Adventure in Egyptian tram from driver seat..video
The Heliopolis Tram-System (Cairo , Egypt ) - some impressions including arrival at Ramses Station in Cairo
9/10/10
Street foods in Egypt
Street foods in Egypt
In Egypt
First the most famous dish in Egypt
a dish made of fava beans marinated in lemon juice, garlic, and olive oil. The dish is a popular street food in Egypt
Recipe:
1 lb. dried fava beans
3/4 clove garlic, chopped
3 tbsp olive oil
1/4 c. lemon juice
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. chopped fresh parsley
Boil fava beans for 1 to 2 hours over medium heat or until tender. Drain water. Add salt, lemon juice, and garlic. Mix well. Pour in bowl and garnish with parsley and olive oil. If desired, garnish with pickled onions and sliced hard boiled eggs.
Also you find many street foods kind in Egypt
Khoshery,
Falafel sandwich,
Shawerma
and different kinds of basmati and tea cookies from the corner bakery
Dora, roasted corn, is only 20 cents a piece
Teen shoki a guy peels the thorns for you from this cactus fruit, and then you eat
9/9/10
Clinton and Koran-burning plans
US pastor Terry Jones: We are not interested in your Shari'a
 |
| Pastor Terry Jones |
An evangelical pastor insisted his plans for a mass torching of the Koran would go ahead after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned the "disgraceful" burning ceremony in Florida
The White House also added its voice to warnings that the move could trigger outrage around the Islamic world and endanger the lives of US soldiers.
"It puts our troops in harm's way. And obviously any type of activity like that that puts our troops in harm's way would be a concern to this administration," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Tuesday.
He was reiterating comments by top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan
"It could endanger troops and it could endanger the overall effort in Afghanistan
But a small church, the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville , Florida
"We are taking his concerns very seriously," pastor Terry Jones told CNN late Tuesday, referring to Petraeus, but "we right now have plans to continue."
Although the fire authorities turned down an application a few weeks ago from Jones to hold the open-air burning ceremony, police cannot intervene until they actually light the 200 Korans.
Even then, no arrests would be made as contravening local ordinances is only a misdemeanor, and citations -- fines and warnings -- are issued in such cases.
Jones said the Koran torching aimed "to remember those who were brutally murdered on September 11," and to send a warning "to the radical element of Islam."
The move comes against a backdrop of Islamophobia driven by plans to build an Islamic cultural center in New York close to Ground Zero, the site where the World Trade Center
US Attorney General Eric Holder met religious leaders to discuss ways of stemming the anti-Islam tide, with calls from the broad coalition of faiths to make a strong speech condemning hate crimes.
Muslim Advocates executive director Farhana Khera said after the meeting that Holder had described the Koran-burning plan as "idiotic and dangerous," but regretted the ceremony itself was not a violation of federal law.
Saturday's anniversary is set to coincide with festivities for Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, a time of prayer and fasting for nearly 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide.
Jones remained defiant. "Instead of us being blamed for what other people will do or might do, why don't we send a warning to them?" he said.
Religious bigotry was roundly condemned at a press conference called by the coalition of inter-faith leaders meeting with Holder.
"To those who would exercise derision... bigotry, open rejection of our fellow Americans for their religious faith, I say shame on you," said Richard Cizik, one of the country's most prominent evangelical leaders.
"We are profoundly distressed and deeply saddened by the incidents of violence committed against Muslims in our communities. And by the desecration of Islamic houses of worship," added Rabbi Nancy Kreimer.
There have already been protests in the Afghan capital Kabul and in Indonesia -- the world's largest Muslim-majority country -- against Jones's plans while Iran
US pastor Terry Jones promises to hold Koran burning
...to send a warning "to the radical element of Islam".
"We wanted to send a very clear message to them that we are not interested in their Sharia law," he said.
"And we do not tolerate their threats, their fear, their radicalness. We live in the United States of America
We are not interested in your Shari'a and will not tolerate your threats... hmm... we all should be saying more of the same!!
If a group of Muslims could build a mosque on ground zero ~ as offensive as that is ~ under freedom of religion. The pastor should be able to burn a Koran ~ under freedom of expression. This is his protest.
