Author Archive | Rami

Can Nejmeh Square Be Brought Back To Life?

By Rami on January 4, 2018 in Beirut

Speaker Nabih Berri ordered yesterday the removal of all barriers and cement blocks around Nejmeh square in order allow pedestrian access again to it. This comes after many years of locking down the area in order to prevent any protest taking place around Riad El Solh or the Martyrs’ Square from reaching the parliament. The decision is of course much needed to pump some life into the now dead square but I’m not really sure it is enough to return things as they were in the early 2000s.

I used to work in Beirut Downtown when the lockdown was first imposed and have witnessed shops closing one after the other with the crowd rapidly moving to other areas that quickly boomed like Hamra and Mar Mkhayel. And I don’t think it will be easy for the Nejmeh Square to win the people again, let alone convincing business owners to resume operations there especially that no one can guarantee that the area won’t be closed anytime later on.

I myself for example currently prefer to go to Beirut Souks or Zaitunay Bay instead since many food and coffe places are within reach there, not to mention the convenience of the car parking space as opposed the case with the Nejmeh Sqaure where the nearest parking space is a few hundred meters away.

That being said, I believe that unless the Municipality of Beirut and Solidere put some serious effort to attract people, then chances are Nejmeh Square will most probably remain deserted.

Beautiful Rendition of Warda’s Batwanes Beek by Anghami

By Rami on January 3, 2018 in Music

Check out this cool rendition of Warda’s Batwanes Beek by Anghami.

For their 5th anniversary, they recently gathered several musicians such as Jean-Marie Riachy, Guy Manoukian, and Jose Fernandez among others at their premises in Beirut to produce this cover.

Marvel Movies Free Screenings in Beirut

By Rami on December 30, 2017 in Movies

If you’re a fan of Marvel or superhero movies in general, then here’s your chance to re-watch or catch up on the Marvel Cinematic Universe films for free. The people at a production company called “Monkey Business Dreams” are planning host screenings for 18 Marvel movies each Tuesday at 7PM starting January 2nd 2018 until “Avengers: Infinity War” is released on May 4th 2018. Each screening will be followed by a discussion and a Q&A on plot and production.

If you’re interested to attend, you can find the screening location coordinates here and below is their schedule:

Jan 2: Iron Man
Jan 9: The Incredible Hulk
Jan 16: Iron Man 2
Jan 23: Thor
Jan 30: Captain America – The First Avenger
Feb 6: The Avengers
Feb 13: Iron Man 3
Feb 20: Thor – The Dark World
Feb 27: Captain America – The Winter Soldier
Mar 6: Guardians Of The Galaxy
Mar 13: The Avengers – Age Of Ultron
Mar 20: Ant-Man
Mar 27: Captain America – Civil War
Apr 3: Doctor Strange
Apr 10: Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol.2
Apr 17: Spider-Man Homecoming
Apr 24: Thor – Ragnarok
May 1: Black Panther

No snacks or drinks are sold on location by the way, so feel free to bring your own stuff.

No, You Can’t Lose Your Mobile Credits By Answering a Phone Call

By Rami on December 28, 2017 in Telecom

I’ve seen several Facebook posts and even received numerous voice notes on WhatsApp over the last few days warning people from answering phone calls from numbers starting with “+7” or “007”, because they can steal all your credits if you a have a prepaid line or overcharge you in case you’re on a postpaid plan, and even get hold of all the data stored on your phone…

Now I know a thing or two about GSM networks and let me tell you this, THE ABOVE IS ALL WRONG. There’s no way someone can steal your money or phone stored data by simply making you answer a phone call, it is probably possible in movies but this is not how “smartphone hacking” works in real life.

In order to transfer credits to another phone line you should input a special command on your phone or send an SMS I guess. On the other hand, the protocol you phone uses to make a phone call is meant to transport voice data only, so a calling party can never send your phone special commands to execute over a voice call, and is also never able to view or steal your phone data.

However, some people are indeed losing money and it’s because they are sometimes calling back these numbers when noticing a missed call. The reason is simply because these numbers are premium rate numbers so calling them may cost up to $20 or $30 in some countries (same applies for sending an SMS). As for data theft, it is only possible by tricking you into visiting some malicious link or installing a malicious app.

To protect yourself against such incidents just make sure to stick to the following:

Never call back a suspicious number.
Avoid installing apps from outside Google Play for Android or App Store for iOS.
Avoid clicking on links you receive by e-mail or messaging platforms from unknown senders.

So there you go… there’s absolutely no need to panic if you get a call from these numbers, just be careful what you do with your smartphone.

Ogero Website Finally Got a Makeover

By Rami on December 26, 2017 in Telecom

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.

Merry Christmas!

By Rami on December 25, 2017 in Social

Out little kid’s Christmas tree decoration

Nothing like this medley by Fayrouz to wish you a Merry Christmas! (Jump to the 4m5s mark for Laylet Eid)

25 Plans for 2018 New Year’s Eve in Lebanon

By Rami on December 24, 2017 in Events

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.

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

Should Uber Be Blamed For Rebecca Dykes Murder?

By Rami on December 21, 2017 in Transportation

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

By Rami on December 19, 2017 in Social

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.

Beirut Heritage Trail – 5,000 Years of Beirut’s History

By Rami on December 15, 2017 in History

Walking through Beirut Souks, you can’t but notice these medallions fixed into the ground at various spots around the streets. I never knew their purpose until a couple of weeks ago when I looked closely to notice that they have “Beirut Heritage Trail” engraved on them and that each one points to a different direction. So I googled them a bit and found these medallions actually link archaeological sites, historic public spaces and heritage buildings over a 2.5Km walking circuit around the Souks and Beirut downtown.

The circuit will start at the Beirut Souks, which retain the 2,500 year-old ancient street grid and Ottoman access gates, and incorporate several archeological remains including the Phoenico-Persian quarter, the city wall and moat, the restored Mamluk Zawiyat Ibn Iraq and Majidiya mosque. Among the sites featured in the trail are the Emir Munzer mosque, the Roman Baths, Riad El Solh Square and the Grand Theatre to name a few. Source

The project also consists of 50 site panels providing information about the historic places around the heritage trail, so I assume one can learn a great deal about the history of Beirut by following the marks. I personally only know the history of very few sites in downtown, so I will be soon trying to make that walk especially that my kid loves to ride his scooter around the area there.

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