You wouldn’t expect such a thing from Omar Sharif. [YouTube]

via 248PM

Lebanese national Ray Bassil won few days ago the silver medal for the Arab Shooting Championship that was held in Morocco. [LBC]

Ray Bassil is only 23 and has already several achievements to her name, most notably a Bronze medal at the Shooting World Cup held in 2007. She is also one of Lebanon’s hopes for a medal at the London 2012 Summer Olympics.

You can check out her official website [Here].

“The council will promote equality amongst all media institutions, and defend freedom of expression.”

“It would take advantage of the experiences of foreign media councils, in particular the French council”

Those are quotes from the same guy who wants us to register our websites at the Lebanese National Audiovisual Media Council offices or else he’ll close them down.

It is worthy noting that the Lebanese Media council doesn’t have a website.

Also during MTV’s interview with the council’s secretary Foud Daaboul, they made sure to film the radio-cassette he still uses to listen to music and news.

Read more about this issue [Here].

[Source]

“The Bourj Hammoud municipality has asked foreign workers – whether they are Syrian, Egyptian, Sri Lankan or Filipino – especially those who do not have identification papers and official or registered lease contracts, to evacuate the region”. [NowLebanon]

Some are saying that this is a racist decision; others are saying it’s a purely political one, but anyone who knows Bourj Hammoud and what’s been going there lately cannot but fully support this decision.

Bourj Hammoud’s municipality has already formed few months back volunteer groups to help protect citizens from crimes and thefts (a job the ISF should be performing) and is doing a great job so far, but the situation has become unbearable lately and it’s only logical to kick out those thugs.

It is worthy noting that this decision has been taken against known groups of people and not against families living in Bourj Hammoud.

I hope other municipalities follow Bourj Hammoud’s example and protect their towns and citizens the same way.

Update: Statements from Tashnag following this decision re-assured that those measures are to be taken against illegal foreign workers and not foreign workers in general.

I went to Virgin Megastores yesterday and bought my parents two tickets for the Tom Jones concert on November 13th at the Forum de Beyrouth.

I was reading a bit about Tom Jones’ career and this guy has been throwing concerts since the 1960s and it doesn’t look like he’s going to stop anytime soon.

One funny feature about Jones that Chahe mentioned to me is that girls like to throw their panties at him at the end of the concert. This idea was originally initiated by his producer to enhance his supposedly “sex symbol” persona. However, I don’t think he’d still want his 50-60 year old female fans to throw their panties at him.

Does anyone know why MTV displays KSA time and not Lebanon’s? Just noticed it today.

That’s what I think of when I see this ad. If you are more into dating, try Mazaya.

[Almaza]

[YouTube]

I also heard Nine West and some retail stores are offering 20% discounts if you vote for Jeita Grotto and show the SMS.

Rank 6: Jesr el Geant (Or Nahr el Mot interchange)

It took forever to finish, it was supposed to look like this, but turned out to be a complete mess. A bridge cutting the highway in half, roads leading to nowhere or jamming other existing roads, a homemade ladder leaning against the column, and other features making it an eligible candidate for the new 7 wonders of the world.

Rank 5: The budget of weddings in Lebanon
It’s as simple as that. The minimum wage in Lebanon is 330$, the average salary is between 600-700$, and the cost of a wedding in Lebanon start at 25,000$ (Crappy wedding for 200 people).

Rank 4: Valet Parking in Beirut
They are considering forming a political alliance to take over the world as they are everywhere, drive everyone’s cars, steal the cars if they feel like it, don’t allow anyone to park anywhere, are ready for war and most importantly are international.

Rank 3: Zein el Atat & JuJuBa
He’s a fraud, his ads are terrible, he could kill you with his herbs, yet he has more branches than all Lebanese banks combined. A wonder that could only exist in Lebanon.