THE pastor of a small Florida church has promised to hold a Koran burning in defiance of a top US
Terry Jones said he had given "serious" consideration to the concerns expressed by US
Pastor Jones, who heads the Dove World Outreach Center in the town of Gainesville
"We are taking the general's words very serious," he said before noting he had "firmly made up his mind" to go ahead with burning the Muslim holy book.
"I mean, how long, when does America
"Instead of us being blamed for what other people will do or might do, why don't we send a warning to them?
"Why don't we send a warning to radical Islam and say, don't do it. If you attack us, if you attack us, we will attack you," he said.
In a statement, Gen Petraeus, who is the US
But the pastor insisted that the Koran torching to be held on Saturday aimed "to remember those who were brutally murdered on September 11th" and to send a warning "to the radical element of Islam".
"We wanted to send a very clear message to them that we are not interested in their Sharia law," he said.
"And we do not tolerate their threats, their fear, their radicalness. We live in the United States of America
The pastor's words sparked violent protest in the Afghan capital of Kabul
Protesters railed against the US
Egyptian women don't care about sexy bronze tan
Egyptian women don't care about sexy bronze tan
A video of a beach in Alexanadria in Egypt
Video inside Cairo Museum
Video inside Cairo Museum
a visit to Cairo Museum of Egyptian Antiquities , known commonly as the Egyptian Museum , in Cairo , Egypt
Inside The Tunel of The Great Pyramid in Giza,Cairo
Inside The Tunel of The Great Pyramid in Giza ,Cairo
You want to go inside the great pyramid in Giza
Street magic in Egypt
Street magic in Egypt
Performing the Ninja Rings for a very enthusiastic audience
9/8/10
Egypt pyramids used to be white
When you see the pyramids up close, they're not as smooth as they appear. Rather, you can see blocks of about 5ft each stacked up. The alabaster was removed over the years for money. E.g. the pyramids used to be white.
Many of the pyramids were built with a number of different stone materials. Most of the material used was fairly rough, low grade limestone used to build the pyramid core, while fine white limestone was often employed for the outer casing as well as to cover interior walls, though pink granite was also often used on inner walls. Basalt or alabaster was not uncommon for floors, particularly in the mortuary temples and as was mudbricks to build walls within the temples (though often as not they had limestone walls).
Limestone seems to have first been employed in the area of Saqqara , where it is of poor quality but layered in regular, strong formations as much as half a meter thick. This limestone is coarse grained with yellow to greenish gray shading. The layers are separated from each other by thin layers of clay and the coloration may vary according to layer. It could often be quarried very near the building sites, and quarries have been found at Saqqara, Giza
In order to quarry this stone, the blocks were marked out with just enough space in between each to allow for a small passageway for the workers to cut the blocks. The workmen would use a number of different tools to cut the blocks, including copper pickaxes and chisels, granite hammers, dolerite and other hard stone tools.
The finer, white limestone employed in the pyramids and mortuary temples was not as easy to quarry, and had to be found further from the building site. One of the man sources for this limestone was the Muqattam hills on the west bank of the Nile near modern Tura and Maasara. This stone laid buried further from the surface, so tunnels had to be dug in order to reach the actual stone quarry. Sometimes these deposits were as deep as fifty meters, and huge caverns had to be built to reach the quarry. Generally, large chunks of stone were removed, and then finely cut into blocks. The blocks were then moved to the building site on large wooden sledges pulled by oxen. The path they took would be prepared with a mud layer from the Nile in order to facilitate the moving.
Pink granite, basalt and alabaster were used much more sparingly. Most of this material was moved from various locations in southern Egypt by barges on the Nile . Pink granite probably most often came from the quarries around Aswan
A stone worker in the quarries
Basalt, on the other hand was not as far away. Only recently have we discovered that most of the basalt used in pyramid construction came from an Oligocene flow located at the northern edge of the Fayoum Depression (Oasis). Here, we find the worlds oldest paved road, which led to the shores of what once was a lake. During the Nile inundation each year, this lake made a connection to the Nile, so at that time, the basalt was moved across the lake and into the Nile for transport.
