AUC around World War II

Khokhar, Usman Naeem

2^nd Dec, 2009

LEAD-IN:

In this audio documentary your host Usman Naeem will take you over chronological series of events that shaped the American university around Second World War.

Egypt looked at the War as an intrusion of the West. AUC was very much alive and active during the second world war under the presidency of Charles R. Watson and

(Conn ?:??)

When war came to Egypt, it came because Western interests were already in Egypt. Otherwise it was not part of the quarrel.

War had gotten into every aspect of the university. In its studies, discussions and plays.

During the war, the American University in Cairo  played a huge part in the public health and the extension of education in the country which is did to educate and clear differences between the genders for instance.

(Mrs .Conn ?:??)

(Mrs. Conn ?:??)

Its 1939, the school opens hesitantly under the shadow of the war which was remote but AUC staff feared it would come nearer. Yet the university operated in full force and operated as best they could.

Again 1939 after Martial law was declared, AUC organized it’s on Air Raid protection Committee (ARP) which helped build gas proof shelters, purchase of masks and sandbags to save food. Also the campus setup barbed wire barricades to avoid riots.

To keep up with the frightening situation, Wendell Cleland initiated the Extensions Division program which would help the students in becoming better capable of the changing circumstances in the war ridden regions.

(Cleland ?:??)

American staff and families were requested to return back to the US. That when AUC hired Madam Dagmar Berg, to replace the leaving faculty. She taught history and social science courses at the university.

Surprisingly, the number of incoming students saw an increase because students from Europe saw as an opportunity. AUC became a better place to get a foreign education.

Around that time a lot of Palestinians chose to study at AUC.

The numbers rose from 115 students in 1939 to 222 in 1942.

(Cleland ?:??)

As part of their relief efforts that same year,  AUC offered a portion of its athletic field to the American Red Cross. The school of Oriental Studies (SOS) offered lectures on Egypt and a 12 lesson Colloquial class to the officers and US army forces in the Middle East.

In Feb, 1943 AUC helped build United States Armed Forces Institute to provide high school and college level education to the military.

>>>>The death of US President Roosevelt was a sad day for the world, in his honor the famous auditorium of AUC Ewart Memorial Hall saw Westerners from all over the Middle East to attend his memorial service.

(Cleland ?:??)

In June 1940 AUC president Charles R. Watson took a two year leave from AUC after recovering for severe illness. He became the executive secretary.

When AUC heard that Rommel of the German army, was in Alemein just 60 miles from Alexandria, the American staff with their families was given a vacation in Khartoum, Sudan under the order of president Watson..

By the end of Second World War (1945) there were 50 Palestinian students.

During the war years few AUC decisions could be final, still AUC operations went smoother than expected.

For A-U-C News, This is Usman Naeem

SCRIPT

This is Uzzi and you are listening to Technophilias weekly podcast.

Halloween is coming up on Oct 31. In this special report on Halloween, we are going to talk about what this Christian holiday has to offer for the geekdom culture of today.

Obvious, when we change from scary tales and monsters that haunt the night. The next big theme under Halloween is science fiction.

Many commercial entities today use Halloween as an excuse to introduce new concepts.

In Hollywood we have new science fiction stories and major merchandising that follows.

And in technology we have new gadgets and technologies being introduced. Not always the big ones.

This is because, people need costumes and when they run of ideas or want to be original the real Star Wars and Star Trek fans design guns, armor, heavy silicon makeup and even fake languages to compete for the best costume and idea.

First things first, it is very wrong to say that – to dress up for Halloween or come up with a custome idea is a childish or teenage thing. It could have been if this celebration hadn’t become such a huge money making machine.

Now technophiles put a lot of effort into costumes. Some of which are very impressive.

Those that really succeed then take their creations to Comic Con expos in San Diego and Los Angelas.

I myself am a huge sci-fi geek as you can see from my blog. I scary but technology oriented comic book villain that always fascinated me was from Marvel comics called DeathLock -  a man –half robotic man who can control electronics and can travel through electric current. He could be called a hacker too.

Earlier this year Comic Con 2009 had some great costumes. One of my popular choice of costume was ‘The Joker from Dark Knight that came out earlier this year starring late Heath Ledger.

I also enjoy this event because I get to see some of my lady friends dress-up in very atteactive but scary costumes like Lady Death, Witchblade and even Cat women.

I am hoping this year Halloween will have more interesting costumes.

Reporting for Technophilias this is Uzzi.

Shared via AddThis

I am sick to my stomach hearing about this.

So let us go about it step by step.

It’s like every other technology we take for granted – If not it should be that way because its got over 25 million users.

The thing is Facebook should be considered as a replacement for texting and email and MSN/AIM/Yahoo chat.

Is it not true that, people, actually save on calls by using ‘texting’ (sms)? They end up spending more. That’s NOT an addiction.

