Lebanon ranked 54th in the Global Finance list of richest countries in the world with a GDP (PPP) per capita per year of 14,988 in 2010. [Full List]

Bahrain, KSA, UAE and Kuwait are way ahead of us with Qatar being the richest country in the world with a 90,149$ GDP. Kuwait is the second richest Arab country and ranks 14th.

I was reading a post on Ivy Says about a recent issue she faced at one of the Aishti stores. I thought what happened to her was extremely inappropriate and decided to email Aishti myself using their contact us form on their website to make them aware of her post so they could take care of it. After sending them an email and what do I get in return? An automated response informing me that I’ve been added to their mailing list without my consent and not even offering me a link so I could unsubscribe.

Dear Sir or Madame,

We at Aishti would like to thank you for taking the time to write to us.

We would like to let you know that we just added you to our newsletter mailing list. This entitles you to periodic update to all new happenings at Aishti worldwide.

Respectfully yours,

Aishti

I even searched their website for any information on how I could opt out but couldn’t find anything just information on how to opt in. If this was an automated response from my barber Salon Tony I could understand but with a large and now international brand like Aishti you expect a bit more. I’ve already emailed them back about this so hopefully they’ll listen to my feedback and fix this.

Since we are on the Aishti subject, the other day I posted about Aishti’s sale on my other blog which is based in Kuwait. People who didn’t know what Aishti was googled it and ended up at their website… which starts off with a fully naked woman. I don’t have a problem with nudity but you could understand why their customers in the Gulf region might.

Here is the link to Ivy’s post. [Link]

I always wondered what our dear ministers did on those fancy laptops during every meeting. Turns out they play Poker on facebook.

Now we know for sure our country is in safe hands.

Update: Here is a link to the article on Naharnet [Link]

Still short of the Jager train’s record by some 3000 shots. [YouTube]

I never intend to keep our readers away from Lebanon or encourage them to spend their summers elsewhere, even though that would mean much less traffic. The few things that bother us about Lebanon don’t mean we should stop loving our country.

Despite all the pollution, the corrupted politicians, the war threat at any second, the civil war threat at any second, the bombings and assassinations, the traffic, the underpaid jobs, we still have a beautiful country with beautiful beaches and nature. [Lebanon in Winter]

Let’s just say spending Lebanon in summer is about having a cold Almaza on one of its many beautiful beaches, and enjoying Lebanon despite all its flaws and its crazy people. The picture above is Pierre and Friend’s beach, and you can find plenty of similar beaches from Jbeil till Chekka. Tyr has also one of the most beautiful sands in Lebanon but it’s a long trip to go there.

To read more on Pierre & Friends, check a day out and a night out at Pierre & Friends.

Super cheesy which makes it pretty funny. [YouTube]

The Henry J. Beans facebook page has uploaded pictures of the new soon to be open Gemmayze location. Looks like they’re opening any day now. [Link]

Definitly not their best commercial.

However, it’s not that demeaning to women like one of our readers suggested. If anything, it shows that men are shallow.

Spotted near Rimal Beach Resort in Jounieh. Anyone happens to know why is our sea red?

I say we have three plausible answers:
- A dolphin hunt like the one that occurs in Denmark every year. [Link]
- We are coloring our sea to make our own “red sea” and attract more tourists.
- This is a mixture of dead cows, oil and toxic liquid leaks, garbage and few dead bodies.

Thanks Choogz

Seems like the Bahraini officials don’t hate us anymore. Direct flights between Bahrain and Lebanon will be resumed on the 22nd of June 2011, with an average of 5 flights per week. [Link]

All commercial flights were halted on March 22 due to the political unrest in Bahrain. Bahrain GP was also postponed and rescheduled to October but I doubt it will go through as planned.

Was this really the best way to preserve that old house in Sursoq street in Achrafieh ? by constructing on top of it and blocking its front view?

I would have preferred that they demolish it rather than screwing it up like that.

I always pass by this huge flag at Sin el Fil’s entrance but was never able to get a good shot of it. Well thanks to traffic and winds blowing, I was able to do so today.
Too bad it’s not the tallest flag pole in the world; those behind it should be ashamed of themselves for not breaking another Guinness record when doing it.

Thank God though we have the world’s largest flag, or else I don’t know how we could have lived with ourselves. [Link]

Jounieh’s festival is looking very appealing this year with many exciting events, such as the International Paragliders flying from Harissa the first three days, Red Bull Extreme Sports, Motorcycle Show & Carpark Drift on July 2nd, and Skybar all-night event at Jounieh Port on June 30th. Magida el Roumi will also be performing on June 25th at the Fouad Chehab stadium.

Speaking of Skybar, I heard rumors that it will open soon in Marina Dbayyeh but I haven’t read about it anywhere.

To check the full schedule, click here [Jounieh Festival 2011]

It is quite sad that something tragic needs to occur for Lebanese to wake up and realize the dangers surrounding them. Two days ago, a blast at gas station in Beirut left 7 dead. The next day, officials were raising concerns over safety measures adopted at gas stations and our dear minister felt he should share with us the fact that half of the gas stations in Lebanon are illegal. [DailyStar]

According to minister Gebran Bassil, we have 3250 gas stations out of which only 1450 have licenses, 700 with expired licenses and 1100 with no licenses whatsoever. [NowLebanon]

Added to that, we have almost four times more gas stations in Lebanon when compared to Italy and a gas station for every 1250 Lebanese.

I don’t know what our officials or ministers want to prove, but I would have resigned when facing such facts.

PS: There are two gas stations facing the one that had the blast, even though it is not allowed for gas stations to be built near each others.

A week after Lady Gaga’s album “Born this way” was banned in Lebanon, The General Security officials revoked their decision and unbanned the album, allowing its release at all Virgin Megastores. [Link]

Even though I am against banning Lady Gaga’s album or any other album, I don’t see the point of censorship in Lebanon or censorship as a whole. I mean the album’s available online and will soon be broadcasted on our hacked TV channels (that we pay a mere 10$ to an illegal cable guy to get them). Not to forget the illegal music and DVD shops that sell you porn movies and could not care less.

Looking as well at how censorship works [Link], one cannot but wonder if the guys censoring movies and music can be taken seriously. They banned Lady Gaga because it was insulting to Christians and then a week later they unbanned it for no noticeable reason. Did they get approval from Jesus because I doubt the church will change its stance that easily.

This reminds me of the time they banned the movie “Help” (which sucked big time) because the main actress was some politician’s daughter.

Te3teer.