How about you put an end to smses reaching us from 4 digit numbers giving away people’s personal information for 0.89$?

The ones I still have saved are 1060, 1054 and 1335.

Looks like Kataeb.org are getting inspired from our readers’ comments.

I LOVE old photos so when I read about the The Fouad Debbas Collection on +961 I quickly clicked the link to check out all the pictures. There are 5,773 old photos of Lebanon in that collection! It’s crazy, I don’t know how I am going to be able to see them all, I love it! You can also check out the collection by clicking [Here]

I’ve given it some thought and the “financial and personal dispute” argument presented by the ministry of interior to justify yesterday’s blast could be plausible.

Why is that so? Four possible scenarios.

Note: I will be referring to both victims as Terrorist1 and Terrorist2.

Scenario1: Terrorist2 thought he’d impress his boss Terrorist1 and turned the mission into a suicide bombing one. What happened next obviously explains why he flunked his Intro to Suicide bombing class.

Scenario2: Terrorist2 thought he spotted Bush passing by so he threw his shoe and hit Terrorist1 instead. Terrorist1 is pissed off and throws the bomb at Terrorist2 and Kaboom!

Scenario3: Terrorist1 & Terrorist2 were gays and given the kneeling position Terrorist1 was presumably in when the blast occurred, he had issues with his partner’s sexual urges to try out new things, so he decided to blow himself rather than live in shame for what he’s about to do.

Scenario4: This in my opinion is the most credible of all the scenarios. Terrorist1 was working hard on setting up the bomb only to find out Terrorist2 borrowed some money from him and went to get a Cheese man2oushe from Bechara and did not get him one back. Terrorist1 wants his money back and starts a fight before he mistakenly set off the bomb.

I registered first on Twitter back in September 2010 but it didn’t work out for me. Even until today, I still can’t find any use for it but there are lots of Lebanese on it and many are linking the blog’s posts and discussing them, so I am going to give it another shot.

Feel free to add me, or in Twitter terms follow me. My username is LeNajib.

PS: After Maya, it is Gino this time who convinced me of rejoining in.

(Standard & Poor’s ratings per country)

To have an idea on where we stand, other governments rated B by Standard & Poor’s include Argentina, Belarus, Burkina Faso, Ghana and Honduras.

When compared to the Arab countries, Kuwait is rated as AA, KSA as AA-, Qatar as AA & UAE as AA.

You can check out credit ratings for all countries according to Standard & Poor’s [Here] and Moody’s [Here].

Yesterday’s blast in Antelias could have easily killed a dozen people if not more, yet and according to the new interior minister Marwan Charbel, and I quote, “the explosion was a result of a financial and personal dispute between several people, including some car dealers.” [Naharnet]

I mean seriously??? All TVs reported that one guy was on his knees planting a bomb when it exploded in his hands. Do you need to plant a bomb under someone’s car to settle some old scores? Can’t you just smash it with a bat or scratch it?

“Our investigation so far does not point to an act of sabotage,” he told reporters.

How does it point to a personal dispute then? Those are two close friends coming to an area unknown to them, taking over 100,000$ from a nearby bank and almost succeeding in planting a bomb and running away.

I don’t care about the political background of the interior minister or the killers but claiming that this is a personal dispute is an insult to our intelligence.

Pretty shocking pictures coming from a European capital. Check out more pics [Here] & [Here].

I am guessing more “Looks like Beirut” comments are coming Jad Aoun’s way.

That’s a very nice idea not just for tourists but also for Lebanese. I don’t remember ever walking around discovering Beirut. You can check out more about it [Here].

One of the readers reminded me of the website pcandparts.com which has to be one of the oldest eCommerce websites in Lebanon. I think I got my first part from them back in 1998 and I remember passing by the guys house and picking it up from there (I think it was the Creative Labs Riva TNT). Since they have all the prices of all their items listed on the website I always used to use them as a price reference whenever I wanted to buy anything and they usually were the cheapest. Actually my favorite part about the website is how simple and straight forward it is. No fancy pictures or animations, just a long list of all the items they have in stock and their prices.

I’m glad they’re still around today and if you hadn’t heard of them before then now you do. Here is the link to their website [Link]

This came in few minutes ago.

MTV: Blast heard in Beirut’s northern suburb of Antelias

MTV: Explosion in Beirut’s northern suburb of Antelias kills two, injures another

[NowLebanon]

There are two dead and one injured. You can check more updates [Here],[Here] and [Here].

The chief negotiator charged with ensuring the release of the seven Estonians cyclists revealed that they were accidentally abducted by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – General Command, he told Asharq newspaper in remarks published on Wednesday.

The negotiator, who chose not to disclose his name, said that the abductors were seeking to kidnap Americans, then Frenchmen as a second choice, and English nationals as a third one. [Naharnet]

So we know who kidnapped them and their exact location yet we can’t do anything about it because they did not realize they were Estonians, and not American, English or French?

Maybe the Lebanese government should issue a decree urging kidnappers and evil doers to check their victims’ passports before kidnapping or killing them.

Every time my brother or my cousins from the States are here on vacation, we have to go have lunch at least once at Manarit el Khalij in Maameltein. The place has been there for years and is consistently good and generous. It has been redecorated and renovated few times and looks as if it’s brand new everytime we go there. It also has a great view of the Mediterranean and the Jounieh bay.

We are first greeted with a large bowl of iced almonds along with some carrots and crackers. Very few places still get you the iced almonds bowl even though they are great.

Afterwards, we are served each a large sliced piece of tomato with sumac (سمّاق) on top and you can add to it garlic and even Arak.

Then we are asked whether we want fish or Machawi. If you choose fish, you have the option to pick the fish by yourself and whether you want it as grilled or fried. They usually have Sultan Ibrahim, Lo2oss and Mallifa among others.

Aside from the main platters, you get to choose from a large variety of cold and hot dishes, basically the regular Lebanese mezza. Portions are relatively big and are all good. Added to that and while you are eating, a waiter with a large basket of hot bread visits the table every 15-20 minutes.

The service is quick and impeccable and the manager is always around to see if there’s any complaint. Once done with the food, you are given rolled hot towels to take out the fish smell.

After the table is cleared, Turkish coffee is served for free for those who want to and dessert is also on the house. You’d think it’s a small dessert but it consists of over 6 types of fruits, Ghandour Biscuits with “Ra7a” and Achta w Assal.

Price-wise, you pay between 30 and 40$ per person alcohol included which I find is very reasonable.

Specialties include Cat Burger (Cat meat) and Taouk Feeran.

Thanks Rachel

Lebanon has a new online mall, [Mizalla.com]. I am not sure who are the people behind them but Mustapha seems to know them and trust them. I can see one of Lebanon’s top banks, Bank Audi, is providing the payment gateway so it should be safe.

The only other website I know of that has an online catalogue and sells retail products is KhouryHome. You can check it [Here]