The day Journalism was disgraced! - Apparently not by Julland-Posten

you know wuts the difference between danish newspapers and egyptian ones?
Actually not much. The formers dis-respect muslims and the laters dis-respect egyptians!
Which is better? The danish of-course, at least they are danish insulting non-dans ... ours are egyptian insulting egyptians! DUH!
How come? well! i'd certainly consider it an insult to my IQ when one of our top national newspapers - if not the top - thinks that i - as one of its several million readers - am soooo stupid that i wouldn't notice their CHEAP try to come around the latest Alexandrian churches crisis.

On the very first page of today's edition (Sunday), two adjacent pieces were published:

First one: A muslim man attacks the worshippers in a Masjed in Mansoura injuring an old man after al Maghreb prayer.
(Decode: Hey ppl, Pshycos are all over Egypt and they don't differentiate between Mosques and Churches. So don't Panic, we are working on a law that gives death sentence to ppl who attack churches and hospitalization for those who attack mosques)

Second one (right on it's right side): Two young men got killed trying to save a christian man. And it read: A tragic accident happend that demonstrates the deep and strong BONDS between fellow Muslims and Christians when two young men went into a sewage pipe trying to save a christian worker from choking, but ended up choking up with him and all three died. The incedent happened in "samallot" center in the governess of "Al Menya".
(Decode: No need, they didn't even have the courtesy to bluff, they said it straight: "demonstrates the deep and strong BONDS between fellow Muslims and Christians")

Now, since when does:
1. Accidents that happen in small villages and country side make it to the "FIRST PAGE" in ANY newspaper ANYWHERE in the globe?
2. The religious identity of the main characters in an accident report is highly stressed to that extent?
3. Picture this: a guy caught in the sewage pipe is desperatly calling for help and the two guys who happen to be there, instead of just logically rushing to help him, stop and ask him "hey you down there; we just have a small inquiry before we can give you a hand there; are you a christian or a muslim?" DUH!

The fact that we suffer from a blind-folded media is one thing, and the fact that this media underestimates the intelligence of its readers to that extent is one heck of a shame!

whatever happend to me, or whatever happened to the egyptians?!

