Golden Cameras for Beirut

A couple of days ago, a story from Annahar newspaper popped up stating that Beirut municipality is buying around 2,000 security cameras for around 40 Million dollars.

Photo taken from the Annahar article

My friend Elie shared a small research he did, on his Facebook page that I would like to share:

Beirut Municipality is buying 1,500 to 2,000 Cameras at $27,000 per Camera, 40.5 Million Dollars in total !! 

I did some research, based on a case study done by Schneider Electric's security camera brand Pelco (One of the biggest brands in this domain).

The case study is about surveillance cameras installed in Italy to help with the security of the G8 summit (Read here: http://www.pelco.com/documents/business-solutions/en/shared/government/g-8-summit.pdf)

The study mentions that two types of cameras were used, so I researched their prices online:
- Spectra III : Costs $1,389.61 ( http://www.amazon.com/Pelco-Schneider-Electric-SD53TCPG1-Spectra/dp/B00FT0JXA4)
- Esprit Camera: Costs $1,861.95 (http://shop.neobits.com/pelco_schneider_electric_es3012_2_pelco_esprit_es3012_2_camera_enclosure_1_fan_s_1_heater_s_1032057567.php)

Let's assume we're going crazy and buying 1,500 pieces of each model (3,000 cameras) instead of a total of 1,500 pieces, and that we're buying them at a full price:

- Spectra III cost: $2,084,415
- Esprit cost : $2,792,925
Total Cost : $4,877,340

Let's assume taxes on these items are 100% + VAT and add some extras, this will bring the total to 10.5 Million Dollars.

Additionally, let’s account for around 7 Millions in Network Design, control rooms, servers and equipment, and another 3 Millions in training and maintenance for the first period. 

Total should not exceed 20 Million dollars with all the above exaggerated costs. I think the offers should be re-considered by the municipality. 

There is pretty much nothing to add to this. What do you think?
It's either we became worthless brains or careless sheep so that this huge corruption takes place.

Baakline Waterfalls

This last weekend, we decided to go discover Baakline's waterfalls and river.

Baakline is a village in Mount Lebanon, Chouf district, 45 kilometers southeast of Beirut. Altitude: 850, 920 high (Source Wikipedia).

How to get there:

Driving from Beirut, you take the Rafic Al-Hariri International Airport road towards the south. You keep going until you get to Damour. Then you take the Deir Al Qamar / Beiteddine junction. It will be around 20 minutes straight drive until you reach the Baakline junction on your right. Here's where you think that you're almost there, but you're not!
It will take you another 20 minutes drive from there to reach the lowest point of the valley where you forget how long this trip was!
You can find it on the GPS as "Baakline Riviere".

What to expect:

The photos will do the job:

      

And here are some from Instagram :D

Yes this is in Lebanon!

Tips:

1. The best time to go there is probably during August and the beginning of September, cause you really HAVE to jump in that water! or else you'll regret it later.
2. Take your food with you, and you can rent tables, chairs and a grill there.
   It will cost you around 15,000 LBP - 20,000 LBP per person (10 USD - 16 USD), depending on the available spot, and if it is during weekends.
   Update (26/08/2015): It costs 20,000 LBP all week long.
3. If you want to go on weekends, it is better to go on a Saturday. It is usually crowded on Sundays.
4. If you don't want to spend the day there, Beiteddine Palace, Kaser Moussa (Moussa Palace), Deir El Qamar and even Barouk Cedars Reserve are nearby.

Contact:

There are 4 different spots (parks or whatever they're called) there, I recommend 'Paradise' (The one in the photos). Call Sleiman on +961 70 013 532
Update (26/08/2015): For more information and reservation call +961 3 924669 and you can check their new Instagram page here.

The Entertainer comes to Lebanon

Yesterday was the launching of 'The Entertainer' at Cherry at the top in Le Gray - Beirut.
If you like to try new places, you might find this interesting.
The Entertainer is a book containing a big variety of offers in many categories.
It started in Dubai and is now in 17 different countries with 21 different books.
As for the Lebanese version, the book has 400 offers from 200 different merchants, with 3 vouchers per each.
The discounts are mainly a buy one get one free, so it's interesting for couples and it costs 120,000 LBP.
These are the categories:
- Fine Dining
- Up Market Bars
- Family and Casual Restaurants
- Cafes and Nightspots
- Sports, Pleasure & Leisure
- Health & Beauty
- Hotel Accommodation

Offers can be used anytime excluding all public holidays, and you can use multiple when with a group.
For more details, check their website: https://www.theentertainerme.com/ and all the rules of use can be found here.

