Until Further Notice

Exhibit

Political & Financial Cartoons of Steven Breen:
Winner 2009 Pulitzer Prize

click here

i'm just saying

i know a lot of people hate ahmadinejad .. but his latest speech is exactly why i don't ..

Cleared For Publication

that would be a cool name for a blog ... don't you think?

traveling traveling

there is a place .. it's a beautiful place .. it's very far away .. very very far away .. and they might not let you in once you get there .. but it's so beautiful .. it's well worth the journey .. it's been almost six months since i started walking to that place .. and today i learned that they're going to let me in .. i'm so excited .. i want to start running .. but i'm afraid i might run out of energy and collapse before i get there .. so i have to keep on walking .. i just hope they don't change their mind by the time i reach them ..

Tools

Swamp Thing

Iranian soldiers march during a military display in Tehran yesterday.

(Reuters)

susan boyle

i'm not saying it wasn't inspirational .. but can we please move on ..

Playoff Preview

the nba playoffs started tonight ... and so without further ado i give you my humble playoff first-round breakdown ...

WEST:

1. lakers / 8. jazz
kobe bryant is a beast .. and he's won several titles in his career .. but that was when shaq was on the team .. kobe wants to win one on his own .. the supporting cast is not exactly superb .. but phil jackson - the zen guru coaching genius that he is - has molded them into a strong unit of role players .. and while they don't have shaq anymore .. they do have a couple of big guys who can hold their own - gasol, bynum, odom .. the jazz are not a bad team either though .. fully capable of pulling off the upset in my opinion .. they are known to be a "scrappy" team .. but they are plagued by health problems .. and they closed out the season on a slump .. like i said it is an unpredictable series and don't be surprised if the jazz manage to steal a few .. most likely at home .. but in the end kobe will prevail .. come on .. you have to go with kobe .. the man is a basketball god ..

2. nuggets / 7. hornets
who do the hornets have besides chris paul .. nobody really .. well ok so they have chandler but he's been below par this year .. and i do believe that chauncey billups is more than capable of going toe to toe with cp3 .. he may not be as quick and young .. but he's way more experienced .. and i believe old wisdom trumps energetic youth .. so i'm leaning towards the nuggets on this one .. but cp3 is also a basketball god .. however .. the nuggets have carmelo .. who might not be on the same level as paul but he is damn good .. the nuggets won't sweep the series but i predict that they will win it in the end .. my main reason is the billups factor .. here's a fun fact .. the last time denver made it past the first round was in the 93-94 season .. remember that famous upset of seattle .. i know i remember it because it broke my heart .. seattle's coach at the time was none other than denver's current coach george karl ..

3. spurs / 6. mavs
the spurs are without ginobili .. and duncan is far from healthy .. big uh-oh there .. then again the mavs glory days are a thing of the past .. they are nowhere near the powerhouse they used to be .. but i guess they do want to redeem themselves after being upset so badly last year by golden state .. it should be interesting to see if jason kidd will be able to keep up with tony parker .. but in the end i think the mavs will win it .. not because they are better .. they aren't .. it's only because san antonio is so unhealthy ..

4. rockets / 5. blazers
the rockets will be without their star mcgrady .. mcgrady of course has never won a first round series in his entire career .. so it will be hilarious if the rockets do win this series .. which i predict they will .. ming will dominate .. and artest will do his usual defensive hound thing .. and the young inexperienced blazers will find themselves overwhelmed ..

EAST:

1. cavs / 8. pistons
two words .. lebron james .. throw in the fact that cleveland has only lost two games at home this entire season .. and the fact that the pistons have disintegrated after bringing in iverson .. and it's obvious who will win .. detroit is not a pushover .. they might steal a game .. even two .. but let's remember that even in detroit's prime two years ago .. lebron beat them ..

2. celtics / 7. bulls
i would've picked the celtics without thinking twice .. but then we find out that garnett isn't going to play .. and suddenly .. it's not so obvious anymore .. the bulls are also without one of their stars .. luol deng that is .. not that i'm comparing him to garnett .. i'm just saying that both teams are missing one of their guys .. still .. chicago is young .. boston is pretty old .. so who knows .. i have to pick the celtics since they are the defending champs .. but they better be careful ..

3. magic / 6. sixers
dwight howard is going to dunk his ass off in this one .. the sixers have nobody to stop him .. throw in the supporting cast of turkoglu, lewis, alston .. sixers are toast ..

4. hawks / 5. heat
dwayne wade .. another basketball god .. he single-handedly carried the heat all season long .. the hawks don't have anyone of wade's caliber .. but they do have a better team than the heat do .. hmmm .. this is a tough one .. i'm gonna say hawks ..

