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Who would like to try to solve a 7azzoora? In my ongoing quest to dissect, try to understand, and re-invent traditional Arabic geometric design through a digital medium, I have created here 12 versions of the same design motif. Here's the 7azzoora: Which two are identical?!?

(click on image for larger view)

© Ibn Bint Jbeil 2008

Summer here ends on September 1st, when the Lebanese 'en masse' stop going to the beach, and everywhere else in the world it ends on September 22nd with the beginning of fall. But for the die-hard Dutch (used to cold summers) in Lebanon, the summer ends when they can no longer go to the beach.
And it is getting there. The tents are dismantled, the chairs stacked, and the food counter closed. The kiddie pool no longer fills up, and you may now drown in the pool; the life guards have gone home.
Even for the Dutch in Lebanon, the summer of 2008 is slowly coming to an end.
What a pity. It was a good summer.

i was out taking some pictures of my house, when something grabbed my leg.. something just less than a meter long ..
"take a picture of me", it demanded .. and posed ..
-click-
"show me .. " .. and i did
"ehhe", it burped .. smiled and ran away

-Ce type de roucoulements, c’est prénuptial ou postcoïtal ?
-Et ta connerie ? Elle est congénitale ?

-Le Fabuleux Destin D'Amelie Poulain

Bedouins in the Arab World, nomads in Tibet. Everywhere, everyday we witness the triumph of the settled on the nomads. Often a mixed blessing.

"Settlement policies vary, and their effect on the social fabric of nomadic communities is complex. In many places, nomads have been encouraged to give up their animals, leading to reduced incomes, a rise in alcoholism and other social costs. A lack of planning has resulted in some settlements lacking water or power, officials admit. In many cases, nomads are ill-equipped to compete with Chinese migrant workers for jobs in nearby cities, and there has been insufficient retraining, experts said.
...

"J.-P. D. Au néolithique, on assiste à l'émergence de la violence entre riches et pauvres et entre communautés. On constate l'existence, vers - 3 500, au Proche-Orient de traces de stress, de maladies, d'épidémies, ainsi que des problèmes de ravitaillement. Progressivement, les villages s'installent sur les hauteurs et se fortifient. Vers la fin du néolithique, que l'on situe vers - 3 000 au Proche-Orient et en Europe à partir de l'âge du bronze vers - 2 000, on assiste à la maîtrise progressive du bronze, qui résulte de l'association du cuivre et de l'étain. Ce qui permet de réaliser des armes, des épées et des haches. On va entamer une course aux armements, car on va aussi inventer le casque et la cuirasse.Faut-il regretter la néolithisation ?

"We are now learning what countries across the developing world have experienced over three decades: unstable and inequitable neoliberal economics leads to unacceptable levels of social disruption and hardship that can only be contained by brutal repression. Add that to the two other central charges against deregulated capitalism: first, it may create wealth but it does not distribute it effectively; and second, that it takes no account of what it cannot commodify - neither the social relationships of family and community nor the environment, which are vital to human wellbeing, and indeed to the functioning of the market itself. Ultimately, neoliberal capitalism is self-destructive.

"'The bank is something more than men, I tell you. It's the monster. Men made it, but they can't control it ... Fella in business got to lie an' cheat, but he calls it somepin else ... You go steal that tire an' you're a thief, but he tried to steal your four dollars for a busted tire. They call that sound business.'
The Grapes of Wrath
John Steinbeck's classic, published in 1939, chronicles the plight of the Midwest's working classes during the Depression

11/10/08, Tehran
In the village of Gazor Khan, at the foot of Alamut rock, I was beckoned over by two young girls, Miriam and Sara. Following the usual exchange of queries concerning origin, age and work, and after learning that I lived in Lebanon, the girls were eager to see some of my photographs. The two things they knew about Lebanon were Hizbullah and Nancy Ajram (sex-kitten Lebanese pop star), and it struck me as amusing that two such diverse images could come to represent Lebanon in their eyes…

9/10/08, Gazor Khan, Alamut Castle
A crag. A mammoth shard of warped rock sticking near-vertically into the sky, and the valley like a vast basin below. Emptiness that arrests both breath and imagination, set against distant rolling peaks. The wispy, ashen clouds hovering closely overhead, betraying the altitude. A freak feat of nature that imposes itself on the entire valley, dominating the landscape. Its cracks and crevices a hundred eyes peering around, surveilling the space.

7/10/08, Bam

7/10/08 Train, Kerman – Tehran
‘Sorry, no rooms free tonight!’, the voice rang out from somewhere behind the iron gate.
‘Please, we’ll take anything! Is there space on the roof or in the courtyard? We’ve just walked from the bus station, we’re very tired and just want to rest’.

Remember my bee eater story? Well, National Geographic decided to spend an entire article on bee-eaters in their October issue. Check it out, it's an interesting bird.

""We are protesting because these fruits are planted in our Arab land that was taken by Zionist settlers by forces," said Badi Al-Rafiah, head of a committee against normalization in the 14-member Professional Associations Union.

"Buying Israeli products helps support Israeli farmers who were paying taxes to the military effort to crush and oppress Palestinians," said Abdullah Yusef, a protester.

Jordanian trade figures show bilateral trade is in fact on the rise, with the volume of exchange jumping from $1.6 million in 2003 to $14 million in 2007, representing a nine-fold increase."