The Entertainer is available at Librairie Antoine, or you can buy it directly from their website here, where it's a bit cheaper than its list price.
It might help you survive Lebanon.

The Lebanese Rocket Society: Watch it!

I've had the chance to watch the 'avant premiere' of the documentary "Lebanese Rocket Society" at Metropolis Sofil - Ashrafieh 2 weeks ago. The official release date is 11 April 2013.

Joana hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige did a great job to gather all information about what seemed to be a vague story, something people has forgot. They succeeded to get photos, newspapers and even good quality videos.
At first, you'd think that a documentary will be boring but I have to say that it was pretty interesting and inspiring!
It shows in details how it all started as a science project at Haigazian university with Mr Manoug Manougian and his students, what was the idea, and how far they went with their rockets construction.
After explaining the ugly truth behind the stoppage of this research, the movie shows an animated projection of the year 2030 assuming that the project never stopped and the Lebanese Rocket Society 'LRS' is today's NASA.
It is a beautifully done documentary that I recommend watching for it makes all Lebanese, especially Lebanese Armenians, proud and inspired.
And I think all schools should take their students to watch 'The Lebanese Rocket Society'.

Metropolis Sofil (@Metropolislb) will be the only movie theater showing it, others, till now, think it won't be a good deal.
Maybe with all this buzz, and some conscience, they will change their minds and forget a bit about the money.
You can show your support by adding a Spacetronaut twibbon to your Facebook's profile pic, or your Twitter's avatar.
Don't forget it will be released on 11th of April.

Below is the official Trailer with Arabic subtitles:


For more details/reviews:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2361348/
http://www.abboutproductions.com/released.php?id=52
http://hadjithomasjoreige.com/wide_posts/the-lebanese-rocket-society/
http://ritakml.info/2013/03/20/best-documentary-the-lebanese-rocket-society/

Like them on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/LebaneseRocketSociety

And check out those cool t-shirts on Antoine Online:
http://www.antoineonline.com/LebaneseRocketSociety

The General Situation

It's been a while!
This is my first post in 2013, and unfortunately, the only thing I'm thinking about is how we are surviving this situation. Elderlies, who lived and participated in the Lebanese war, say that surviving nowadays is harder than during war.

The Situation:

1. Most of the public sector (including teachers), except public authorities and judges, are protesting to get their new grades/salaries lists.
   The schools' parents committee refuses the teachers' protest, and threatens to stop paying to the schools.
   And students turned to vacation mode.
   In my humble opinion, only teachers deserve that raise. Most of the state employees do absolutely nothing at work, and they all leave at 2h00 PM max.
2. Many restaurants and hotels, in and around Beirut closed or will be closing soon. Zaytouna Bay, Kaslik and Broumana had their shares. And Maameltein is a disaster (not its usual kind of disaster).
3. Airport is empty, except for Syrian refugees, who are all over the country (Syrians now make up 10% of the Lebanese population).
4. Gas oil prices are unbelievable.
5. Real estate prices are ridiculous.
6. Those public authorities (Politicians) are still living their war dreams, making all the state institutions their own properties!
   Electricity, Communications, gas oil, tobaccos, ADSL, port... and each and every big project (no matter how insane it is to invest in Lebanon these days) has to have a 51% ownership to one of those warlords, depending on the location.
   There must be a map somewhere that shows under which influence each zone falls,  for example:
   Zgharta, Chouf, Batroun, Aakkar, Tripoli, Saida... (All of them are Beiks and Cheikhs of course)
7. People are being kidnapped everywhere, and the process is well-known now. Kidnappers demand a ransom (1 million dollars usually), the kidnapped's relatives try negotiating a bit, and then give them the amount agreed upon. This process is free of any government/Security Forces intervention, even after freeing the hostage. The same guy will be threatened again in a week or two since kidnappers knew that "2araybino daffi3a".
8. Crazy drivers, angry valet parking, outraged neighbors...
9. Al Assir! (No explanation needed)

And the list goes on and on.