Alabaster is quarried from either open pits or underground. In open pits, veins of Alabaster are found 12 to 20 feet below the surface under a layer of shale which can be two or three feet deep. The rocks have an average height of 16-20 inches and a diameter of two to three feet. Much of the alabaster used in the pyramids probably came from Hatnub, a large quarry near Amarna north of modern Luxor
However, it should be pointed out that by even the end of the Old Kingdom, there were hundreds of various types of quarries scattered across the western and eastern deserts, the Sinai and southern Palestine
Workers Making Mudbricks
Mudbricks, of course were made throughout Egypt Nile mud mixed with various fillers.
Cairo market just like they were a thousand years ago
it is a surreal experience walking the narrow streets of old Cairo, streets with a thousand years of history... streets filled with the sounds and sights of people buying, selling, working, praying... just like they were a thousand years ago..
9/7/10
A trip to the 'Friday Market' in Cairo, Egypt..video
A trip to the 'Friday Market' in Cairo, Egypt..video
The recent bombing of one of Cairo Cairo
The Souk el-Gomaa (Friday Market), under the El-Tonsi bridge, in the City of the Dead is by far the best glimpse into shopping in Egypt
The recent bombing of one of Cairo Cairo
The Souk el-Gomaa (Friday Market), under the El-Tonsi bridge, in the City of the Dead is by far the best glimpse into shopping in Egypt
The sprawling souk is easily accessible by taxi, the way I reached it on Friday morning with a few friends. We arrived at 10, piling out of the taxi into the narrow lanes to be immediately surrounded by stalls of t-shirts, jeans, and shoes. The first part of the market sells new clothes for a fraction of the store price, but don’t expect the knock-off designer jeans of Asian markets, instead, this is a front row seat to Egyptian men’s fashion-- tight jeans and flashy neon t-shirts, complete with shiny black belts.
Sellers promote their wares any way they can: drums bang, music blasts from hidden speakers, men yell into megaphones and grab your arm as shoppers flood the lanes. If you don’t hold your ground, it’s easy to be swept away by the hurried mob.
The sprawling market is more organized than it first appears, grouped into sections of similar items. After the new clothes came stands upon stands of used shoes. Then, the highlight of the morning, the pet market. Exotic fish, lizards, and snakes, gave way to cages of parakeets and canaries, who chirped at the passersby, while red-eyed hawks spread their wings in attempts to escape their tiny cages.
Wooden crates crammed with tortoises on lettuce leaves stood one on top of the other. The opening quote on a small tortoise was 50 Egyptian pounds, a canary: 92le and a snake: 30le (1USD ~ 5.5le, this could probably be negotiated down to roughly half the initial price depending on the skill and patience of the bargainer).
After the pet section, it was used-goods city. Stalls of hanging scooters next to toilets sans-seat, across from doorknobs resting on bed sheets alongside dead batteries. Decadent chandeliers suspended above cracked porcelain China
If you were looking for something, you would find it. If you were looking for nothing, you could find anything. After our 3 hour excursion, I ended up with a broken pocket watch and a wallet. My friends with jewelry, old photographs, a pocketbook, a portrait of Gamal Nasser, and used books. If you are interested in seeing how Egyptians really shop, hunting for unusual bargains, can stand crowds, and have an aversion to bombs, there’s nowhere in Cairo
Cairo.. What a Contrasts between its sides
A collection of contrasts you can see in Cairo , Egypt Cairo
9/4/10
Both crew dead as UPS jumbo crashes near Dubai airport
Both crew dead as UPS jumbo crashes near Dubai
A major disaster was averted by the pilots of a UPS 747-400 that crashed near the Emirates Road Dubai International Airport for Cologne in Germany
Clinton sought to inject urgency into Israeli-Palestinian peace talks
MATTHEW LEE The Associated Press WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton sought to inject urgency into Israeli-Palestinian peace talks Friday, warning that the negotiations may be "the last chance for a very long time" to reach an agreement. In an unusual joint interview with Israeli and Palestinian television broadcasters a day after she presided over the launch of the first direct talks in two years, Clinton said the rise of Iranian-backed extremist ideology in the Middle East is a major reason why time is short
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