I won't go vote and that's that

So what happened on February 14, 2009? It was the 4th anniversary of Rafic Hariri's assassination (Check the archive for more details). We have a new "martyr", I am saddened to see another Lebanese die due to such events, but I also apologize from refraining to call him a martyr. We have seriously over-used this word, it has become a complete cliché and an equivalent to propaganda.

My take on that Saturday:
1- Too much traffic
2- Opposition Media interviewing people who had no clue why they came to the demonstration, or maybe they interviewed more and only chose to broadcast the stupid ones. Well don't worry, this is what 14 march TVs do as well.
3- I did not listen to the speeches, call me boring, but weren't they the same as the previous years?
4- Someone died, an image we have seen happen in previous years between the Druze, the Shiites and the Sunnis.
5- Once again, the hate that politicians feed on, it's the hate. Like that witch in the woods who kept feeding the baby so he can fatten up so she can eat him later on. Lebanese people are that boy, fat with hatred, and the politicians are the witch, only uglier than her.

I won't go vote because I want neither faction in power.
I won't go vote because I don't like the system in the first place.
I won't go vote because I will not ackowledge the system, the politicians or their stupid non-existant electoral program.
I won't go vote because I do not need the 100$ they might give me. D7ashouwa.

Everyone else? If you want, go ahead and vote. If not, then join me on June 7th, I will be protesting alone watching an american series, or Iranian, your choice.

Sect no longer referenced, a useful step?

So as a comment on this post "A Nineteenth Sect, or None at All?", I thought I'd document it here as well. So here you go:

Probably such step is more useful on a minor level, someone applying for a job, etc…

Definitely on the big scale it's nothing but a cute new addition (more like retraction) from our system. I agree with you, even though it might not be life changing, it is still something i'd definitely do, when i have time.

The steps to follow in order to have a non-sectarian country, to have a completely secular country is to remove any reference to our religion from our civil registry, and to have the parliament, the ministry, the president be voted for their qualifications and their electoral program and not their sect.
The final step is to have all Lebanese people, residents and expatriates remove any sectarian reference and xenophobia from their mind, that can be arranged with some sort of futuristic machine that can only target religious neurons in your head.
And then we live happily ever after

Civil Registry to no longer contain info about one`s religion

Every Lebanese can now remove any reference to religion from his or her Civil Registry record. This is the latest decision taken by Interior Minister Ziad Baroud

Here's an article on how removing any affiliation with religion from your lebanese civil registry will have positive consequences.

Lebanese soon to be skiing in Dubai

One of the greatest traits in which Lebanon is known, is its white vast winter to spring lasting snow. I remember the school trip we had every year and I remember from which region seeing the snow begins.

It's been a couple of days that we have been having a relatively warm weather, a spring like weather, no one denies that it's actually a great weather, but it's not the time for such weather yet. There is a system, there is a cycle. Lebanon is widely known for its 4 diverse seasons. What happened?

It's been sunny for the past 4 days, a large part of the snow has melted because it wasn't that deep in the first place. We went there today for a ride on a snowmobile, and to our surprise, we reached the beginning of Faraya there was no snow. When we reached the ski slopes, we found many brown patches.

This is not very normal, it's scary to think that we're going to lose this amazing privilege we have. The weather is not changing, it's the climate. I am not sure how much Global Warming has as an effect on other countries, but I saw its impact in my own eyes today.


Having said that, whatever is left of the snow attracted thousands of people to Faraya today, skiers, snowboarders, riding ATVs and snowmobiles, picnics... and best of all? Just look at the picture below, Lebanese people never seize to enjoy themselves, relax and be cool. It is crazy! So much traffic, so much crowd, it was a beautiful thing to see, I felt Lebanon was alive. The snowmobile was indeed exhilirating and most fun.

Gaza Aftermath in Pictures

Click on image to view more pictures.

Decreased costs of mobile services effective March 1st

Lebanon has one of the most expensive mobile services and
subscriptions in the world. Lately, the Ministry of
Telecommunications, which is currently led by Minister Gibran Bassil,
has launched a new decree effective March 1st, 2009, to decrease the
subscription by 10$ for postpaid lines, and the 1 minute call by 2
cents (0.02 $). As for the prepaid lines, they will extend the period
allowed to stay without recharging units by 2 months making it a total
of 3 months.

They are still not great, and don't include any new services (3G?),
but definitely better than what we have now.

I was hoping they would also come up with charging by the second
instead of the minute (for example, if you make a call of 1 minute and
10 seconds, you get charged for 2 minutes). Fingers crossed, maybe in
the next decade.

Global Warming Impact on Clothing Trend

Is it me or is Global Warming really affecting the way women are
dressing these days. Now that the winter in Lebanon is no longer as
cold as it used to be, if you have noticed, sweaters now are no longer
long-sleeved but short sleeved!

Civil Marriage, are you with or against?

Civil marriage is still non existent in Lebanon. People from Lebanon still travel to other countries, such as Cyprus, Turkey and other to have a civil marriage.

I have family, cousins, friends who travelled to Cyprus to get a civil marriage. And it's still status unknown in Lebanon.

I know it's a long shot, but if you had a civil marriage or you're planning on getting married this way, kindly help me out on this statistical research am doing to collect or at least have a certain idea about the number of civil married couples in Lebanon.

Please send an email to lebanonburnedtoash[@]gmail[dot]com, with the subject Civil Marriage and stating whether you did and in what year or if you're planning to.