The Solution:

None. The country is so corrupted that I don't believe there is a clear solution anymore.
The solution should start by changing how the public authorities think and how state employees work. Job descriptions can do the job!
And of course those responsible must be held accountable, no matter how equipped they were.
Not voting for the same people, trying to breathe before talking to anyone, and get a gutty minister of interior, not an "Abou Melhem" are some useful ideas too.
Note for Abou Melhem: A law is a law, even if it makes some people sad, or unsatisfied! Being a minister of interior requires making some people, especially criminals, sad sometimes!

And for some reason, it's still hard to leave this country.

The Huge Dispute with Ziad Rahbani

Ziad Rahbani had a concert on the 20th, 21st and the 22nd of December in Event Hill Dbayeh.
I attended the first day, and actually it was a good jazzy show.
A couple of things were a bit annoying but we, or at least I, understand some of those.

Timing:
The concert was scheduled to start at 9h00 pm, but it started at 10h50!
The 20th was a very very rainy day, parking was a nightmare, and everyone was late. So somehow people expected a delay, but i can say, not that much. Ziad apologized at the end of the concert.
Things went totally wrong, when they did the same delay on Saturday, when there weren't any excuses for that, and a huge dispute went on between Ziad and some of the attendees.
You can check that in the YouTube video below:

I'm not saying they have the right to do that, but somehow I agree that someone should have pointed that out. It was pretty impressive how he stayed calm, but waiting for everyone to come for 1 hr 20 mins isn't that justifying argument.

Politics:

A couple of articles were read between the songs, one was criticizing Amine and Samy Gemayel, another one justifying Michel Aoun's alliance, and another describing how God doesn't answer people's prayers.

I disagree with most of his articles, but again, It's Ziad.

Jokes

Three 30 seconds sketches were also performed by three artists. Those guys were part of Ziad's old plays (Nazl El Sourour...). The jokes were either not funny or déjà vus. It is probably because of Facebook.

Music

What made the concert beautiful was the amazing music Ziad played with 10 other musicians, and the nice artists who sang. There was English and Portuguese songs, with some of his known songs now and then, but he barely included his voice in one or two songs.

All in all, the concert was good, but you can expect more from Ziad Rahbani.

Update

Oh and Merry Christmas! Have a great one! :D

Beirut Scary Drive

While driving to work a couple of days ago, a super black tinted BMW with a 4 numbers plate (of course!) passed by, driving insanely in traffic. So I thought:
What if that car  just exploded next to me?
What if that driver was another Wissam El Hassan (may his soul rest in peace)?
What if I was one of the other 9 persons that died in the latest explosion in Ashrafieh?
How can we still drive to Beirut everyday just like nothing happened or might happen?
Is it all about receiving that salary at the end of the month to keep on surviving?
Is it what our life in Lebanon should be about?
Did we become emotionless zombies?
Scary...

Moral Economy

I was thinking about blogging the same thing, when ToomExtra had the job done!

And this doesn't stop here, this continues when this same guy (mentioned in ToomExtra's post), after finding an 800$ job and while eating a 12,000 LBP tuna sandwich in a casual diner, thinks about getting married!
You'll get a shock when knowing that a "regular" wedding in Lebanon costs nowadays between 30,000$ and 50,000$!
A wedding dinner costs around 30,000$ if you have some acquaintances! And if you do the same reservation without saying that it's for a wedding, it will cost you 10,000$!
"Monsieur, if you want a plexiglass dance floor, it will cost you an extra 4$ per person" knowing that both wood and  plexiglass dance floors are in the same freaking basement.
I know a couple of girls who do their Hair, manicure, pedicure and make-up for 50,000 LL just because they didn't mention that they are getting married, or else it will cost them around 1,000$ for the same "shit"!

The prices will stay high as long as all these restaurants / hotels / hair stylists are fully booked, and those F&B suppliers overloaded.

Anyways, like ToomExtra said, something has to change, as long as we're going with the flow, nothing will.