Email? People check their email 3-5 times a day. That’s NOT an addiction.

It’s a lifestyle – And y not it should be this way, we are in a digital age.

Some people log onto chat for 20 min they end up spending 20 hours on it. -

Your biggest crime – I know all of you who criticize facebook, spend hours chatting with friends on AIM and MSN Live messenger.

Then there are others who feel share there photos and videos online through a myriad of online service providers, yet they have some sort of hatred towards facebook.

OR they criticize their students in classes for not doing their assignments and spending more time on facebook.

Facebook is like every other technology out. DON’T CRITICISE PEOPLE. Use it.

If u cant beat it join it.

Join it. I have 5 professors and 6 uncles and my Mom on Facebook.

If u think facebook is too much join facebook Lite

Public Service Announcement

Local Contact: Ahmed Diab, 0108792626, bory@aucegypt.edu

National Contact: Khaled Badawi, AYB President, ayb@aucegypt.edu

Organization: Alaashanek Ya Baladi (AYB) , an AUC community service club

Contact Info: ayb@aucegypt.edu

Heading: AYB’s Micro Loans for Misr Aladema’s youth

Airdates(s): 9 October 2009 – 29 October 2009

Duration: 30 seconds

Usman: Why are you so sad?

Alaa: I don’t have a job. I need money. I want to open a shop.

Usman: Money?

F/X: (Fade out Coins sound bite)

Usman: Have you heard of Alaashanek Ya Baladi?

Alaa: No!!! What is that?

F/X: (Fade in AYB jingle)

Usman: (WITH JINGLE) It’s an NGO that offers small loans and trains youngsters to stand on their own feet with a little push to get started.

F/X: (fade out)

Alaa: Let’s all go to AYB.

F/X: Music (fade out)

A lot of torrent website have specified rules to maintain a healthy traffic over their servers, especially the legal websites. In order to maintain the traffic the websites specify a 1:1 download:upload ratio. Then there are other websites that do not work well if the users are preventing two way traffic.

They usually reduce the outgoing traffic i.e. upload ratio, but then then the torrent tracker restricts data flow towards them.

Trackers - These are the servers and domains that host the actual data being shared through the torrent file.

Whenever one goes to a website to download the torrent files, there are two very important things to consider at all times. The number of peers and the number of users that are using the torrent file.

Seeds – Are number of pieces/parts that the file is divided into. The greater the number of seeds the faster the data will be downloaded/uploaded.

Peers – The number users who are downloading the file are referred to as peers (given it is based on social networking).

In essence, everyone should share the data that they download. Those torrent users who download download are looked upon with a bad eye and are referred to as leechers.

TIP: Don’t delete/move the torrent file that you download to start the download halfway from the download (avoid this mistake)., to ensure the smooth download of the file.

TO BE CONTINUED

• Title of the feature
• Who produced the feature? (One or more persons)
• Length of the feature

Your review should include your observations in the following areas (for each feature):

• Describe the feature.
• Was the feature interesting?
• Quality of the sound? Use of nat sound.
• Quality of the announcer’s voice?
• Was the feature too long?  Too short?
• Other observations/suggestions (for example, ease of use of the website; also use examples to help illustrate your point(s))

Title: Interactive TV Allows Viewers To Shop Remotely

Link: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113315198

By: Jesse Baker (All Things Considered, Morning Edition NPR)

Length: 3 min 16 seconds

Observation:

-  It talks about interactive television and how it started from a TV sitcom and created a phenomenon. The reporter is criticising the concept of advertisements and product promotion on interactive television.

- Very interesting and suitable for my beat on technology.

It had good sound quality and the natural sound included a dialogue of Jennifer Aniston from Friends (NBC) and Cable Vision advertisement. It also features a statement from representatives of Cable Vision who are supposedly the pioneers of interactive TV.

-  Sound quality was sharp

-  It was of appropriate length as it contained all the necessary elements of a good story.

-  An observation made was that the reporter included a statement from a professor from NYU to criticize the media giant as opposed to public opinion.

-  Interestingly, she concludes with a viewpoint (not necessarily her own) but an idea on how the use of remote controls are changing.

Title: Exploring How We Connect, And What It Means

Link: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113208990

By: Ira Flatow (Science Friday, NPR)

Length: 18 min 45 seconds

Observation:

-  It talks about how some health issues can be spread like a disease in his book. How everything people do is influenced by there social networks and that is why this podcast seemed like a good candidate to be put on my blog technophiles as well.

- Very interesting and suitable for my beat on technology.

- Quality of the sound not so good and the speaker spoke very slowly also.

-  Sound quality of the announcer was very loud and it was his voice that kept my interested in the story.

-  It was of appropriate length as it contained all the necessary elements of a good story.

-  It was long and boring.

-  There was little use of sound bytes and the voice of the first person interviewed was very dull. Quotes the example of obesity over an over as one his biggest examples to explain his concept of social circles