May You Rot In Hell

Three months after the end of the war, much of the aid has either rotted or been irreparably damaged as a result of both rain and sunshine, and Egypt's refusal to open the Rafah crossing.

story

mumblings

something is not always better than nothing ...

Almost

the egyptian regime came this close to doing the right thing for once in their lives ...

Egyptian Foreign Minister, Ahmad Abu Al Gheit, stated Wednesday that his Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman is not welcome in Egypt and will not be allowed to step into the country

so far so good right ... but here comes the kicker ...

as long as he maintains his hostile positions towards the Egyptian President

see egypt is still angry at lieberman for saying that “mubarak can go to hell” during a speech at the knesset last year ...

according to recent studies

people who frown in photos are five times more likely to get a divorce than people who smile ...

story

Quote of the Day

Smoke the Sayyed

The Israeli Anti-Drug Authority launched an ad campaign linking smoking marijuana with support for Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
In one poster, Nasrallah’s head appears rising like a genie on smoke from a bong.
The poster reads: (In red) “Nasrallah aims at destroying Israel entirely.” The campaign is based on the allegation that Hizbullah funds its activities in Lebanon and alleged activities in Palestinian areas through drug trafficking.
In white font the poster reads: "Hizbullah has the obvious purpose of flooding Israel with venom which forms a strategic danger against Israel. We should not give him the chance to destroy Israel and we should counter drugs internally and externally.”

source

LOL

the amazing zubber ... it hardens like rubber ... but wait it gets funnier ... click here to watch the commercial ...

courtesy of kabobfest

is this love

and i cant wait to see you again ... so i can hold you in my arms ...

God Bless Gaza

Little has changed in Gaza since the war in January, with thousands of families still living in tents and homes and schools still just rubble and ruins.
But life for many children has never been the same since Israel launched its offensive three months ago.
In January, Israeli bombs flattened the main building of this school in northern Gaza, destroying eight of the school's 20 classrooms.
The students had already evacuated but the three-storey block was crushed; the top floor still dangles dangerously over the schoolground and giant slabs of jagged concrete hang precariously in mid-air.
And the 22-month blockade imposed on Gaza means few if any materials are getting in to rebuild shattered areas.
English teacher Ghada Abu Ward still sees the daily impact on her students.
"They are hesitant, frustrated, depressed, thinking and dreaming all the time - daydreams - then after that we lose concentration, and [have] the bad achievements," she said.
"At the bravest times they've thought, 'I want to die. My father was dead in the Israeli attack - I want to be with them. So I want to die. There's nothing good about this life. At least when I die, I will be with my parents, and it will be heaven and paradise'."

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Quote of the Day

"They're just hungry."

Second mate Ken Quinn, of Bradenton, Florida, one of the nineteen American sailors who escaped a pirate hijacking off the Horn of Africa. Quinn was responding to a question about what he thought of the pirates who seized the boat.

source

i'm just saying

i know a lot of people hate hezbollah ... but these latest accusations are exactly why i don't ...

mumblings

i don't watch star academy ... although sometimes i'll be flipping through the channels and they'll be showing the daily recap on lbc ... and i admit that i'll watch ... mainly because the host is such a babe ... but if it were up to me i'd kill everyone on that show ... and everyone who thinks it's cool ... but that's not why i'm writing this post ... the real reason is that i invented a star academy daily recap drinking game ... whenever there's a hug ... you take a shot ... and two shots whenever there's a kiss ... and three shots if someone is crying ... you'll be drinking the entire time ...

SoM

Doodles

drew this at work today ... obviously i was bored ...
if you like it ... you can type "daily doodle" into the search blog thing at the top of the page to see some of my earlier work ...

Agility

about the inauguration party i posted about earlier ... here is an article about it if anyone's interested ... and if you're really interested ... you can watch the speeches here ...

People Are Strange

Angered that her local McDonald's was out of Chicken McNuggets, a Florida woman called 911 three times to report the fast food "emergency."
story

A Russian man survived after downing three bottles of vodka and leaping from a fifth floor balcony - twice. Alexei Roskov says he jumped the second time because he couldn't take his wife's nagging about the first time.
story

Ironman Suit

Cyberdyne Corporation of Japan, in conjunction with Daiwa House, has begun mass production of a cybernetic bodysuit that augments body movement and increases user strength by up to tenfold.

source

sounds cool ... certainly doesn't look cool though ...

Suuure

about this ...

