Did anyone else notice the swastika?

On a different note, the swastika wasn’t created by the Nazis. They have been used for centuries by Buddhists and Hindus as a symbol of auspiciousness. I remember seeing a lot of swastikas in the markets of Kolkata, India. [Link]

I love the pictures naharnet uses for its stories -_-

Does anyone else think that having an airplane crashing into a damn tree isn’t really the best idea for an airport to put up as Christmas decoration? I have a flight from Jeddah to Beirut tonight, and I really hope we don’t end up recreating this scene (Although it would be a bit hard to find a Christmas tree in the desert)

What currency is this person counting? It’s not old 50LLs, I zoomed in. Maybe Naharnet should take a picture of people counting Lebanese Liras. If the idea is to use any picture that makes reference to money, why don’t they put a picture of a bag with a large $ sign on it?

“So, 10,000,000 pesos, convert them to Liras, carry the one….”

[Naharnet]

Stamping money is a very Lebanese thing. Some companies use invisible ink, others stamp and sign the bills. Most people hold up the bills against the light, some scratch them. I never understood scratching; I understand that there are different textures to a bill, but scratching it with your nail? What the hell does that show you??

Have you ever tried exchanging a stamped 100$ bill abroad? Not easy to get rid of!

This reminds me of a story that has nothing to do with this topic. A couple of years ago I got back a counterfeit 10,000LL bill from a restaurant. I only realized it when I got back home. The janitor of our building told me that he’d take it and that he knew how to spend it without getting caught. Since going back to the restaurant and arguing with no proof was gonna be a complete waste of time, I decided to cut my losses, and hand him the bill. It cost me a 135$ to bail him out of jail… He tried spending the money in a mini market. The owner beat the living crap out of him and THEN called the police, who also knocked some sense into him (literally, I think the cop’s fist was called “sense”)

Anyway, stop stamping money!

Weird weird weird looking display!

Does anyone understand the title of this post?

I noticed the billboard for the new “Puss in Boots” while stuck in traffic on the seaside road. I wonder why they changed the name from Puss in boots to Cat in boots. I’ve seen posters for this movie in cinemas in Lebanon and they had the word puss in it. Is it because puss is one letter away from the female genital? (Keeping it PG-13). They should rename the movie “Feline in tall shoes”

For Bussneis!

via Naharnet

I went to Cinema City in City Mall yesterday to watch the new Tintin movie. The movie was produced by Steven Spielberg, but you wouldn’t know that just by looking at the posters. Steven Spielberg’s name is blacked out on all posters!

I guess that we shouldn’t mention or see his name since he’s jewish, but we can go ahead and watch a movie he produced. I wonder whose decision this was: Cinema City or the Government?

Just got the following SMS from MTC Touch:

Price slashed and usage doubled! Enjoy your BlackBerry subscription now at $ 27 / month with 200MB worth of consumption.

Does anyone know if Alfa did the same?

I’m currently in Saudi Arabia on business. I decided to try out a Lebanese restaurant which came highly recommended. Nothing like a good plate of crapleaves to hit the spot! Yummy! Crapleaves!!

I stopped by an IBL ATM last week and noticed something weird… I’m not sure what percentage of the Lebanese population speaks Chinese, but having it as one of the 3 choices in an ATM seems weird. I’m sure it’s Chinese coz I Google Translated it and got the exact same writing. I wonder if the ATM company uses Google Translate as well

From Google Translate

I woke up to what sounded like a truck crashing into a wall. I wasn’t too far off; it was the sound of a truck breaking the concrete wall of our building, knocking over an electricity pole, crashing into the parking lot, totaling 1 car, damaging another one and bending the gate of the building.

The driver jumped out of the cabin Indiana Jones style right before the crash. Thankfully no one was hurt.

Accidents happen, but this cop car has been parked in Gemmayzeh since August 16! I can’t say I’m surprised that the car is in this condition. None of the cop cars in Lebanon are in good shape.

The traffic you see in the picture is because another cop car (Nissan Pathfinder) had a dead battery and was blocking the road…

Update: I just looked at the picture again and it’s obvious that the cop in the passenger seat was not wearing his seat belt… tsk tsk tsk