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I listened to Nemr on the comedy revolution show yesterday live on MixFM. Some parts were funny some weren’t but one thing is for sure, Myriam Klink is making a complete joke out of herself.

In fact, that’s not the first time she uses foul language or posts offensive statuses on her FB and twitter. Back in May, due to some bad breakup apparently, Myriam started using a degrading language non-stop on her Facebook, to describe the Lebanese men in general. She said they were infidel, drug addicts, and unattractive. [Link]

Spotted near Jounieh highway right after LaCité

This may seem like a normal road sign to you but look at it closely and you will realize it’s much bigger than the regular sized wrong way sign.

I am not sure it will make any difference though as some Lebanese drivers will fail to see (or understand) the sign even if they crashed into it.

My 3G consumption as of today

Four days ago, I called Alfa to ask them about the 77Mbytes that I presumably consumed in the first 8 hours of my new cycle and I was told I only consumed 11Mbytes and I have to wait till the system resets.

I kept checking my balance daily and it reached 111.31 MB today, which means the 77MB were not removed. I called Alfa again and was told there’s nothing wrong and I did consume those 77MB on the 9th of June 2012 at 7:29am, noting that I turned my 3G on at 6:49am.

I don’t have that many Apps on my iPhone, all push notifications and most location services are turned off, I use 3G only when I am out and rarely for updates so that’s just weird. Added to that, is 3G in Lebanon that fast to download 80 mbytes in half an hour?

Nevertheless, I can’t be sure that I did consume them or not, and I don’t know why Alfa misinformed me the first time, but to be on the safe side, I just downloaded a data usage monitoring app (DataUsage).

[YouTube]

Picture from Goal.com

The game between Korea and Lebanon just finished with Korea winning 3-0. Lebanon lost its first game against Qatar and then drew with Uzbekistan 1-1.

I didn’t do the math yet but I think our hopes of qualifying to the World Cup 2014 are close to nil now.

Lebanese stand-up comedian Nemr Abou Nassar was making fun of Myriam Klink’s song “Antar” the other day and Myriam wasn’t very happy about it.

You can find below a video of the song. After listening to it, I personally think he was very nice to her. Speaking of which, Nemr will be on MixFM tonight at 7pm answering Myriam’s attacks. That ought to be funny.

[YouTube]

I went yesterday after work to Saniour Sea View to watch France-England game around 6:45 pm and the place was almost empty. As it turned out, they are not showing the Euro Cup 2012 games at this Saniour branch.

I am not so sure that’s a wise call, especially that the games are at 7 pm and 10 pm, which are peak times for Saniour and other cafés.

Spotted by DanyAwad

You will have access to an iPad with over 100 games during the ride as well as free WIFI internet access. (just Kidding)

Dlebta village, where a huge land was sold to a Saudi

Every now and then, there’s a public outcry in Lebanon as a result of the selling of huge lands to Arabs, mainly Saudis. The last one was 2 weeks ago when a huge land in Dlebta, Keserwan was sold to a Saudi prince.

Of course I do agree that we should forbid the selling of massive lands to non-Lebanese, but the problem is not in the laws, but in not respecting them. In fact and per the Lebanese law, non-Lebanese CANNOT buy more than 3% of any Kaza in Lebanon, and more than 10% in Beirut. Added to that, any land exceeding 3000 square meters cannot be sold without the approval of the government.

This being said, the Dlebta land exceeded 3000 square meters, yet was approved by the government and signed by the President of the Republic and published in the newspapers. This means that the selling was a long process that had the Lebanese government involved and many MPs and officials. Added to that, I may be mistaken but I think the municipality has to know about any selling that involves a non-Lebanese or Lebanese, but I can’t confirm that.

Anyway, I don’t care why it was approved, or who pressured who, but I suggest Lebanese protesting this decision to ask Dlebta residents, municipality and mayor if they knew about it before it happened and if they approve of the selling. If they knew about it and waited for the approval to protest, then honestly there’s nothing much to do. If they knew about it and were ok with it, then it’s even worse.

If we care that much about our lands and villages, and don’t trust our government or representatives, the least the municipality members and the mayor and the residents can do is keep an eye on the lands. There’s no way you can sell such a massive piece of land without anyone knowing, especially in Lebanon where everyone knows everyone and Dlebta is not a far away village in the middle of nowhere. Moreover, I am almost certain that some Lebanese, including members of municipalities and mayors and local officials, are directly or indirectly benefitting from those sales, or else you wouldn’t be hearing reports about 80% of Ajaltoun, Rayfoun and Mayrouba being sold to non-Lebanese and no one caring about it. As far as I am concerned, the majority of those protesting anywhere in Lebanon are either slow to react and haven’t done their job properly or want to take part in future sales.

