she kind of looked like this (in her imagination)
In Egypt you can get pretty much anything delivered.  I’ve had a 10 LE bottle of vegetable oil delivered to my apartment, and know people who will routinely call out for a single pack of cigarettes or a coke. But what I saw today was on a different level.
I was about to get in the pool at my gym when I notice an attendant scurry over to a woman standing in the water. He takes a cigarette from her and carefully carries it over to her friend who is lounging on the pool deck, waits while she takes a single drag, and then delivers it back to the one in the water.
The amazing thing was how casual and routine the whole operation seemed.  It was only when I was swimming and turning it over in my mind that I grasped the full absurdity of the situation.
The only mitigating factor I could possibly think of would be that it was her last cigarette. But this clearly wasnt the case because I could smell her ...
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I want my diamond-studded TVFrom: willward.wordpress.com
Post Date: 2008-09-14 05:03:53
the item
Tom Gara catches this press release published by Gulf News:
Word’s most expensive and ultra luxurious LCD TV launched
Dubai: German company Schaub Lorenz has unveiled the world’s most expensive and ultra luxurious LCD TV in the Middle East market for $130,000 (Dh477,100).
The 40-inch LCD TV is studded with diamonds and white gold. Each diamond is of V VS1 brilliant white colour.
“The eco-friendly TV is made with degradable and reu...
more Some LinksFrom: willward.wordpress.com
Post Date: 2008-09-11 01:12:46
Egypt Blogs America: 8 Egyptian bloggers in the U.S. at election time. A project sponsored by the Adham Center at AUC.
“HR 362 gets 8 new co-sponsors” Bad news from Iran Nuclear Watch.
The Russian Debutante’s Handbook by Gary Shteyngart. Not quite as tight as Absurdistan but still fantastic. Worth the price for these seven words alone: “… and sausages circled overhead like Sikorsky choppers…”
Lynch on Egypt :Â ” I think that one ...
more UAE: The geopolitics of excessFrom: willward.wordpress.com
Post Date: 2008-09-09 04:29:01
courtesy of the Friday in Cairo cartography team
Let’s read these two articles together. First from AP second from The Times:
U.S. plans $7 billion missile-defense sale to UAE
The Bush administration is planning to sell the United Arab Emirates an advanced U.S. missile defense system valued at up to $7 billion that could be used to defend against Iran, people who have attended briefings on the matter said on Monday….
Kenneth Katzman, an expert on the Gulf at ...
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