CAIRO - Arabs are apparently more interested in filling their stomachs than their minds. They have also been caught ogling nude women and girls on the Internet. The interesting discovery of Arabs' huge appetite for food and sex was made by the Arab Thought Institution (ATI). In its recently released third annual report about the online reality of cultural development in the Arab world, AT realised that Arab Internet users, who searched for cookery and cuisine books hugely outnumbered bookworms. According to the report, the search button for books on different subjects was clicked 18.7 million times (during the month-long online survey), and the biggest number of clicks searched for books by famous chefs. Book lovers interested in educational studies, Islam and history came second and third. Poets should be disappointed; their poems hardly attracted any Internet users in the Arab world. Arab poets' low-profile popularity should underline the fact that today's generation are a source of embarrassment for their grandfathers, who used to be great admirers of poetry. ATI's third report also concluded that Arab Internet users were busy searching for sex websites throughout the month-long survey. Arab bloggers so inclined are said to be very co-operative and generous in their exchange of extraordinary porno flicks or sex books on the Internet. The allegedly miserable Arab minds and brains received even more devastating verdict, when ATI discovered that the number of patents registered internationally, originating from eight Arab countries, was hardly over 375 between 2005 and 2009. The report observed that Malaysia alone registered 566 international patents. As for Egypt, the number of patents registered officially in 2008 by its scientific research centres and laboratories was only 81, compared to 280 patents in the same period by Egyptians living abroad. The report declared that the landscape of scientific research in the Arab countries of Jordan, Algeria and Saudi Arabia was barren and infertile. Egypt ranked 28th among 127 patent-granting countries in the world. The two Gulf countries Kuwait and Qatar competed for 39th, the United Arab Emirates ranked 41st and Tunisia 66th. In the meantime, ATI revealed that Cairo University, desperate to enlist in the World's Top 500 Universities, was declared the most prestigious university in the Arab world. Ain Shams, also a high-profile seat of learning, ranked 4th and 910th globally. On the other hand, the young generation of pop singers were told that late singing legend Om Kalthoum, followed by Warda el-Gazai'eria (from Algeria), Nagat el- Saghira and Shadia were dominating the online charts. Big names among new-generation pop singers were Amr Diab, Tamer Hosni and Fadl Shaker and Assala. They can heave a sigh of relief, when hearing that they have bigger online popularity than their contemporaries. More surprising is that the online debate on Arab unity attracted the attention of an embarrassingly low number of bloggers and twitters. The issue of political reforms in Arab countries did also not exactly inspire Arab Internet users; but jokes and anecdotes were exchanged extensively.
