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A Lebanese Blog

Tag: Lebanon

  • Ogero Website Finally Got a Makeover

    Ogero’s website finally just got a very long due makeover! I’m personally used to paying my landline bill online and I absolutely hated how hideous it was… the design was so outdated that one can even doubt the information that were available there were left from the nineties.

    Anyway, so I wanted to check my bill today and was surprised with the new version (right now in beta). The website has several new functionalities now such as more controls to the members area allowing subscribers to activate/deactivate phone and internet services, in addition to of course paying bills and viewing previous invoices. Moreover, an online directory has been made available to search for a subscriber’s phone number.

    And for those planning to apply for a DSL subscription, a simple form can be used to check the maximum speed supported by their phone line.

    Still, some little things can definitely be improved such as making the directory design homogeneous with website look and feel, and changing the way you select a phone number when paying a phone bill because it is a bit confusing right now, but all in all I’m quite satisfied with this new upgrade.

    A mobile app is also expected to be released soon by the way, so stay tuned if you prefer to manage your account on the go.

  • 25 Plans for 2018 New Year’s Eve in Lebanon

    With new year’s eve just around the corner, chances are a lot of people haven’t figured yet where are they going to spend it. So if you’re among these, here are 25 events and parties happening around town to help you decide.

    1. New Year’s Eve 2018 at Cafe de Penelope Badaro
    2. New Year’s Eve 2018 at Casa Lucia Byblos
    3. New Year’s Eve 2018 at Gefinor Rotana
    4. New Year’s Eve 2018 at Grand Hills Hotel and Spa Broumana
    5. A Wild New Year’s Party at Kempinski’s Pier 78
    6. New Year’s Eve 2018 at Le Gray
    7. NYE Celebration at Main Street
    8. NYE at Locale Mar Mikhael
    9. C U NXT YEAR | New Year 2018
    10. New Year’s Eve – BURJ on BAY Hotel
    11. NYE 2018: Temple of Pop
    12. New Year’s Dinner at Qasra
    13. New Year at Venezia 2018
    14. New Year Eve 2018 at Byblos Sur Mer – Cafe Tournesol
    15. New Year’s Eve 2018 at The Peninsula Restaurant & Gardens
    16. New Year’s Eve 2018 at Bar ThreeSixty
    17. NYE House Party at Coop d’Etat
    18. NYE 2018 // Down Memory Lane
    19. SAYF NYE
    20. New Year’s Eve 2018 at Colibri Hotel
    21. Glittering New Year’s Eve 2018 at Trumpet Cocktails
    22. New Year’s Eve 2018 at Bay Lodge
    23. CLOSR to: 2018
    24. New Years Eve 2018 | Twenty4 Gala Dinner
    25. New Year at the Jazz Bar 2018

    For even more ideas, you can check this list by Lebtivity.

  • Should Uber Be Blamed For Rebecca Dykes Murder?

    I kept following the news and what people wrote on blogs and social media over the last few days about the murder of Rebecca Dykes on Friday night, and I found it quite astonishing how almost everybody was steering the conversation from Uber’s lack of responsibility to blaming the murder on our sexist culture.

    I do acknowledge that we have a problem in our Lebanese society. Some women are exposed to domestic violence, others suffer from sexual harassment… but whether you like it or not this is unfortunately part of life and nothing is going to change overnight, just like you can’t expect gun violence to suddenly end in the US. Small progress however is being made thanks to the efforts of NGOs like Abaad and Kafa for example.

    Still, the problem with the case of Rebecca Dykes doesn’t only lie in our culture which looks down on women, but also in the fact that Uber massively fucked up by allowing a driver with a criminal record to join their platform while people usually opt to use their service to feel in safer hands.

    According to Uber’s webite, a clean Judicial Record is a minimum requirements for those who want to drive for them. Therefore, this incident could have been avoided if someone did their job right by rejecting this driver from getting on board… And to make things worse, they didn’t even issue a public statement to at least condemn the crime or apologize for the violation they did. On the other hand, when you visit their Facebook page, you ironically get greeted by an image with the tag line “Cheers to Safer Nightlife”. RIGHT!!!

