News I

so there i was shopping for the pad, u know the essentials, soup, chicken, and meat... when i caught a whiff of something rotten.



i had walked up to the meat section at Geant Supermarket (now operated by Sultan Supermarket [a kuwaiti chain]) at City Mall Dora, called on one of the butchers and asked him for a 'filet'.
he picked up a vacuum packed piece, from amongst about a dozen packs, and proceeded to open it on the wooden cutting board.
after slicing the the fat off with his knife he asked me how i wanted it, to which i responded in 200 gram parts.
he cut a piece and placed it bare on the metal of the scale to get an idea of the size / weight ratio for the rest of the parts.
he then proceeded to cut the rest of the filet into parts, then packed, weighed, and priced the whole.

i caught a whiff of something rotten when he handed me the pack over the counter - i disregarded it as insignificant at the time.

the checkout lady picked up something too, as she sniffed her hands after passing the meat over the scanner.

once home - 20 minutes later - i opened the pack and BAM it hit me like a doubledecker bus... the stench of rot, much like egg rot...

i was still in denial, since the meat looked ok, so i picked up a piece and asked my neighbor to smell it... she almost passed out. her exact words were, "get it out of here!"

seeing as i had paid around 20 USD for the filet, i felt it my duty to not let this pass quietly.

so i got in the car and drove back to Geant (Sultan) with the meat tightly sealed in a plastic bag (as is in its original packaging).

once there, i approached the customer service counter and asked that i speak with the manager.

when the manager arrived i explained to him that not 30 minutes ago, i had purchased this (gave him the bag) meat from Geant (Sultan) and it was not only bad, but by the smell of it, it most likely would have sent me to the hospital upon consumption.

the manager responded with, "was it vacuum packed?" yes, i responded, the butcher opened, sliced and cut it up in front of me.

to which he replied, "if it was vaccum packed, then we're not liable... it happens"

"it happens???" i thought to myself.

so i asked him, "are you telling me that the meat that your butcher opened, sliced and cut in your very own meat section is not your liability?" "what would have happened had i eaten the meat and gone to the hospital?"

he responded with, "you want us to cook the meat and eat it together, nobody will go to the hospital" "if you want, we can exchange the meat for you, or reimburse you"

at that point i realized that he wasn't particularly concerned, so i said, "you seem more concerned with getting rid of me than with dealing with the problem, which by the way, is much larger than a guy complaining to customer service about his meat, your butcher used his knife on this meat, he put this meat on the cutting board, and weighed it bare on the metal scale... and didn't wipe down, disinfect, or clean any of these items after processing my meat, so if this meat is in any way infected / infested / dangerous, so will all the meat become that passes through that butcher's workstation."

"you've lost a customer for life, not because of your bad meat, but because you are unwilling to acknowledge that it is bad which puts a lot of people's lives and health at risk, and i assure you that once i tell my mother (2immeh), and she tells her friends over coffee (niswen el foron), you're going to have a real problem on your hands - angry Lebanese mothers, wives, and tantet"

"so good luck and you can keep your money, my conscience is not for sale"

tags: geant supermarket, sultan supermarket, kuwait, city mall, dora, beirut, lebanon, lebanese, meat, rotten, infected, infested, bad, damaged, dangerous, rotten eggs, stench, health hazard, bio hazard, july 2008

-finkployd- Bio Hazards on Blogging Beirut

tags: july 2008, lebanon, beirut, downtown, solidere, illegal, st george, georges, yacht club, liberate, new government, lebanese, buoy, cut, ropes

-finkployd- Justice on Blogging Beirut

the first photo looks like it's straight out of an Armani photoshoot...

Sowar Magazine publishes “Snapshots from the Lebanese Civil War (1975-1990)"


high res

1983 - While crowds show their support for Yasser Arafat in the streets of Tripoli, Palestinians take to the streets to fight dissidents supported by the Syrian army.

Jean Guichard/ Corbis

(2 more photos and info after the jump)

Spring weather has been rather erratic this year, I even dreamt that it had snowed overnight... but now that summer is looming around the weekend, brides and grooms are out in full force for the wedding season... and we sure know how to throw a good wedding!



tags: wedding season, bride, groom, photography, ex-f1, lebanon, lebanese, beirut, downtown, grass

-finkployd- Weddings on Blogging Beirut

Lebanon commemorates Maxime Chaya's South Pole crossing with a fiscal stamp worth 1000LL...



tags: maxime chaya, fiscal stamp, lebanese, government, lebanon, beirut, max, maxim, chaaya, south pole, antarctica, everest, mountaineer

-finkployd- Maxime Chaya on Blogging Beirut

Ok, so the article is in Arabic, from the Al Akhbar Newspaper, but the gist is that the world's first 'facebook' pub has just opened its doors in Beirut, in Monot to be exact.

I haven't been there yet, but it seems they've got the whole facebook theme going (lawsuit in the making?) with Super Poke Shots, Walls, et al.

