the holiest site in Islam (Men uncover their right shoulder and jog during the first three laps). The Kabaa was originally built by Adam, then later reconstructed by prophet Ibrahim (Abraham). The Kabaa is considered to be linked to the house of God in the heavens.


Photo 2: I took this photo from the roof, the place was packed even though it was 4am in the morning!

3. Beside the Kabaa there is the “station of prophet Ibrahim” which has a rock with the feet of prophet Ibrahim engraved in it. After finishing the seven laps around the Kabaa (aka Tawaf), you pray behind the station of prophet Ibrahim, then you drink Zamzam water (holy water), and make prayers for long health (or any thing else you want).


Photo 3: In the station of prophet Ibrahim there is a stone with traces of his feet from the time he reconstructed the Kaaba.

4. Next you do seven trips between the Safaa and Marwa, these are the two mounts that Hajar (Hagar) ran between after prophet Ibrahim, her husband, left her there alone with her newborn, Ismael (Ishmael). Hajar made seven trips between those two mounts while seeking water mirages to try and quench her newborn’s thirst. After her last trip God surprised her by opening the Zamzam well right between Ismael’s baby feet. Every year during Hajj more than two million Muslims imitate what this faithful mother did thousands of years ago. We also get to drink Zamzam water, which is considered to be holy water (it does taste very special due to the minerals in that well).


Photo 4: The Safa and Marwa area is now air conditioned and has three levels with escalators between them. It was interesting to see some folks scared of the escalators since it was their first time to see one!

5. The next step is to stay from noon till sunset making prayer at the valley of mount Arafaat (aka mount Mercy). You confess your sins (directly to God), repent, and ask for forgiveness. You also make prayers asking for whatever you wish, e.g. cure from a disease, happy family, children, success, wealth, paradise, etc. There are no authentic stories for why mount Arafaat is so special, some unconfirmed stories are that this is where Adam and Eve found each other after they were banished to Earth, another tells that this is the mountain from which prophet Ibrahim preached the oneness of God. At the end of the day of Arafaat God forgives you and you become as sinless as the day your mother gave birth to you (assuming you were sincere in repenting and asking for forgiveness).


Photo 5: Praying at mount Arafaat (Mt Mercy) and surrounding valley (Photo by Faisal Mirza, who was in our group)

6. After you are done at Arafaat you head to a place called Muzdalifa, there you collect seven pebbles for stoning the large Jamara (devil symbol), you also perform the night prayer there. We witnessed the worst traffic jam ever during our trip from Arafaat to Muzdalifa, the reason being two million pilgrims all wanting to travel those six miles at the same time (the bus took six hours to travel six miles!)
7. The next step is to go to Minna, the city with the devil symbols, there you pelt the largest of the devil symbols with the seven pebbles you collected from Muzdalifa. The historic story behind pelting the devil comes from Satan being furious that prophet Ibrahim had total belief in God and was willing to sacrifice his own son to prove that. Satan tried to sway prophet Ibrahim away from obeying God’s orders, but prophet Ibrahim did not listen and started throwing stones at the devil.


Photo 6: Rows and rows of tents are erected in Minna just for the Hajj week, then all of them are removed after it is done.

8. After the stoning comes the sacrifice, and this is where you donate a large sheep to poor people, this is a holiday for Muslims, it is called Eid Al-Adha, or Feast of Sacrifice (it is analogous to Thanksgiving in the US, with Sheep instead of Turkey). In the old days the sacrifice had to be done inside Mecca, but with two million Muslims making Hajj these days it does not make sense for all the sacrifices to be made in Mecca. So what the Saudi government does is collect money for the sacrifice and distribute that across the world (the money still has to be used to provide a sheep sacrifice). The story of the sacrifice comes from God ordering prophet Ibrahim to sacrifice his son Ismael. After prophet Ibrahim put his son down and tried to slice his neck, God sent a sheep to prophet Ibrahim since he passed the test and asked him to slaughter the sheep instead.
9. Now, if you are a man then you shave one inch of your head hair (which means shaving all of your hair if you got short hair), and if you are a woman then you just cut off a lock of hair from the end. Once you have done that then you can take off the towels and put on normal clothes, but the Hajj is not over yet.


Photo 7: Look ma, no hair In this photo I am standing in front of the devil symbol (it is the large wall in the background).