The Lebanese Minimum Charge

(I'm back. My last post was back in May, I won't say I didn't have time, i did, but had no mood! hope you still remember me!)

Ever heard of a minimum charge rule elsewhere in the world?
If so, although I never did, we have some very unique standards here in Lebanon.
This happened a couple of weeks ago, but it usually has the same template whenever reserving in almost any restaurant/pub/lounge/night-club in Lebanon:

Them: Sir, each reservation that exceeds 15 persons has to be enrolled in a 35$ formula that includes shared cheese platters and salads (of course in tiny portions) or a 30$ minimum charge.
We require a down payment 48 hours before the reservation and an exact number of attendees a couple of hours before.
Me: What if I reserve twice for 14 persons using two different names?
Them: Hein?!


On a later stage, they informed us that they might reserve a couple of tables in our corner for other clients depending on the number of attendees.
The ridiculous thing is that this happened with a new local lounge in town, and when I went there for the first time, a week before my expected reservation, it was hardly 50% full.
It is not a very well-known fully booked place that can put any boundaries and still be over crowded (I can understand SKYBAR doing that) and it seems it will never be!

My point of view:
Shouldn't they encourage people to come and discover the place before putting some conditions?
Shouldn't they consider that this potential client might bring in 30 others, and that their feedback should be a good marketing tool?! (= more exposure = more clients = more money)
Even if you trained well your bartenders, and mixed some good cocktails, people won't know about it unless they come and enjoy their night. I can develop the best iPhone application ever, but without marketing, especially with a fresh portfolio, my app is worth nothing.

On the other side, Lebanon is suffering one of its worst summer seasons since ever! Protests, electricity cuts, internet issues, phone network issues, lawlessness, tourism failure, high cost of living, weapons, drugs… Instead of making things easier for themselves and for those who can still buy a drink, they double the restrictions!
This country is going down. Prove me wrong.

Boycott Tannoura Maxi

"A priest dreaming of having sex with a young lady in a church?!

Sex scenes on bell sounds?!

Ladies trying to seduce the priest during a mass inside the church?!

During war, the Christian community was busy getting drunk and enjoying harlotry..."

I heard lots of complaints about Tannoura Maxi, but I thought they were exaggerating; it seems they are not.

The director Mr. Joe Bou Eid (Director of the movie) said that they showed the movie script to a couple of priests for approval before production.
But it is also true that they didn’t put every single detail in that script.

So, there is a big difference between a priest dreaming about being with a lady, and dreaming of wild sex with her inside the church!

In his defense, Mr. Bou Eid declared that the movie reflects the true story of his father, who was a deacon (شدياق) when he fell in love with his mother.
But, in the movie, the claimed deacon wears a priest outfit (Which should not happen), and they call him “Father” (أبونا).

For those who don’t know, deacons can get married, but once declared priests, the laws of the church don't accept their marriage anymore.

To break the boringness of his father’s love story, he decided to put all this disrespectful scenes all over the movie.

Something has to change; people should wake up, because this has gone beyond “Freedom”.

Should it always be about war and religion? Should we always abuse every little space of liberty?

If we really want to change the Lebanese cinema producers' mentality, we need to tell them that this is not the only type of movies that sells in Lebanon.

And to do that, we should boycott that movie, and that’s what I’m going to do.

Watch the trailer below carefully and let me know what you think.

Lebanese Respect

I’ve always noticed how Lebanese act differently when it comes to art… And I hate it!
In the past couple of months, I watched Fairouz, Julia Boutros, and Georges Khabbaz’s play, and I couldn’t but mention this rude behavior.
 
In Concerts
Julia Boutros, for example, was accompanied by the City of Prague Philharmonic orchestra composed of more than 100 musicians. And I, honestly, attended that event to watch the orchestra performing.
While Julia was singing, people were listening, but when it comes to music, people keep on screaming and shouting in a way that you don’t hear the whole orchestra!
Teib enno common! These are one of the most famous/professional musical groups in the world! It took them a lot of time to prepare each and every piece of music and distribute it carefully, so we don’t listen to them!
Why can’t we listen to them the same way we listen to Julia?
And what annoys me the most is when people start applauding before the end of the song! We seriously have some respect issues! The endings were magnificent btw!
Same thing happened in Fairouz’s concert.
 