"It wasn't a bow. He grasped his hand with two hands, and he's taller than King Abdullah," said an Obama aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Valkyrie

tom cruise plays an eye-patch wearing dude called colonel stoffenberg ... he is a member of hitler's nazi army but he's also a member of a secret group of dissidents that are plotting to kill hitler ... that's basically the story ... and it's a true story by the way ... the obvious problem then is that we already know that they will not succeed because as we all know hitler killed himself in the end ... so that's really the only bad thing i have to say about this movie ... other than that i thought it was pretty damn good ... and they do a superb job of recreating the whole nazi germany setting ... from the costumes to the buildings to everything ... and i liked how they let the actors talk in their own accents ... so some guys had a british accent ... others had an american accent ... and some had a german accent ... obviously that comes across as a bit weird ... but i prefer it over everyone trying to fake a german accent ... so yeah ... what else ... it's two hours long ... and for most of the movie we are watching the plot to kill hitler being formed ... which kind of takes a while ... and you might find yourself saying would you just do it already ... i'm not saying that it gets boring ... i'm just saying it takes a while for the plan to materialize ... but once the plan finally does go into action ... the movie really takes off ... and even though we know what will happen ... we are still somehow disappointed when we learn that it failed ... like we didn't know that was going to happen ... one last thing ... eddie izzard has a role in this movie ... it's not a big role but it's not that small either ... and he's good ... gotta love eddie izzard ... great movie ... 8/10 ...

Quote of the Day

"Israel does not take orders from Obama,"

Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan (Likud), responding to an earlier statement by the US president in which he reaffirmed his administration's commitment to all previous understandings between Israel and the Palestinians, including the process launched at Annapolis, Maryland, in 2007.

source

it's the other way around ...

Meanwhile in AUB

McDonalds became the latest target of the boycott campaign against pro-Israeli businesses Tuesday when a couple of dozen activists representing the Union of Lebanese Democratic Youth (ULDY) picketed outside the fast-food chain's Hamra location across from the American University of Beirut (AUB).
Several police officers quietly observed as the store's manager came out to confront the protesters but, outnumbered and facing a deeply passionate crowd, soon retreated.
"I always had this guilt like we should not go eat at McDonalds nor at Starbucks or any of these franchises that are supporting the Zionists," Rasha Moghnieh, 21, replied when asked why she didn't cross the picket line to join her friends inside the restaurant.

story

for those who don't know ... the restaurant is right across from AUB as the article mentions ... it's facing the university's main gate ...
ahhh to be young and passionate like that again ...

when resistance becomes a crime

Egyptian sources reported that the Egyptian police arrested 40 Lebanese, Egyptian and Palestinian nationals, including Arab residents of Israel, accused of aiding Hezbollah and of gathering financial support for Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The arrests were conducted in utmost secrecy nearly six months ago.

source

Photo of the Day

Protestors hold a banner during a demonstration in Istanbul.

(AFP/Mustafa Ozer)

شو أهبل

"I fear that they could liquidate this young man or force him to submit to their imperialist policies," Gaddafi told a university gathering of his supporters in Sirte, without specifying who might put Obama under pressure.
"Obama is a flicker of hope in the middle of the imperialist darkness," the Libyan leader said, adding: "There is a fear that they would liquidate him as they liquidated Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Abraham Lincoln."
"He (Obama) speaks logically. Arrogance no longer exists in the American approach which was previously based on dictating to the rest of the world in order to meet its own conditions," Gaddafi said in the remarks carried by state media.

source

Bas?

The United States said it would donate 50,000 dollars in emergency aid to Italy after a powerful earthquake killed at least 200 people.

source

FYI

The Home Front Command is preparing to hold the largest exercise ever in Israeli history, scheduled to take place in about two months, in hopes of priming the populace and raising awareness of the possibility of war breaking out.

story

meanwhile ... arab leaders remain steadfast in their commitment to the peace process ...

أمة عربية واحدة ذات رسالة خالدة

you know how i know this world is fucked up ... because egypt is upset with the israeli government ... but the reason has nothing to do with the things israel does to the palestinian people ...

story

As Usual

Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi on Sunday dismissed as "completely unfounded" accounts by Israeli soldiers of wrongdoings in the recent offensive against Hamas in Gaza.
"These testimonies have been fully examined and investigated by the Military Police and Military Advocate's Office, and have been found, to my joy, to be completely unfounded and lacking in any evidential basis."

story

so what ... the soldiers made it up ... why?
and if the soldiers are liars ... then why should we believe their commander?

So Soon?

Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, instructed on Monday two Fateh officials to visit the Gaza Strip in order to observe the destruction caused by the Israeli offensive, and to hold talks with different factions, including Hamas.

