I was driving from Tripoli to Beirut yesterday when I was surprised with a haze covering the area from Zouk all the way to Khaldeh. It was actually the first time for me to see a haze that thick on the coastline, even flights were halted for a couple of hours at Beirut airport.
Here’s a couple of photos that I found on Facebook taken by Mr. Mohamad Mashnouk around sunset. You’d think the first one was taken in Dubai.
The Lebanese wine seems to be gaining a good popularity in the world because of its fine and unique taste. I recall reading several articles in world newspapers and magazines about the numerous vineyards we have in the north and Bekaa, and here’s one of the latest articles published in The New York Times about Chateau Musar.
The one consistent thing about the wines is how inconsistent they are, as Mr. Hochar might say. Each vintage is profoundly individual, partly, no doubt, because wine from Lebanon, one of the oldest wine regions in the world, is so unusual, and partly because Mr. Hochar makes so little use of modern winemaking techniques, which might serve to file away Musar’s distinctive edges.
“The dimension of taste in Lebanon is different than anywhere else,” he said. “Not better, but different. Better has no meaning.”
In a world full of wines trying to be the best, many people find it refreshing to see a wine simply trying to be itself. Source
Minister Nicolas Sehnaoui announced on twitter yesterday that unlimited internet quota from 12AM to 7AM has been approved by the government and will be activated as soon as the decision is published in the official gazette.
Some ISPs already have the unlimited night traffic offered to some of there users depending to which telephone exchange office they’re connected. My parents subscription with IDM in Beirut for example gets double the speed and unlimited traffic at night, while my IDM subscription in Aramoun doesn’t because they claim it didn’t pass some “feasibility test” that was performed.
Anyway, I hope it doesn’t take too much time before we get that feature activated for everyone!
No it’s not like really planting a cedar tree into some electronic device! But a research team at the American University of Beirut discovered that cedar tree shaped antennas are ideal for use in some wireless devices.
The team found that the geometry of the cedar, based on repetitive triangular parts, allows a cedar-shaped antenna to operate at multiple frequencies, which makes it suitable for many types of wireless devices such as mobile phones.
Karim Kabalan, professor and chairman of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, was the mastermind behind the design, after two years of searching for an antenna that would be easy and inexpensive to fabricate and innovative, veering away from the usual rectangular and circular shapes. Source
The Lebanese Phalanges should be credited for the design though, it looks pretty much like their schematic cedar.
Thanks to @mkdubai
You’ve got to check this old photos directory of Lebanon by the digital documentation center at AUB, which I discovered through one of Sietske’s latest posts. It has more than 12,000 photos categorized by location (Mohafaza and Qadaa), and you can easily spend hours browsing them!
Two Lebanese female athletes made the cut to the Olympic games in London this summer. The first is Andrea Paoli, a taekwondo player, who will be the first Lebanese ever to participate in the senior category of martial arts at the Olympics. And the second is Tvine Moumjohglian who will be representing Lebanon in table tennis for the first time in 16 years. All the luck to both of them!
You can read more about Andrea and Tvine in this article by Al-Arabiya, and about the participation of Lebanon at the Olympics throughout the history here on Wikipedia.
Kimi Raikkonen is currently on a short visit to Lebanon for the launching of Lotus Cars in Beirut, and according to this news report, he had a meeting with president Sleiman and announced that he’s willing to put the Lebanese flag on his Lotus Renault car during this season.
The report also mentions talks about building an F1 circuit in Lebanon, but is sounds more like wishful thinking, at least to me!
Now that the weather feels good for people to go outdoors, the Ouzai road is literally turning into a racing circuit on weekends with tens of bikes everywhere either racing or pulling wheelies. And although it’s a two-way road, some bikers just choose to do their stunts while driving in the opposite direction of traffic!
The video below I shot yesterday shows how does it feel like to drive there with a car on a Sunday.
Gap announced in a press release few days ago that it will be soon be opening the first Gap store in Lebanon after coming to an agreement with Azadea, the group that is well known for carrying famous brands like Zara, Mango, and others.
Gap Inc. also announced plans to open stores in three additional growing apparel markets in 2012:
Lebanon: Gap Inc. has signed a new agreement with Azadea group, one of the largest retailers in the Middle East, to open the first Gap store in Lebanon later this year. One of the main fashion centers of the region, Lebanon provides an ideal environment to introduce Gap brand. Since 2006, Gap Inc. has expanded its presence across the Middle East. Source
I’ve always loved their hoodies by the way, now you don’t have to wait for someone coming from abroad to get one!
After a meeting between our prime minister Najib Mikati and Georgia’s prime pinister Nika Gilauri, it was announced yesterday that visa restrictions will be lifted on Lebanese willing to visit Georgia, but it wasn’t mentioned when will this decision take effect.
So now we can add Georgia to the following list of countries where Lebanese can go without the need of a visa approval.
Africa
Americas
Asia
Europe
Oceania