In Theaters
When it comes to a play, as soon as the performance ends, and just before the curtain call, people stand up and start leaving the theater!
And of course, even those sitting in front rows! How rude is that?!
You watched the whole show, and you just can’t wait to see the actors say thank you?!
Is ‘showing some respect’ too much to ask?!
 
Do you agree or you think I’m exaggerating?

Monday Moaning: SyriaTel?!

When reaching ineligible areas, you might expect losing your phone's network coverage.
But MTC touch always surprises you with the following text message:

Welcome to Syria. Enjoy roaming with the following 

operators: MTN: Sending SMS 0.5 USD/SMS.
Syriatel: Sending SMS 0.5 USD/SMS.

For assistance, dial             +961 3 800113      . 
mtc touch wishes you a pleasant stay!

I got three embedded moans today:

1. My first moan is obvious!
How the hell SyriaTel antennas cover cities along the border more than our local operators?!
2. If anyone tried calling you, they won't be able to reach you of course.
3. Why do they send you that welcoming message (Sender: MTC Touch, and not SyriaTel) when your phone changes to SyriaTel's network, but they don't welcome you back when transferring to their network again??!!

I'm pretty sure Alfa has the same issue too.

P.S. You might get this message in some eligible areas too! (For example: Dahr El Baydar)

1950s Lebanese Mafioso

A couple of days ago, I was watching Serpico, a 1973 (true story) movie starring Al Pacino.

Unlike other cops, Frank Serpico was a police officer who didn’t accept any kind of bribes. In fact, he was the first one to fight the organized bribe collection.

At some point, a police chief tells him (Frank Serpico) “This could be the biggest thing...since the Harry Gross case.”

And since I love searching for these stuff, I looked online for Harry Gross, and I found two New York Times articles:

•           The lonely death of a man who made a scandal
•           Harry Gross Is Suicide; Bookmaker in '51 Case

Harry Gross was a bookmaker convicted in running multimillion-dollar gambling operations, involving hundreds of corrupted policemen, some of them were convicted, and others resigned or dismissed.

He was also convicted in some drug operations, and beating his wife’s grandfather to death!

Why am I sharing this?

If you read the second article (Harry Gross is suicide; Bookmaker in ’51 Case) you can’t but notice that this historical/hysterical guy had a Lebanese partner called Najib Daoud!

And this is how we roll… since ever!

The Real Christmas Spirit

As soon as December starts, you start feeling the Christmas spirit all over the country.
Some of us enjoy checking the decorations everywhere, buying gifts for friends and family, special dinners...
That was the reason of my Christmas spirit a couple of years ago.
What gives me the true heartwarming feeling is something called 'Tournée Père Noêl' or Tour of Santa Clause.

Who does that?
There is a scout group in Jounieh called GSS (Groupement Social Scout).
This group is composed of multiple units and each of these units focuses on different topics. One of these units is called 'Unité Service Social' which takes care of a large number of poor families and old people all year long.
These families usually have some very specific cases:

• Very poor families.
• Orphans.
• Terrible parents.
• Old and disabled parents...

Other than providing provisions, medications and support for old people, and organizing a 3 months full-time summer camp for all the kids of these families, on the 24th of December, at 7h30pm, this unit has a very sacred mission to do. That would be the ‘Tournée Père Noêl’.


What is it all about?
They gather in Collège des Apôtres - Jounieh, split into multiple groups, which each of them has one Santa Clause, and a specific region to cover.
This tour consists of passing by all these families, dancing and caroling with the kids. Then Santa gives each kid a couple of well-chosen gifts, after listening to him/her singing a Christmas song, while others put a pack of provision in the kitchen, if exists.

Seeing these kids happy, and the parents/grandparents (or other family members) shedding tears silently makes me come back each and every year to take part of this tour.
Even though they have the most horrifying cases, I'm always amazed by their happiness and thankfulness.

What can you do?
If you feel like helping, you can help by either donating money, or any provision unit.
For more info, visit their Facebook page, and you'll find all the needed details for a heartwarming Christmas.
They need us to keep this going and growing.

