Egypt's Jon Stewart Is No Hero

My latest post for the Hup Post
Bassem Youssef, the famous host of an Egyptian satire news show, is being sued. Bassem is no hero of mine, and there are countless others who share my view. Facebook is riddled with pages and groups who declare their lack of affection for Bassem Youssef. The former heart surgeon has been gaining fans and building an audience throughout the Arab world with his jokes and zingers. At the get-go, I loved his jokes and delivery. I thought he was the missing breeze of comedy the Arab world has been missing.

Entire Post Here

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Drinking Beer In Mecca!

On my trip to Raleigh, I visited the downtown area and spotted a neon sign for a restaurant called Mecca. I was cool, this looks like an interesting establishment to visit. My first thought this is some Arabic food place, that serves Halal meat or something of that nature.

We walked around and then looked for a place to grab some food, we were back close to the restaurant and there we go, their menu is at the door. I looked and then came the surprise. This was no Halal place, not even close. This is a 1930 establishment that is still standing till now.

It's a diner where they actually serve tons of wines and beers. I was confused and not sure how the name came about  It might not be an insult for Islam's holy city, but I do not know why Mecca came to be a place for a drinking. I am aware that in the pre-Islam era, alcohol was the cool thing to do in that Mecca. But Mecca is neither known for its food nor for its drinks. This is like having an accounting/auditing firm with the name Washington, DC in the title. It does not really add up.     

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Bizarre! Arabic Wedding Invitations/Announcements

A friend of mine asked me this: Do you guys--Palestinians send wedding invitation/announcements?

I said yes, but we do not include a photo. It turn out that including a photo with the wedding announcement has not gone mainstream here.

But I had one thing to share with my friend, some wedding invitations back home, they do not include the name of the bride. While the great majority do, a sizable number of people chooses to block the name of the bride place is with a flower.

So you will have the father of the groom and under it, the name of the groom, then next to them the name of the father of the bride and the name of his daughter is substituted it with a flower. This is not just the case with few families, many opt out for this practice in Jordan and most those Bedouin communities.

I know this is odd, it makes be upset....like women names are so shameful and for these people they are part of the national security. I think this is not only dated, it goes against nature and kills the joy of seeing the name of the bride on something other than her birth certificate.

A flower says, that our girl is too delicate to have a name and we think you guys are not worthy of knowing her fine name. It's also an insult to the guy who is not marrying a real person, but rather a flower. He spends the rest of his life sniffing its scent. This is about distrust in the good in people, like if I know the name of your gal, then I will use it in a disrespectful manner. Which goes to speak about this male dominant mentality.

I think people who do it ought to be ashamed of themselves. There's nothing embarrassing a bout the name of a woman. And I am hardly the only one who sees it this way. 

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Why Facebook Really And Truly Sucks?

I think Facebook is a great tool to connect with people you do not see often or people who have moved away or live away from where you live. I do not deny that is brings people together and helps people keep tabs on their friends-and their foes.

But in general, I do not like Facebook, for one reason. It's a place where people share happy news, and exciting things in their lives. A trip they took, a party they had, a picture of something nice they have spotted. Such collection makes viewers thing, that life is all happy and everyone's life is so much more fun that our own. When in reality, we might have a one good day in the week where we smile and look happy, but the six other days, no one would be able to tell how hard life really is.

For example, few people would post a picture of themselves at work--if they do they might get fired. They cannot badmouth their office because someone is watching and bad news travels fast. Plus Facebook is not a place to broadcast all the things going wrong with your life. No body wants to find out about your tumor, or about your liver and kidney failure. You would not share that. And you certainly, would not tell your virtual friends, that your mom just passed away.  I am sorry it just does not seem sincere nor proper to use Facebook as a for to commiserate when others are posting pictures of them at some concert or their seaside BBQ.

So in that sense, Facebook gives you a false indicator about other people's life. It makes you think your life really stinks and everyone is cooler than you. Some of course go invite a cool life for themselves and start making up stuff to keep up with their virtual friends. This makes Facebook a place where people try to outdo one another in having the most time to waste.

To sum, Facebook is like that party you go to, everyone seems to be happy with the usual awkward few. I might be different or see it from a different vantage point, but I know life is never as exciting as Facebook makes it seem to be. Even though I consider myself to have a perfect life, I know things are not as shiny as they may look form the outside. 

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Free WiFi At Hooters And Other Stupid Ideas.

I was walking by downtown St. Louis and there was a hooters with their world famous wing and wing sauces and then at the door of that restaurant is little sticker that reads "Free WiFi". Not joke, the first thought in my head was Really? Who goes to Hooters for their WiFi?

I can imagine some guy telling his better half, "Honey, I am chatting with you via G chat using the internet at Hooters" Maybe this is all just another excuse for guys to take a trip to Hooters and not having to deal with the frowning faces. I mean, they all say they good for the wings. What they do not say is that the moon is also made out of cheese.