Rank 2: Price of Man2ouche at Zaatar w Zeit
Ever been to a French restaurant and ordered “un poussin désossé et legumes”, or in other words Djeij Msa77ab ma3 Toum wou Batata? Well ZWZ has won the hearts of all Lebanese by overpricing his Manakish and naming them in a sophisticated way. You could pay up to 10,000 LL for a Cheese Man2oushe.

Rank 1: Tirachrach Tirachrash
Name says it all.

PS: I posted this around 1 a.m and it was inspired from few messages and emails I received (none with that exact list though). I chose few wonders and spiced them up a little bit and compiled them into a post. I am not claiming authenticity for any list nor care about such things, this was written just for fun.

How The Japanese government (Opposition + Majority) takes care of it people.

Japan’s ruling party agreed with the opposition on Monday for members of parliament to take a cut in pay to fund reconstruction efforts after this month’s deadly earthquake and tsunami, Kyodo news agency reported.

The pay cut, equivalent to about 14 percent of a member’s annual income, would add 2 billion yen ($25 million) to Japan’s biggest rebuilding effort since post-World War Two reconstruction, Kyodo said. [Link]

While in Lebanon:

MP Hamadeh: Aoun should fund STL from the money he stole

Saniora stealing money scandal

Lebanese MPs Have Fake Degree

Lebanese Minister of Energy buys private jet for 24$ Million Dollars

On November 11, 2009 LTA released the results of the 2009 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) in Beirut simultaneously with other parts of the world. Lebanon received the score of 2.5/10 and was ranked 130th over 180 countries. [Link]

PS: Ignore who did what in Lebanon and look at the bigger picture.

It would be interesting to validate the sayings of our Minister of Interior, who stated yesterday that 85% of the accidents in Lebanon are due to speeding or reckless driving. [Link]

What about the conditions of the roads? The absence of signs and road lighting poles? The misplaced concrete separators? The 100 meters deep potholes? etc …

He also mentioned that Lebanese citizens should take good care of their cars and do the necessary check-ups.

If I am not mistaken, The “Mecanique” center in Hadath is supposed to do this check and last time I heard, corruption was all over this place and some guy almost killed a poor employee for failing his car despite the bribery offered.

The good news from yesterday’s press conference held by “KunHadi” is that the ISF were granted 800 helmets to wear them while on duty. Yay!

I have a feeling some people consider Beirut to be a country rather than Lebanon’s capital. I was checking out Mustapha’s post on the “5 reasons to visit Beirut” and how three out of the five reasons refer to spots outside Beirut, and found out there’s more of those misleading articles.

Check out TripAdvisor and VirtualTourist for example.

This small church is close to Saydit el Nourieh monastery and the view from it is just breath taking !

I am surprised they didn’t come up with a venue for weddings next to it yet.

Both MTC & Alfa announced plans for 3G and officially launched it but what we all missed out is that they will be ripping us off for a period of 2-3 weeks.

How is that so?
While 3G is available for all users now, the mobile internet plans have not been upgraded yet. This means that if you have a 10$-50MB GPRS connection, you will be able to use 3G but only have 50MB until the next billing date.

I have the 10$-50MB Edge connection right now on my iPhone, and I’ve consumed a total of 125MB in 6 days time, by simply texting, tweeting, checking emails, whatsapp etc …

125MB means an additional 75MB = 7.5$ extra charge, which is 75% of the original cost. If I keep going at this rate, I might end up paying some 50$, or 400% extra charge before my next billing date.

I don’t know if it’s the same way for MTC users, but that’s the case for Alfa and I found it better to switch off 3G until my plan gets upgraded. Speaking of which, the plans will not be automatically upgraded, as each user will have to call in, cancel his/her current internet package and ask for the new one.

The only positive side of all that is that we are finally getting 3G, even though I am still worried huge loads will result in disconnections and slowness, like what happened with MTC & Alfa today.

I won two tickets to watch the Harlem Globetrotters in a competition Roadster Diner organized on Facebook.

I’ve always wanted to watch the Harlem Globetrotters as a little kid, not sure if I will enjoy the show as much now, but I am definitly going.