    Uber also had a similar problem in UK earlier this year by the way and were stripped of their licence in London for failure to report criminal offenses and lack of performing driver background checks. So it’s only logical to hold them accountable for doing the same here as well, in hope of at least getting a straight explanation about what went wrong on their side.

    Update:

    Uber reached out to me to give their side and below is what they wrote:

    “All drivers that use the Uber app in Lebanon are fully licensed by the government and must have a clear judicial record.“ – Uber spokesperson

    • We can confirm that the driver arrested for this horrific attack had a clean background check and all the correct government permits.
    • We are in close contact with the authorities and we’re assisting their investigation in any way we can.

  • Eb7ar – Helping Underprivileged Children Stay Warm This Season

    A friend of mine recently introduced me to a relatively young NGO called “Eb7ar” (or Sailing in Arabic) that serves to help needy communities.

    They are currently organizing their first campaign (A journey to warmth) which aims to provide children aged between 3 and 12 years with basic clothing to keep them warm during winter time, and for that they have came to an agreement with a local supplier to provide them with a package comprising a scarf, a hat, gloves, socks and a cover, at a cost of 15,000L.L per package.

    However, they unfortunately can’t do it all by themselves, and to help them reach the maximum number of kids, Eb7ar is calling for donations as little as 15,000L.L in order for them to reach their intended target to keep as much children as they can warm this season.

    You can get in contact with them through Facebook and Instagram if you wish to take part in their campaign.

  • Bsharri Soon To Be Home of The Tallest Jesus Statue in The World

    According to this article yesterday in Al-Joumhouria, a 58 meters tall statue of Jesus Christ will soon be unveiled in Bsharri by Lebanese sculptor Rudy Rahme and it will be the tallest in the world. The current tallest statue of Jesus is “Christ the King” which resides in a town called Świebodzin in western Poland and is 33 meters tall.

    I’m personally not a fan of putting efforts and energy to break world records as I believe they don’t add much to the country… Still, I hope this statue helps attract more tourists and people to northern Lebanon. Bsharri for example has a very nice biographical museum for Gibran Khalil Gibran and it is alone enough reason to visit the village.

  • Why is Lebanon Acting Schizophrenic About Gal Gadot?

    People at the censorship bureau don’t seem to be able to make up their mind about Gal Godot. Few years ago they had no problem with her appearing in movies like Fast & Furious, Batman v Superman, and Keeping up with the Joneses, until they suddenly decided to ban Wonder Woman back in May because she had the lead role in it.

    Fast forward to nowadays, just as several magazines chose Godot to be on their cover for their December issues, the much anticipated “Justice League” also got banned two weeks ago because she was among its cast. I took the above photo for example at Librarie Antoine a few days ago and it’s obvious the authorities did not find anything wrong with a magazine having Gal Gadot as its main subject, so why not allow a movie starring her as well?

    DVD rips of banned movies eventually end up flooding the market and it isn’t like superhero movie fans are going to miss seeing them, so it’s definitely about time the censorship bureau reconsider their role and the decisions they take.

  • Top 20 Things To Do During Christmas Season This Year

    It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Beirut with decorations at malls and on most streets! And with so much happening around town these days, it’s definitely an opportunity for you to get with family and friends to do something fun. So here are 20 event suggestions from Lebtivity all happening over the coming days for you to get inspired.

    1. Christmas In Action 2017
    2. Christmas Concerts – Beirut Chants 2017
    3. Le Casting De Père Noël
    4. Santa & the Chocolate Factory
    5. Once Upon a December
    6. Sustainable Christmas Fair 2017
    7. Christmas Tree Lighting Concert
    8. Marché Solidaire de Noël 2017
    9. CINE – NOËL 2017
    10. Mike Massy Christmas Concert at Maghdouché
    11. Escape Games Beirut – The New Smart Fun Activity!
    12. Riyada Youth Winter Innovation Program
    13. CONCERTS DE NOËL
    14. Tripoli’s Souks de Tripoli
    15. Byblos Christmas Tree & Village 2017-2018
    16. DJ MARC Présente: Les Folies de Noël
    17. Christmas at the Villa 2017
    18. Afkart – Christmas Creations 2017
    19. A Baroque Noël at Stark Creative Space
    20. Christmas Village 2017 at Arnaaoon

  • Lebanon To Introduce Biometric Verification for SIM Cards?