Can you imagine some guy going to Hooters after work with his laptop working on his TBS report with a side order of zesty wings? C'mon, I suppose you will tell me next that people go to hooters for their big screens.

Needless to say this particular restaurant is about 5 blocks away from the Budweiser stadium. Where there is also a Starbucks in proximity with free WiFi.

Do I sound like a grumpy old man now? I don't hate hooters or people who work there, it's just a company trying to make money and servers who are trying to make a living. But I think WiFi ruins the whole hooters experience.

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News I Wish Was True

1. The Israeli embassy closes shops in DC, and moves into new offices in the US State Department--they are ready writing our press releases said an unnamed State department rep.
2. The Greek Embassy set to move DC its offices into the basement of the German Embassy in Washington, DC--they are already paying our rent said the second secretary for the Greek ambassador.
3. Outsourcing seems to be a global political trend as well---somebody tell Thomas Friedman, Palestinians @ ATFP are advocating on behalf of Zionists. Israelis @ J Street are advocating on behalf of Palestinians now. Also known as political cross dressing.
   

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Thinking Outside The Box....

What if some Arab country did a peace gesture and offered to extend citizenship to the Israelis. That could be done in a way to say, we really love those Israelis and we do not want to harm them, we just want them to become like us.

Israels will accept or refuse, but the gesture would be some PR stunt about good wills. The Israelis would then look bad, they are the ones who refuse to be part of the region, not the other way around. Most Israelis hold a second citizenship at the moment, mostly European and American citizenship.

So say now an Israeli is killed--I do not want anyone to lose their lives, the news will report a Saudi has gotten killed today and no one would lift a finger. It's just another dead Arab, it won't make the news. We know that Israel does not want to give its citizenship to the Palestinian, you can be sure of that. So the Palestinian cannot get sympathy if his/her death was reported as an "Israeli dies" headline.

Arabs believe that the death of Arab means little to super powers of the world, they frankly don't care about a dead Arab. Israel can kill a million Arab and France, UK, and the US will look the other way. Of course there people get away with killing Arabs every chance they can--sure they try not to do it, it's bad for business.

I think we should try this approach, this has nothing to do with religion, it's about changing the rules of the game without anybody eliminating the other. If you are building walls, they can keep you in as well as keep folks out. I say give the Israelis a citizenship of some other Arab country--I am sure Oman would be happy to print extra passports in an effort to get people to know that they actually exist.

P.S. this is not a call or endorsement of violence, it only begets violence.

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English Words I Love

Every now and then I see words in English that I feel I must look up becasue I have not heared them before or becasue they just sound exciting to learn. I know in this social media saavy world, it seems that abbrviation and smily faces are the way to go, but some old words die hard.

1. Poignant: Touching and to the point. I wish I can be referred to by this word. I am only to the point when I am angry and when I am talking to my landlord.
   
2. Vivacious: Lively, and full of animation. I like this word because you are either having a great time or it's a feast out there. I guess the viva part of the word we already know from our brethren South of the borders.
   

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My Hot Arabic Music Blog Has Been Hacked

So someone from has hacked into my blog and stole it. What that means is this, I can no longer access the blog. He has full control of it now, and he has placed his own ads to make money! I have been locked out of my music blog! I cannot access it. So I am not sure what kind of ads you will see. Right now I see sexy latinas!

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This is Funny Captcha About Israel

One of my follow blogger friends received this Captcha (the thing that tells a computer you are a real person and not just spammer) from a friend of hers, this friend was trying to checkout with Staples. It's Captcha of biblical proportions. I loved how hilarious it's. I have seen dozens of Captcha, but this one crack me up.

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Rodents in Disney

I read this story and laugh
When Disney Land (The Kingdom of the most famous mouse) has a rodent problem, who they call on this delicate task?

Hope those cats they teamed up wont's kill Mickey!

Otherwise, the popular mouse might consider seeking asylum in Universal Studies.

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Thanks! I Hate It

I do not know about you, but I find myself angry whenever a get an email from people asking me to do something for them or requesting something from me....and then toward the end of the email they right this

Thanks!

It drives me bad when people do that....like it's very presumptions when they expect you to do things for them and then hurry up to thank you becasue they cannot be bothered thanking you once you have accomplished what they ask of you. It's worse when those people are your peers.....it's worse when you really do not care that much, but you still have to read it Thanks!
Maybe it's the exclamation point I hate (I never see it as cute) , maybe I am becoming grumpy.

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English Words I Adore

Every now and then I hear some words in English that I fall in love with, I will try to share those as much as I can. Here are the first two words on my lists of English words I adore.


1.Tipsy

From Urban Dictionary
buy tipsy mugs, T-shirts and magnets
The state when you are drinking alcohol in which you are past light headedness but before being drunk.
I'm tipsy on one and a half Budweiser... I love being a featherweight

2. Testy

From Urban Dictionary

A slang nickname for an individual who has more than 2 testicles
*shouting at balled individual* "Hey Testy, what you up to tonight?"
balls testicles testie testies testicle 3 balls nut nuts

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