10. For next two, or three days, you throw more pebbles at the devil symbols. You throw seven at each of them (the small, medium, and large symbols), so twenty one on each day.
11. Next, you go back go Mecca and perform another set of seven laps followed by a prayer behind the station of prophet Ibrahim (no walking between Safa and Marwa, just seven laps around the Kabaa), this is called tawaf al-ifadah and it completes the Hajj
12. Finally, before leaving Mecca, i.e. on day of your departure, you do another set of seven laps, essentially saying farewell to the holiest site in Islam. This was the most crowded day, as all pilgrims finished the other actions and descended on the Kaaba to make the farewell laps. I was simply awe struck to see all these people from all corners of the earth united with the same purpose. To put things in perspective, the largest events at the Beijing 2008 Olympics only had 100,000 people.


Photo 8: This photo is from a set of really nice Hajj photos at Boston.com’s “The Big Picture” blog. The Kabaa is the black dot in the middle of the structure with lots of pilgrims around it, the Safa and Marwa mounts are at opposing ends of the stretch covered with blue on the left (they are building another floor, hence the cover). The super huge hotel behind the haram mosque is called “Grand Zamzam”, I was staying at the hotel to the right of it, which is called “Makkah Hilton Towers”.

Before performing Hajj in Mecca, we also got to visit Madina, home of the Masjid Nabawy (Prophet’s Mosque), the second holiest site in Islam (the first being the Kaaba, and the third being the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem). Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) is buried inside this mosque. We also visited a number of interesting sites in Madina, like areas of famous early Islamic battles and the graveyards associated with them.

Both Mecca and Madina reminded me of Las Vegas in a weird way: they are in the middle of the desert and the downtown of the city is comprised of super large hotels, however, instead of gambling, drinking, and nudity there is prayer, charity, and fasting

Photo 9: The Prophet’s mosque is on the left side of this photo, on the right side there is hotel after hotel after hotel, all with mega shopping malls inside them.

In conclusion, performing this pilgrimage is something that I will never forget, and it was double rewarding to experience all this with my wife by my side while the kids stayed back at home under my mom’s care (thanks mom).

Salam (aka Peace),

– amr

PS: It is customary to put (pbuh) after the name of prophet Mohammed, it means “Peace Be Upon Him”. If you are curious to learn more about prophet Mohammed, then I highly recommend “The Sealed Nectar“, which is a biography available at Amazon.com and many other places.

First, congratulations to the US and the world for Obama becoming the 44th president of the USA.

A few months back an Egyptian columnist, Ibrahim Eissa, wrote a hilarious column depicting a hypothetical scenario in which Hussein Obama stopped by Cairo before going to the US. In that scenario he married an Egyptian girl and she delivered Mabrook Obama, but after two years he traveled to the US and left his wife and Mabrook Obama behind. In the states he married an American girl, then got blessed with Barack Obama. The column continues to follow the lives of the Egyptian born son, Mabrook, versus the US born son, Barack.

Of course by now you can see where this is going, the US son went on to take the seat of the most important position in the world, but the Egyptian son didn’t even get a toilet seat . In fact, no body in Egypt, black or white, can dare to dream to get the seat of the president. And that, my friends, is why the US is the envy of the world, it is truly the land of dreams, the land where you are measured by how talented you are, versus your “nepotistic” connections, the amount of your “bribes”, or your race/religion/ethnicity/sex, etc.

That said, I do dream of the day that Egyptian democracy catches up to the US, after all, I do love Egypt, it is my motherland.

Cheers,

– amr

PS: I had to write that last sentence to be allowed to visit

Following up on my previous post regarding Facebook lexicon predicting an Obama win, the mentions for Obama in Twitter also extremely outrank McCain (this comes from a service called Twist which monitors Twitter mentions):

Go Obama

– amr

The Facebook Lexicon is a very nifty tool which analyzes the frequency and associations of words in Facebook wall messages for profiles, events, and groups. The first graph below shows that Obama is mentioned significantly more frequently than Mccain, and, more importantly, the second graph shows that the mentions for Obama have more positive sentiment (e.g. “I love Obama”), versus negative sentiment (e.g. “I hate McCain”).

Figure 1: Mention frequency for Obama vs McCain on Facebook walls

Figure 2: Mention sentiment for Obama vs McCain on Facebook walls. A 70% score means that 70% of the mentions had a positive sentiment and 30% had a negative sentiment.

Cheers,

– amr