I cannot even remember when was the last time i used public transportation. Allah blessed me with being a single child (although most of the time i don't see it as a bless really) and my parents could afford giving me my own little buggy that usually succeeds in it's job, getting me wherever i want w/o complaining.
Anyways, i woke up today and had already made up my mind on leaving the car completely and sorta come down to earth and use public trans. - turned out to be a HUGGGEEE mistake as will come laterz ... interesting how ppl can take such irrational decisions when they wake up!
I had two places to go: first, my faculty - having to drive - with all wut "driving" makes to my nervous system - all the way to Abasseya at 1pm (i.e rush hour) just to meet the Prof. for 10 min. wasn't really an appealling idea anyways. Second was to meet my dutch friend at metro station in Maadi to visit sm friends.
Anyways, starting off with a very open mind and a big smile to life - to the extent that i didn't even take a hand bag so that i'd feel more free - i walked down our street to take a microbus to Abasseya ... first irritation: The driver expects me to chop off my head and throw it outta the window and break my knees so that i'd be more flexible to be rolled over and squeezed in the 15 cm area of space that's still left between the mass of human flesh "stuffed" on the coach ... all just to make an extra room for an extra 1 pound. Why is it that every time i ride one of these human tuna cans called microbuses i feel like i'm beinged considered as a part of a cattle herd, where the shephered who manages to push more inside the fences makes more money!
Anyways ... tried to ignore that and, still smiling to life, went to collge, finished, and headed to the metro station. To my bad luck - and u'll know y - the metro came before i could make it to the women's wagon location on the platform, so i just went inside the first wagon i found ... like little stupid horror movie actors who always escape to the last place they should ever turn to - usually the attic btw, and i really wonder why it's Always the attic!
Anyways, as soon as i layed foot there, i found missed calls from my friend ... i called, talked bout where to meet, etc. and at the end i said "i'll call you when i get there inshaa Allah" ... of course all that was in English. Stupid me, how could i possibly even THINK about speaking in english in a metro. hell with her not-knowing arabic of course ... if i tell her to meet in maadi and she goes to maali, no problem, as long as i keep it arabic! Why? after a whole 5 min, and after i had changed my position two times, opened a folder of papers i was carrying and started reading - btw, does anyone have a CCNA book in arabic? coz that was the second terrible, horror movie stupidity like action i did - when i heard a very loud voice coming from the creature standing next to me - don't ask me what "IT" is coz i dared not look - saying in the egyptian version of english that turns all the "th" to "z" : "I WILL CALL YOU WHEN I GET ZERE INSHAA ALLAH" and then he added in arabic "is there an english translation for inshaa Allah?" ... WUT THE HECKKKKKK???!!! translate this ya #%#$$%^$^: "GHOTOOOOB" - not spelled well (coz if it were you wouldn't be able to read it anyways :P) but a dutch word for "get lost"!
ok, he did get lost before i could even process what just happened - took me about 10 min. anyways!
Al7amdullelah, lot of ppl left and i found a place by the door to sit and try to understand what just happened ... but then I focused my attention on another subject ... when did egyptians become that ill-mannered? my parents taught me when i was young that whenever and eldery person, man or woman, is standing, younger ones should always stand up and give them their places. And by any means, whenever a lady is standing, young or old, guys should stand up and let her sit, specially when it's crowded and there's a larger chance of friction between her and surrounding men! Where the heck did all that go??? i'm not talking bout young lads or boys, even moderate aged men nowadays don't have these manners at all. And a woman can be sitting there, with her 8 years old sitting large as life beside her and a 60 years old woman walks in, and the mother just moves her head away instead of telling her son to move!!! When did this come into egyptians? ... don't even try speaking about culture and low class ppl ... it WAS the low class ppl who most applied these manners when i was a child! No wonder that lady in her mid 50's looked at me like an alien when she walked in and i stood up and offered her my place. She kept insisting that i keep it and prayed for me and stuff! Wow, how rare can that be to find smone offering you his/her place out in this jungle to cause this lady all this shock at my behavior!
Ok, let's try to concentrate on studying again. I re-opened my papers and was lost there for about 10 min of concentration then i suddenly moved my eyes up, only to find the guy standing infront of me and giving me his side BENDING his head in an unbelievable angle with his eyes almost POPING outta his face and dropping on MMMMYYYY PAAAAPPPEEERRRRSSSS!!! OH MY GOD!!! ... if it was a newspaper or a magazine, i might have understood ... i see ppl doing that in trains or buses all the time outta curiosity ... but at least they KNOW wut they're reading ... what entertainment was it for that guy to look at an A4 paper all in english and has a bunsh of illustrated drawings for ROUTERS and NETWORK CONNECTIONS!!!!
Ok, i arrived at maadi, of course first thing was to chose a decent uncrowded spot where no one can possibly "OVERHEAR" my coming English call to my friend. Shoot, she's got more 20 min. Ok, let's take a walk outside the metro station. Again a stupid horror movie decision. As soon as i stepped into the street, a young man was heading towards me, pointing at me with his finger, i could practically feel his breath on my skin as i tried to move my face away and pass him by, hearing his loud voice in my ears "BLOOD DONATION" ... hell! all my blood already ran away you idiot!
Ok, cool down ... just walk away and enjoy the scenery! SCENERY?? WHAT SCENERY! IIIIII was the scenery ... almost everyone in that sreet was looking me up from head to toe ... why? i dunno ... but i noticed that everyone was doing it to everyone aslan! and in the metro too. OH MY GOD!!!Smone PLEASE tell me this is a joke! at least tell me that i have a tail or my mouth is drawling or anyhing is wrong with my overall appearance to make them stare at me like this!Apparenty nothing was wrong with me, my friend said it was normal, you go out and you become a "public property" for everyone to check out!
Ok. Most of you will consider this as a very normal day in the streets and trans. of Cairo ... but tell me the truth, have i been sleeping in the cave for 309 years or have good old egypians that i once lived among been burried 309 years ago? Whatever happend to me? or Whatever happened to the egyptians?(with the appologies to Galal Amin for borrowing his book title)

Baker's Dozen!

This is such a funny way to get back to blogging after such a long time; I was reading some mail when i came across the word "Baker's dozen" - actually the lady was saying she and her husband have a "baker's dozen" of kids ... wow! cool Mashaa'Allah ;-) - so, i went on a net hunt for the origin of the word - guess i have nothing much to do these days, huh! - anyways, i found it on the first link which actually disappointed all my wild research plans and getting lost in the labyrinth of the web :-D
God! i'm so talkative today! ok .. here's wut i found, pretty interesting theories:

The first theory goes back to ancient times. Bakers were widely viewed with suspicion, since it was common (and easy) for them to short-weight customers. Many societies had severe penalties for bakers who engaged in such underhanded practices. For instance, one source says that in ancient Egypt, the baker's ear was nailed to the doorpost of his bakery if he were found selling light loaves. (I'm not sure whether the ear was still attached to the baker. Either way it was a pretty stiff punishment.)
Under the code of Hammurabi, a loaf of bread and a man's hand were interchangeable. They took their bread seriously back then.
In the mid-13th century, British law imposed strict regulations on bakers regarding the weight of bread. Bakers wanted to make sure they complied, since the penalties were severe (a fine or the pillory, although nothing involving ears, so far as I know). It was difficult to make loaves of uniform weight in those days before automation, so bakers added a 13th loaf to every shipment of 12--better to be overweight than under. Thus "a baker's dozen" meant 13.
The second theory is more complicated. A baker selling to a third party (a street vendor, say) would add a 13th loaf as the profit for the middleman. That is, the baker sells the middleman 13 loaves for the price of 12, and the middle man sells the 13 individual loaves for a 7.7% profit.
Whichever theory you accept, the evolution of the expression today has come to mean that the baker adds an extra cookie, bun, pastry or whatever to the order of 12 as a bonus.

Here's the link to the extracted article:
http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mbakersdozen.html