Zarf

 In my crossword puzzle game of today I had to guess a four letter word meaning: “the cardboard sleeve around a coffee cup”.

I had enough letters to attempt using “zarf” as an answer and, lo and behold, it was the right guess!

I suspected that this word was taken from Arabic as it is commonly used to describe an envelope and here’s what I found in Wikipedia:

“A zarf is something that helps you hold a hot cup without burning your fingers. Don't leave the coffee shop without your zarf! Zarf is a peculiar looking word that is a loaner from Arabic and originally denoted a metal holder for a drinking glass — which would be unwieldy to handle if it contained a hot beverage.”

To my Egyptian friends and family: I’m intrigued to know if you use this term if and when you ask for a sleeve for your coffee cup?

Hani Badawi 

February 18, 2023

What Next?

The world again is at the mercy of leaders who are conducting events that may vey well lead to an undesirable outcome and potentially to a third world war!

The escalation of the “runaway” events in Ukraine over the past year leaves no room for winners to emerge at the end of this quagmire. It’s, alas, a lose-lose situation and there will be no victors if and when this nightmare is over!

Like many human beings, leaders often belong to the segment of individuals whom, to put it mildly, we can describe as: “individuals with poor qualities.”

I recently finished reading the book titled: “The Winter of our Discontent” by John Steinbeck and the following paragraph resonated well with my thoughts regarding the “good” and “bad” qualities of individuals:

“There is a strange duality in the human which makes for an ethical paradox. We have definitions of good qualities and of bad; not changing things, but generally considered good and bad throughout the ages and throughout the species. Of the good, we think always of wisdom, tolerance, kindliness, generosity, humility; and the qualities of cruelty, greed, self-interest, graspingness, and rapacity are universally considered undesirable. And yet in our structure of society, the so-called and considered good qualities are invariable concomitants of failure, while the bad ones are the cornerstones of success. . . . Perhaps no other animal is so torn between alternatives. Man might be described fairly adequately, if simply, as a two-legged paradox.”

As time and time again we have witnessed leaders and their minions spreading distorted and often false slogans in the guise of ideals that lead to polarization within their nations and ultimately over the world at large. 

I’m sure that many of us believe that history repeats itself and, alas, because we’re powerless we’re all anxious to know: What Next?

Hani Badawi

February 22, 2023

2024 US Presidential Election!

With the disgraceful and shameful performance of Trump in his controversial one term presidency of the USA, is it not surprising that some believe that he will likely run again for the presidency in four years time?

Assuming he will survive the lawsuits that are lined up against him, if not incarceration, he will be older than what he called “the old man” Biden!  

In the coming four years, Biden has a tall order to undo the damage that Trump and his cronies inflicted on the nation and he would hopefully do that by appointing an experienced (not “yes men/women”) team to attend to the needs of the country rather than the personal benefits that his predecessor was mired in.

In the past four years the world watched a president who made a fool of himself and his nation, survived an impeachment and neglected to support the necessary measures to contain the escalating pandemic in his country.  

If history will be kind to Trump he would be labeled as the Nero of the 21st century, but, with all his misdeeds, I would not be surprised if historians use many more fitting labels to describe his “too long” one term!

Let’s pray and hope that the future, not only the next four years, for the USA and the rest of the world will be more bearable and sustainable for all its inhabitants.

Hani Badawi

January 7, 2021

Disruptive Technologies and Events

I think it is safe to say that disruptive technologies that have unfolded in the past 7 decades (a little less than my lifespan to date) exceeds those that have emerged in many past centuries.

This note is not intended to list the disruptive technologies of the past as these can be found in numerous articles that can easily be searched online. Instead, I will share my thoughts about the effect of disruptive events in our lives and their effect on creating a cascade of changes in our lives, be it personal, national or global.

On the personal/individual level, every time we encounter some disruption to the flow of our lives, be it driven by social, professional, health or wealth factors, we make adjustments to the way we conduct our lives and only time is the judge of whether these adjustments serve us well or not.

On the national level, by browsing the historic events for each nation it is fair to say that the evolution (rise or fall) of a nation’s health in the form of wealth, power, governance and harmony differ greatly from one nation to the next depending on the specific parameters, natural or man made) that pertain to each nation.  Like the personal level, many adjustments are made and only time is the best judge of whether these adjustments serve well the particular nation or not.  Needless to say, the changes on the national level cannot be decoupled from the changes that occur on the personal level for the citizens of each nation that they belong to.

Now comes the global level and it gets more complicated!  If we cast our minds to the disruptions that occurred in the last century (as a snapshot in history), one will observe that by linking the aforementioned personal and national disruptions (in their many complex forms and aspects) we can begin to understand what are the likely reasons for the global changes (especially man made) that have occurred and those that are still unfolding.  Once again, for the global disruptions, only time will be the judge whether or not the changes (ecologic, economic, strategic, scientific, technologic, etc.) will serve well the globe that we all share!

In all events, disruptions are the seeds of some good and some bad outcomes such as new ideas, innovations, honest and dishonest rivalries, good and bad revolutions, proxy wars, religious wars, and, in the extreme, world wars.