    Registration of SIM cards and mobile handsets is nothing new in Lebanon as you are currently required to present your ID card and have a photo of you taken on the spot when buying a new SIM, and handsets registration was introduced back in 2013 before getting canceled a year later.

    However, it seems like the ministry of telecom is looking to up their standards of verifying SIM cards by planning to soon introduce biometric information which I find to be quite weird. I mean I totally understand using biometric checks for ID card or passports, but why would you want to do the same for something that is “mobile” in nature and can easily transferred from one person to another? The only logical explanation is that someone is simply arranging yet another corrupt deal. We’re nearing the end of year and they probably need to have their budget fixed… but then again, who are we to doubt their intentions! 😀

    Anyway, what concerns me the most is why should we be forced to provide these critical information to two private companies who’s networks have been infiltrated by Israel a few years ago? (Anyone recalls the cases of Charbel Qazzi and Tarek Rabaa?) Such information about us should only be possessed by the government. And whoever thinks such measure will easily help identify suspect terrorists in the country is probably missing the fact that there a million other way to communicate securely other than using a SIM card…

    In all cases, you can check this report by LBCI about the matter. If this thing gets into effect, you will be given a deadline to register your SIM at authorized centers, otherwise your phone line will be deactivated.

  • The Only Lebanese Fashionista Worth Following on Instagram

    Just like almost everyone else, I spend my fair share of time on Instagram everyday and I come across all kind of “influencers” in my feed. From entrepreneurs with inspirational quotes on every photo, to gym rats, foodies, and fashionistas who are the worst of them all! And I simply hate the latters because of their artificial photos and all the fake stories they try to create around them.

    Forget all about their sponsored posts because we all whore ourselves nowadays, but some of the posts are just unbelievable. Breakfast in bed? Wine in the bathtub? Joyful 9 months pregnancy shots? Happy family photos with 2 years old babies standing still? GIVE ME A BREAK!!!

    Neither breakfast in bed nor wine in the bathtub are actually possible, chances are you will have breadcrumbs all over the bed sheets and soapy water in your wine glass… And don’t get me started about pregnancy and kids, the last couple of months during pregnancy are not all glam and glitter for women, and those family photos with happy toddlers in them are just a myth. Trust me, I’m a father of two little boys…

     

    Thank u @dr_roy_moutran for always making me look beautiful ! You Rock !!! 🤜🏻

    A post shared by Jenn Zee (@bloggerwanabe) on

    So with all these “influencing fashionistas” around, I recently stumbled upon @BloggerWanaBe on Instagram which is a satirical account by Sara Zeaiter (AKA Jenn Zee) that aims to poke fun at all those fake photos and videos on Instagram. Some of her posts are actually quite hilarious and make you really wonder how much effort is put by other influencers into creating those “natural” photos and videos.

    Judging by her posts and stories so far she seems pretty cool, and funnily enough she has all it takes to become yet another fashionista with a followers count that just keeps increasing… so I guess it will be hard for her to turn down sponsored deals in the near future! 😉

    Anyway, make sure to follow her account @BloggerWanaBe because she seriously is the only fashionista worth following nowadays in Lebanon!

  • Nemr Abou Nassar Set To Appear on Showtime Comedy Club

    Nemr Abou Nassar is set to appear on Showtime Comedy Club tomorrow night (US time) in a special called “No Bombing in Beirut”.

    The one hour performance tackles misconceptions western people have about us here in the middle east and was shot in both Lebanon and Los Angeles, however it was edited in a way to show people from both ends of the world laughing at the same jokes to prove that we have more in common than we would think. It is an absolutely great achievement for Nemr to be featured on Showtime and it’s great to see talents like him and Wissam Kamal making it big outside Lebanon.

    The shows will air on Showtime tomorrow October 7th at 11PM Eastern Time (GMT -4).