The look that makes me come back
 (taken from the website of @Krikorianm)

Joining our Angel... Myriam

While the play came to an end, Saint John (@BigDaou) stood up in the middle of the stage for his final speech, said a few words and... Silence! he completely forgot the script.
I was sitting in front, trying to control my laugh, when I hear a sweet and very loud laugh next to me... And that was Myriam! :)

This last Sunday, my good old friend Joe and I were remembering this funny moment that happened years ago, saying how funny her laugh was, and how funny Myriam is, and we both looked forward for the upcoming scout Christmas evening (Veillée de Nôel).
The next day, Myriam went missing, and you know the rest...

Anyone who knew Myriam can't but mention her faith, her smile and her amazing laugh.
What gives her parents, family and friends a bit of consolation, is their confidence that she's next to her creator, smiling peacefuly from up there.
When checking the video below, you'll have an idea of the amount of faith this family have.

I've read lots of articles, blog posts and comments about this heinous crime for the past few days, and I thought I'd share an opinion
First, Myriam was not raped! SHE WAS NOT RAPED, she fought it until her last breath.
Take a minute to read Liliane's post! 
Second, concerning the report on Kalam Ennas, I was there when they recorded it, and it was just after knowing that the murderer used to be in the Syrian intelligence (which explains his cold blood) and that he might escape somehow! 
All what the family was saying is that they will act IF and only IF he gets released somehow.
If he gets released, not only we should act against him, but also against the whole cabinet, the officials and the president, and R.I.P. our government.
Third, this is no sectarian crime, and the family knows that. He's just a psychopath that should stay alone in a prison for the rest of his life.
Since everyone is thinking about keeping a pepper spray or a taser gun with them, it is important that we all join Myriam, the Achkar family, friends and Patriarch Bechara Rahi for a mass in Bkerki, tomorrow (Sunday) at 10h00 am to pray for Myriam and shout for justice. For more info check this facebook event.
Myriam, May your soul rest in peace, we will never forget you.

LONDON

After the success of the 'Missing Z Domination' campaign on Facebook and all related posts and comics, most of you knew that I was the winner of Zaatar w Zeit's competition, and the prize was a trip to London for 6 days + Hotel + Breakfast + Class A football game ticket!
First of all, a BIG thank you goes to Zaatar w Zeit for the beautiful prize and because everything was perfect there!

I can easily say that I went through all over London... Ok except China town.
From Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and London eye to London Bridge, Saint Paul's Cathedral and all around the amazing huge parks!
And since I was there on Halloween, I enjoyed the fully crowded streets of the Covent Garden, Oxford and Piccadilly circuses with all kind of scary/funny costumes, and I enjoyed the London Dungeon at it's best, plus a 5D laser ride!

And to make my visit perfect, I went to Stamford Bridge to watch the amazing Chelsea vs Arsenal game, that ended 5 - 3 (lucky me) for Arsenal unfortunately! (since I was a Blues fan back then... back to roots now ;) )

Enjoy the photos.

Welcome to Stamford Bridge

41,801 fans! Including me.

The breathtaking Saint Paul's Cathedral. 

No photos inside. Yeah right :P

And the protesters outside

Tower of London

London Bridge

Wellington Arch

Buckingham Palace (after the changing of the guards)

The Chimes of Big Ben at 12 o'clock.

The wonderful leaning Big Ben!

الحرية والعدالة لفلسطين - Next to Big Ben

London Eye :) with the Aquarium penguin

From up there!

Saint James' Park

Amy Winehouse.

Obama next to the president :P

El Führer with something stuck in his nose.

Bruce Willis. Amazing details.

Hyde Park

Kensington Palace gardens.

For landscape photographers, Hyde park and Saint James' park are the places to be, especially in autumn.

I got a small conclusion from this trip:

• London is a very beautiful, clean and organized city, and people there were very nice and respectful (when I was there at least). And just to mention, England doesn't have any independence day and was never occupied.
• Lebanon is a very beautiful, unclean and disorganized country, and people here are very arrogant and mean (for my last 25 years). And just to mention, Lebanon has many independence days, and was occupied by more then 5 countries.

If you find this conclusion logic, then good luck!