BetLZ News 1.28.10

This post will be updated throughout today! Check back!

Ethiopian crash jet flight recorders found off Lebanon / BBC News

Lebanon Byblos Bank 2009 Net Profit Up 20% At $146.1 Million / Nasdaq

Spain takes command of UN force in Lebanon / AFP

Dazzling haute couture rises from Lebanon's ruins / Reuters

Lebanon's foreign domestic workers fight back at abuse / AFP



~LZ

Jihadists Don't Blog

BG, we are "bridge bloggers," oh, and apparently jihadists don't blog (i have this great image right now of a jihadist with a giant beard, osama like turban and sandals squinting at c omputer screen trying to pour out his emotions on a blog...haha)

The BBC just published an article about blogging in the Arab World

The studied, organized by the Berkman Center for the Internet and Society at Harvard, looked at 35,000 active Arabic blogs (ie that are written in Arabic)

Their goal "was to produce a baseline assessment of the networked public sphere in the Arab Middle East, and its relationship to a range of emergent issues, including politics, religion, culture and international affairs."

They concluded: (1) the Arabic blogosphere is organized primarily around countries, (2) Egypt formed the largest cluster on the Arabic blogging map. The study also singled out Saudi Arabia, Kuwait & Syria (3) That within a given country, the make-up of the blogging cluster is varied,

and

(4)

The report also identified two large cross-national groups of what the authors call "bridge bloggers." One group is located in the countries of the eastern Mediterranean and frequently blogs in English in addition to, or instead of, Arabic. ...

Report co-author John Palfrey noted that these bridge bloggers were important because they serve as cultural interpreters for many in the West. Bridge blogs, he said, are often where "the water-cooler chatter" of the Arabic-speaking world gets into the wider public domain.

:P

I was a bit surprised that Egypt would be the top considering the arrests of bloggers that have been taking place there, but I guess when you live in a repressive society, blogging (provided it's not blocked by the governement) is the best way to express your anger and connect to the public...

Check it out here

~LZ

Excuse me I am a girl

Recently I came across a bunch of articles that caught my attention.
The first article was from BBC and it was about the UAE government targeting "masculine women". The government's entire explanation for this is to "help women avoid what is seen as delinquent behavior", otherwise known to the rest of the civilized world as homosexuality.

This is the link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7940501.stm

The other "gem" I found online was an interview by the NYTimes Magazine with Jehan Sadat, the widow of the late Anwar Sadat. Upon being asked as to the status of gays in Islam or Egypt, she answered the following: "Homosexuality is against Islam. Here in Egypt, there are not many homosexuals, not like the United States. There are some. We’ve had them since the Pharaohs."

My usual attitude in life is: to each his/her own.

But I find it weird that she really believes that there are more homosexuals in the US than Egypt. Now to be fair, she goes on to say that it is "more or less closet gay" that they have in Egypt, but still. A weird answer to a weird question anyway, I really did not see how this question connected with the rest of the interview anyhow.

Here's the link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/magazine/15wwln-q4-t.html


Oh, and as an aside: my friend (who is also gay) and I were talking the other night and we decided to start using the word faggot extensively in our daily conversations and interactions with other people. Just use it for everything and to everything, thus rendering it part of the mainstream and by doing so, make it an overused, banal, non-offensive part of the English vocab.

PS: This idea is not based on any scientific background or on any previously successful similar experiment. Oh, and I was drunk when I came up with it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but chances of success are pretty close to zero.

BG

Drama with a twist

Who doesn't enjoy a theatrical performance every once in a while? What about one were the cast of actors is all men (hmm, I know I'd like that!). Now how about a theatrical performance in an old dilapidated prison in one of the highest security facilities in Lebanon were all the actors are convicted men?!
Yep, you read that right.




Zeina Daccache, the director and creator of this prison drama, is actually a popular actress in Lebanon. She plays a "funny" character on basmat watan, a popular political satirical show in Lebanon.
You can find an interview with her at the following link:
http://www.banadoura.com/articles.php?id=53

and by the way, I'm loving that banadoura.com site. If for nothing else, just for the name.

Back to the theater story. So this whole idea was supposed to be some sort of drama therapy for the prisoners. I liked the idea of it. I know drama and acting can be therapeutic, and very enjoyable especially when used as a means for self-expression. I certainly loved acting (way back in high school), and it was very useful for me in terms of self expression especially in terms of escaping into a totally different persona and getting out of "my shell" so to speak.

You can find a BBC story at the following link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7914973.stm

And a YouTube video from LBCI at the following link (in Arabic):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWcBOJLYZPw

Enjoy

BG