.. ونزل الـFacebook «فايس بوك» على الأرض. فأصبح لبنان أول بلد في العالم يمتلك حانة خاصة بالموقع الأكثر شهرة في العالم «الفايس بوك». منذ أشهر قليلة انتقل الموقع الإلكتروني للتواصل الاجتماعي الذي اكتسب شهرة كبيرة في السنوات القليلة الماضية من الحيّز الافتراضي الإلكتروني إلى الحيّز الواقعي، حيث افتُتحت في العاصمة اللبنانية بيروت وفي شارع «مونو» حانة مخصّصة لروّاد الـ«فايس بوك» وأهله. «منذ حوالى خمسة أشهر أطلعنا إدارة الموقع في الولايات المتحدة الأميركية على فكرة إنشاء المحل، وأخذنا الموافقة على ذلك» يوضح شربل مونّس مالك الحانة ومديرها. ويؤكّد «أنّ الاسم ليس مسروقاً أو مستخدَماً بطريقة غير شرعية»، مضيفاً «إنّ إدارة الموقع الرئيسية في الولايات المتحدة بصدد إرسال ممثلين عن الـ«فايس بوك» للاطّلاع على المطعم، لكونها الحانة الوحيد في العالم التي تحمل هذا الاسم». المحل مؤلّف من طابقين، ولديه قدرة على استيعاب حوالى 80 شخصاً. الديكور والأكسسوارات مصمّمة للتماشي مع أجواء الموقع كما يبدو على صفحات الإنترنت. فألوان المحلّ «فايسبوكيّة»، أي أبيض وأزرق، كما يعلّق أحد الساهرين «نحن هنا، نشعر كأننا داخل صفحة فايس بوك على شاشة الكمبيوتر، الأجواء نفسها والأصدقاء كثر»، أمّا المشروبات، فسُمّيت بمصطلحات خاصة بالـ «فايس بوك»، ويوضح بيار المسؤول عن البار أنه «أحياناً يرسل أحد الزبائن الشباب shot poke إلى إحدى الصبايا، كبادرة للتعارف، وهذا عادةً ما يحصل على الـ«فايس بوك» بشكل افتراضي»، وتطول لائحة المشروبات «الفايسبوكية» مثل «super poke shot»، وFacebook sky وFacebook dark وغيرها من المشروبات التي يجري تناقلها كهدايا بين الزوّار تماماً كما يحصل بين الـ «فايسبوكيين» على شبكة الإنترنت. وكما هناك «حائط» (Wall) على الموقع الإلكتروني خاص بكل مشترك في الموقع كذلك خصّص المحلّ مساحة كبيرة من الطابق الثاني حيث وُضع لوح يكتب عليه الزوّار تعليقاتهم وأفكارهم وحتى يرسلون منه إشارات إلى آخرين لا يعرفونهم.

المحل مثّل فسحة التقاء «الفايسبوكيين»، حيث إنّ الكثيرين منهم تعرّفوا بعضهم إلى بعض في البدء عبر مجموعة المحل على موقع (Facebook pub)، وجاؤوا إلى المحل للتعارف «واقعيّاً» على الآخرين... وهكذا نشأ العديد من الصداقات والعلاقات بين الشباب والصبايا عبر المحل، «حتى إنّ هناك ثنائيّاً تزوّج بعد لقائهما في المحل» يشير مونّس، إضافة إلى الحشرية التي تدفع بعض المارّين للدخول إلى المحلّ ثم التعرّف إلى من فيه عبر الإنترنت بتبادل العناوين والمعلومات والمواقع...

«إذا نسيتوا الكاميرا الخاصة بكم، فلا تهتمّوا» عبارة مكتوبة على مجموعة المحل على الـ«فايس بوك»، وذلك لأنّ موظّفي المطعم يقومون بخدمة إضافية تعدّ من الميزات الأساسية للموقع وهي الصور الشخصية، فهم يقومون بتصوير الساهرين، وإنزال صورهم على موقع المجموعة، «وذلك بعد أخذ الموافقة طبعاً» يقولها مونّس، مؤكّداً على احترام خصوصيّة الزبائن. أما نشاطات الحانة، فمتعدّدة، ويتضمن برنامجها الأسبوعي سهرات مخصّصة للأغاني القديمة والسحر وتوزيع بعض الجوائز على الساهرين...

tags: facebook pub, beirut, monot, achrafieh, lebanon, ashrafieh, nightlife, bar, club, street, lebanese, world first

-finkployd- Nightlife News on Blogging Beirut

TYRE, Lebanon (AFP) - Almost half of the areas in southern Lebanon contaminated with cluster bombs dropped by Israel in 2006 have been cleared, a UN official said on Wednesday.

"Forty three percent of the areas affected by the cluster bombs dropped during the July 2006 war have been cleared", UN Mine Action Coordination Centre for South Lebanon spokeswoman Dalya Farran said.

"Efforts are currently underway to clean 49 percent of the contaminated areas," she told AFP, adding that work has yet to begin in eight percent of the affected areas.

She said 970 contaminated sites had been found in an area spanning 39 million square meters (420 million square feet).

Since the war's end in August 2006, cluster bombs have caused "256 civilian casualties between deaths and injuries," according to Farran.

She added that there have also been 51 casualties from the Lebanese army and international forces in the area.

Farran said Israel had to make known "the number of bombs that were dropped as well as their locations."

"Israel not yet responded to this repeated request from the United Nations so far," Farran said.

The United Nations has repeatedly asked Israel to provide a map of the locations of cluster bombs and mines in southern Lebanon in order to facilitate clearing efforts.

The United Nations says Israel dropped about one million bombs on Lebanon between July 12 and August 14, 2006, and that 40 percent of them did not explode when they hit the ground. Most of them are located in towns and fields in southern Lebanon.

tags: cluster bombs, lebanon, israeli, 2006 war, fascism, mass murder, war crimes, lebanese, south lebanon, 1 million bombs, israeli war crimes, united nations

so on sunday they elected the new president - we happened to be in batroun having lunch at jammal - samak wou 2raydis wou lobster. on the way back, racing with a gt3rs, we come to a grinding halt against a wall of traffic... damn, must be an accident, haram hadan met.
then we hear gunfire... they're coming! run for your lives!
but alas it wasn't that exciting, just the village people of amchit (home of the new president) blocking highways with mid-riffed lebanese girls dishing out beklewa wou mlabbas wou champagna to mark the glorious day. after all it's the lebanese way of celebrating politics ;)





(more photos after the jump)