Just today my friend was telling me that a Jordanian guy came to visit his town over the weekend and wanted to buy a huge land for 5 million dollars that overlooks the whole village. Luckily enough, the owner of the land refused.

All in all, there are many ways to prevent the selling of such lands in the future, but reacting to the sale after it’s done while another deal is on its way is the wrong way to go. Maybe it’s better not to protest at all if you are not willing to do anything about it.

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Misleading video as Lebanese swimmer Wassim Nasser failed to break the national record for the longest swim

Rami has been following up on Wissam Nasser’s attempt to break the 47 KM distance Lebanese Abdel-Latif Abu al-Hauf set in the 1960s. Nasser trained for over 8 months, however failed at breaking the national record as the weather was bad and he was swimming against the wind.

Despite that, I am glad some Lebanese are actually attempting to break some decent records that don’t involve making the biggest Tabboule in the world or the largest Shish Kebab sandwich.

Good luck to you Wissam Nasser on your next attempt!

The new ABC Dbayeh

Roadster Diner posted this morning that Grand Cinemas Lebanon ABC Dbayeh will be opening on June 13!

I don’t know much about this new cinema complex but according to the below banner, you will be able to enjoy champagne, caviar(huh?) and popcorn while watching a movie. I am guessing there will be prestigious VIP seats or lounges.

Picture from Gino’s Blog

Picture of the Argentina-Brazil friendly that was also covered by this unfamiliar channel

I was looking forward to watching the opening games of the Euro Cup 2012 on Friday before I realized there were no channels covering it. I called the cable guy who told me he has to pay some 20,000$ to get Al Jazeera channels and that he cannot afford it.

Apparently, those with a CableVision subscription have to pay 20$ to get the channels but those with a regular (illegal) 10 or 15$ subscription have to rely on the cable guy to get the right channels, or simply go out and watch them in cafés. I’ve been planning to get CableVision for a while now but I haven’t had the time yet.

Nevertheless, it took our cable guy less than 24 hours to get us two channels covering the games, M6 and some other channel that broadcasts in a weird language (See Picture Above). Moreover, a friend of mine living in Achrafieh told me today he is getting Jazeera +10 without paying any additional fees (Don’t ask how).

I am not comfortable with this whole illegal cable business anymore and I will switch to Cable Vision as soon as possible.

You can check out CableVision’s website [Here].

[High-Res]

If you thought Lebanese tweet a lot, think again. Twitter use is very much on the rise in the Arab world, but we are still way behind Bahrain, UAE, KSA and Kuwait in terms of Twitter Population Penetration and Nbr of Tweets per month. Kuwait leads the way with around 60 million tweets in the month of March only, followed by KSA with 49 million, Egypt with 19 million tweets, UAE with 15M, Bahrain with 8M and Qatar with 5M. Lebanon sent out 2,759,000 tweets in March 2012.

In terms of new Twitter users between September 2011 and March 2012, Lebanon got 26,429 additional users, with a 137% increase. Lebanon stands in fifth position behind UAE, Egypt, Kuwait and KSA in first place.

In total, the total number of active Twitter users in Arab countries is now up to 1,311,882, which means that Lebanon constitutes 3.5% of the total Twitter population. [Source]

Personally speaking, I set up a Twitter account back in September 2010 but only started using it a year later. My username is LeNajib.

Boghos , known as Klashinkof boghos. He has lots of stories to tell about his heroic past , He sells fish in Bourj Hammoud and express his ideas loudly on the streets. Photo by KrikOrian Mher at Burj Hammoud

If you have a shot of a Falafel seller in Bourj Hammoud,
or an old couple on their balcony in Beit Merry,
or a man walking his dog in Dbayeh,
or a fisherman fishing off the coast of Tripoli,
or a young couple walking in Raouche,
or a ski-fanatic getting back from his daily routine in Faraya,
or a farmer working in the Bekaa valley
or anyone doing anything memorable anywhere in Lebanon
send it to humansoflebanon@gmail.com :)
Have your photograph sent with a short story behind it to share.

This project is inspired by the work of Brandon Stanton in Humans of New York (HONY).

I think it’s a very nice project as it helps portraying Lebanon’s diversity and discover young talented Lebanese photographers. If you want to submit your photos or know more about Humans of Lebanon, check their facebook page [Here].

Photo by : Chirine Nahas — at Massaya.