A myriad of movies, plays, TV documentaries, newspaper articles, poems, songs, etc. addressing all of the disruptive events and the the resulting changes that occurred over our recorded history were generated, some accurate but, unfortunately, some with bias, prejudice and often misinformation.  

In summary, disruptive events on all levels have occurred and will continue to occur over time and it is evident that the present speed of the resulting changes in our lives is mind-boggling! As individual, national and global conscience is but a manifestation of all the complex changes that have occurred over the millennia I wonder by what mechanism, if any at all, will a new disruptive event/events will this world converge to a happy ending!!

At this time we can only hope that the present disruptive Coronavirus pandemic will vanish from our lives and will serve as a lesson that we, as humans, are very vulnerable and that our hope for salvation can only lie in a form of good use of any further disruptions that will occur in our lives!

“Hope is a waking dream.” Aristotle.

Hani Badawi

August 6, 2020

Virtual Realiy

Over the past few years Virtual Reality took center stage in the worlds of education, entertainment, medicine and in a host of other fields.

In this note, however, I wish to touch on some softer aspects of the Virtual Reality term, namely how we perceive reality and how our minds occasionally drift into a world that is bordering on fantasy, be it for something we wish for or, on the other extreme, something we fear.

Needless to say, our level of fantasy is determined, amongst many other things, by the fertility of our minds.

Like a naturally fertile soil in which seeds when sufficiently irrigated and nourished will yield a healthy plant, fertile minds when supported by a depth of experience and imagination will yield good ideas that may include theories or fantasies.

Different nature of soils, e.g. acidic or alkaline, are needed for growing different plants. Likewise, if we think about fertile minds, their ability to produce a theory or a fantasy will depend on the nature of the individual mind. Some will yield theories and some will yield fiction and on a few occasions they may yield both!

Returning to the thought about perception and Virtual Reality, I believe that a novel written by a person with a fertile mind, whether it be romantic, historic fiction, science fiction, etc. or any combination of these, will take you into a virtual reality world which may in turn, depending on the fertility of your mind, help you in perceiving thoughts and ideas and perhaps allowing you to create new ones too!

Hani Badawi
November 9, 2019

Thinking Aloud

A few decades ago when I was embarking on a career in technical research I was unaware of the needed methodology for conducting and expressing my thoughts. Admittedly, I was also fearful of relaying my early thoughts lest they be incorrect or inaccurate.

At that time, the process of “Thinking Aloud” was brought to my attention by my Ph.D. Supervisor (Dr. Krante Anand) who went on to describe the importance of that process in as far as verbalizing one’s technical thoughts with the intent of honing and ultimately refining one’s research skills.

As time progressed, I realized that this was only the first step in him preparing me to enter the world of research. Soon thereafter he proceeded to guide and encourage me to continuously document my research results, to periodically submit my findings to technical journals and to present them at relevant international conferences.

Learning the above process was a lesson that had a profound impact on the evolution of my thoughts over the years and my ability to express them in writing and sharing them with others.

Of course there are other forms of thinking that I learned and used since the formative days of my career. These included amongst others: strategic thinking, critical thinking, lateral thinking and creative thinking. In the process of learning all these diverse forms of thinking, I certainly relied on my previously acquired skill of “thinking aloud”.

Many of the things we do in life are rooted in an experience we were exposed to along our life path and I’m sure that each of you must have had a similar explicit experience or multiple experiences like the one I shared here. Think about it and perhaps you may find that “thinking aloud” is useful!

Note: I owe a debt of gratitude to the late Dr. Krante Anand for his mentoring role and also our friendship that was cut short by his early departure many years ago. May his soul rest in eternal peace.


Hani Badawi
January 23, 2019

Look Inside Yourself

From time to time it is not unusual for us to spit-out critical comments, criticisms and condemnations in view of behavioral patterns and/or policies within our own society/country. I note that these feelings may be expressed with an even higher zeal and a more elevated frequency when we describe what we deem unacceptable behavioral patterns and/or policies related to other societies/countries.

What makes us do that?

The motives differ widely and are not always obvious because they depend on many factors, namely:

1- socio-cultural: (personality, attitude, lifestyle, education, health, religion, wealth, media etc.),

2- political (government, regulations, economy, treaties, constitution, etc.)

3- geographic (resources, terrain, climate, etc.)

It is noteworthy that the above stated three factors with all their sub-factors (and unnamed etceteras) are intertwined in many ways making it virtually impossible for us to reach a definitive conclusion as to what glasses we use to see and perceive the defects within any given society or country.

The more I think about the above, the more I believe that it is a bottomless-pit, because the more thought I invest in trying to understand the motives for these thought declarations, the less conclusions I’m likely to reach!

So, what should we do:

Depending on our individual core values/feelings and common sense inclinations, it would be better to direct our thoughts towards toning down the egotistic feelings and elevating our own values to better serve ourselves, our families and our societies.

Remember that, regardless of which age/social/ethnic/creed/etc. group that we belong to, our leanings, biases, convictions and other feelings may possibly have changed over time. So much so, it is somewhat hypocritical to pass judgment on behavioral patterns that we may have once adopted!

Start with positive, constructive self-criticism, work on self-improvement and back-out of general criticism.

After all, as the saying goes: Charity begins at home!

Hani Badawi
January 6, 2019