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Slice of Life

yesterday was the inauguration party for our warehouse ... it was a big event for us ... there were a lot of guests invited ... management ... board members ... clients ... and so on ... in the beginning they had a little mixer where everyone traded business cards ... me personally i just used the time to chat with my coworkers ... then we all went up to the mezzanine area and sat down while a few people said a few words ... then we had lunch ... intercontinental hotel catered the event ... first they brought out the appetizers ... pumpkin soup and some kind of smoked duck with orange braise ... it was good but the soup was too sweet for my taste ... then the main dish which was a beef filet mignon ... delicious ... but could've used a little more sauce ... and finally for dessert some kind of mousse thing ... then we all took our gift bags and went home ... the gift bags consisted of a key chain, a company truck inside a plastic case, and a cd ... i actually don't know what's on the cd yet ... so anyway it was pretty fun ... compared to the normal working day it was a blast ... by the way i'm only pretending to give a speech at the podium in that photo ...

Quote of the Day

My flow so tight and the beat so sick
Chris Brown should get his ass kicked

Chorus from the Jump Smokers newly released record called "My Flow So Tight".

story

I Stand Corrected ... Or Not

several days ago i posted a story about jordan's king abdullah sending his sick dog to be treated in israel during the attack on gaza ... well now the israeli newspaper that published the story is saying it isn't true ... saying that "a further inquiry into the story revealed that the report was inaccurate" ... now this isn't the first time this happens ... a while back a story was published about the lavish gifts that condoleezza rice received from arab leaders ... among those leaders were king abdullah and queen rania ... but a couple of days later a retraction was issued saying that it was a mistake ... and they say lightning doesn't strike twice in the same place ...

Paul Blart: Mall Cop

i saw it over the weekend ... it has its funny moments as kevin james is a pretty funny guy ... there were times when i laughed out loud ... but overall ... extremely corny ... and just a lame story ... i only recommend watching it if it's on tv ... and even then it's not mandatory ... 3/10 ... here's a fun fact for you ... blart means a fart that contains blood ... google it ...

Bow Down

Conservative American commentators have accused Barack Obama of "grovelling" to an Arab monarch at the G20 summit in London.
The leading conservative blogger Michelle Malkin and the conservative Christian website Dakota Voice were outraged by the President's deference to a foreign monarch. "The whole thing is embarrassing," Malkin said. "It's like the 'American Hillbillies go to Europe'. He is throwing American power and prestige out with both hands as fast as he can."

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True Or False

hope is just another word for wishful thinking ...

Fandom

time for another installment of the "lame statuses / weird fan clubs" series ...

**** **** became a fan of صلاة الاستخارة

Quote of the Day

“Every Bolivia goal was a stab in my heart,”
Diego Maradona

Bolivia handed Argentina its biggest soccer loss in half a century with a 6-1 World Cup qualifying victory that ended Maradona's perfect record as coach.

source

Misunderstanding

Her: i should introduce you to my friend
Me : is she fine?
Her: she is a he

WTF

a duet between ali el-deek and celine dion?

Book Review: Slam

i finished reading the book slam by nick hornby ... the reason i bought this book is because i read a book by the same author before and thought it was brilliant ... a book by the name of high fidelity ... but this book ... not so brilliant ... i mean it's good and all but let's put it this way ... if i had read slam first i probably wouldn't have been so tempted to read something else by hornby ... so yeah this book is told by a teenage boy named sam ... the story is set in england by the way ... so sam likes to skate ... and he likes girls ... typical teenage boy ... something not so typical about him is that his parents had him when they were teenagers ... he sees his dad from time to time but he's not exactly fond of him ... instead he lives with his mother whose biggest fear is that one day sam will make the same mistake she did with his dad ... so one day his mother tells him to come along with her to a party ... because her friend has a hot daughter she'd like to set him up with ... the hot daughter is called alicia ... sam reluctantly comes along but doesn't regret it ... alicia is indeed hot and the two hit it off and soon become inseparable ... until one day alicia finds out she's pregnant ... dramatic music ... so now sam finds himself in the same situation his parents were in when they had him ... and that's really all you need to know ... oh yeah and sam is in love with tony hawk ... that's a famous skater for those who don't know ... he has a poster of him that he talks to when he's troubled ... that might seem like a trivial piece of information but it actually isn't ... so anyway if it sounds interesting to you check it out ... it's a decent book ... but if you haven't read high fidelity i suggest you start with that ...

for my next book i'll be reading the art of war ... some non-fiction for a change ...

Dunk of the Day

(Photo by Scott Cunningham/NBAE via Getty Images)