Egypt: Surveillance Cameras in Suez Canal Installed.

Egypt has begun installing surveillance cameras to monitor traffic through the strategic Suez Canal after the killing of an Egyptian by a US Navy-chartered ship last week, an official announced on Friday.

The cameras, in addition to a radar system already deployed in the region, “will provide for closer surveillance of the canal and a better view” of maritime traffic, the official said on condition of anonymity.

Mohammed Moqtar Afifi was killed on Monday when the “Global Patriot” transport vessel chartered by the US Navy fired warning shots at a small boat trying to sell merchandise, as it waited to transit the Suez Canal.

US President George W. Bush called his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak on Thursday to express regret over the incident, in which two other Egyptians were wounded.

The Suez Canal, which opened in 1869, is Egypt’s third-largest source of revenue after tourism and remittances from expatriate workers, and currently about 7.5 percent of global trade passes through the waterway.

The canal is also a key supply line for the US military in the Gulf, in particular Kuwait, and in Iraq.

+Source

April 6 – Egypt on Strike – …لاجل مصر

Update: Someone named “Kazilar” commented on this post a minute after I posted it, and the comment was an amateur attempt to break into my computer with a virus or spyware or something stupid like that. I deleted the comment but kept his name for future reference. DO NOT view his profile or his blog link, they lead to the same virus. Again, DO NOT CLICK HIS NAME.

وربما جاء يوم نجلس فيه معاً لا لكي نتفاخر ونتباهى، ولكن لكي نتذكر وندرس ونعلم أولادنا وأحفادنا جيلاً بعد جيل، قصة الكفاح ومشاقة، مرارة الهزيمة وآلامها، وحلاوة النصروآماله. نعم سوف يجئ يوم نجلس فيه لنقص ونروى ماذا فعل كل منا في موقعه … وكيف حمل كل منا أمانته وأدى دوره، كيف خرج الأبطال من هذا الشعب وهذه الأمة في فترة حالكة ساد فيها الظلام، ليحملوا مشاعل النور وليضيئوا الطريق حتى تستطيع أمتهم أن تعبر الجسر ما بين اليأس والرجاء
- محمد أنور السادات

Yes, this day WILL COME. Its about time somebody did something. This wasn’t what president Sadat had hoped for after all what he did for this country to prosper and establish itself as a powerful country once again after the 1973 war and the victory. He would have never expected that 28 years later, its would get that bad, because of the people he chose to lead the country after him.

You would wonder, why do I have this tone now? Its true that people like me aren’t affected much, we can afford to live well even if it got as shitty as it is right now, how many among the 78 million Egyptians is living that well these days? Not even a quarter.

The country is doing good, but the people are feeling its doing worse everyday, because some people’s greed increases by time or something. I won’t say more I don’t wanna get involved in anything or get arrested or something, I’ve got enough shit to deal with anyways, I don’t wanna get thrown in jail. So all I’m gonna do is announce what I\ve been seeing around on the internet lately, and what I would have participated in if I was back home in Egypt right now.

APRIL 6th 2008 – ALL EGYPTIANS ON STRIKE.
No work, No university. No school. No spending. No outting. Nothing.
Either stay at home or be part of the protest in the streets.
For better salaries and wages.For less prices. For proper education. For less poverty. For more jobs.
For a better life. For a lot of things.

Thats what the planners of the strike had to say. More than 40,000 Egyptians from facebook ALONE are participating in the strike, and hopefully all Egyptians will get in too. This is the first all-Egyptian protest since the last protest was held in the late 70s against the same issue, rising prices. And back then, the protest worked because every single Egyptian participated. Hopefully, this will be the case this time. This is the facebook group for the strike.

Now you know. Others don’t. Tell them, be a part of this. If we all do it, we will make a difference.

FOR EGYPT…
…عشان مصر

EgyptAir Rebranding (By Me – Unofficial)

Update: THEY ACTUALLY DID IT! http://infliktora.blogspot.com/2008/05/egyptair-redesigns-finally.html
——
EgyptAir has recently celebrated its 75th anniversary, being the 7th air carrier in the World and the very first in the Middle East, it has a rich history and many firsts.

It has also been a crappy carrier throughout the 90s, and was famous for flight delays and poor service. Nowadays, and since 2004, EgyptAir has been rejuvenating, with a new fleet and improved services. E-ticketing is a standard and the flights are amazingly on time, and the on-board service can’t be better. They have changed a lot in the past few years and have improved noticeably.

But when you board and EgyptAir plane, your first impression would be that Egypt Air seriously needs to consider a rebranding. The brand is tired and outdated, and it does not live up to the country’s reputation as a tourist destination that attracts millions of visitors every year. Seriously their branding is crappy. I mean look at other airlines! Learn something!!! They still couldn’t get it through their dense brains that THIS logo from the 70s HAS TO CHANGE!

I have to admit, EgyptAir isn’t as classy as Emirates. Singapore Airlines or even the Royal Jordanian, its what you can say a more “casual” airline. This is reflected in the logo and the service, and though it recently joined Star Alliance, I don’t think its considered a 5-star airline (or anywhre close to 5 stars).

So I gave it a shot and did a slight rebranding for the logo. I know they will never give up their precious eagle, so I decided to keep it and play aith it a little, and change that stupid font they have been using for ages. I decided to give it a more professional look and make it look “cool”…

So here you go:

(click to enlarge)

Tell me what you think

Turn your lights off for one hour, March 29.

This time I’m posting in this weird yellow color. This is important. Watch the video. Be a part of it.
I’ll probably do like Moey and gather with my friends and light up candles and play some Monopoly.

Don’t say I’m just one person. Everyone counts. Spread this, repost it, and suggest to your friends. We can make a difference.

Everyone at 8PM, your local time. I signed up to represent Egypt, and I’m doing it on Egypt’s local time. You too, Join Us!

The new facebook..!

Recently, people’s profiles have been jammed up with a lot of stuff and weirdness…
I know some people whom if I need to reach their wall to write something, I have to wander through a big fat huge profile looking for the wall, hoping to find it between all those applications, fun wall, super wall, idiot wall, the “What kind of banana peel are you” quiz and the “Who Smells Nicer” ratings…

So facebook, I guess it being a better website than Hi5 (that I never used) and Myspace (that I only have for the band), are redesigning the profile pages to make them neat and able to hold all the junk that people have. Its basically what Firefox has done… The magical TABBED BROWSING (ta daaa!)

There will be tabs for the About Me section, The Wall, and Photos.

Also, there will be a cool new photo album layout (since most of my photos are on facebook, thats what I’m psyched about)… Other than that I don’t really care much. But overall, I like the new design, they stuck to the website’s overall look and customized it to be cleaner.

The new design will be imlemented in the next few weeks, but for now, I’ll leave you with the gallery. (click on the thumbnails to enlarge)

fb1: The About Me section.
fb2: The Wall
fb3: The Photos
fb4: Closer look at the wall.

Culture vs. Islam

I don’t usually blog about those issues but this was interesting.

Why is Islam misunderstood, especially in the west?
Because Muslims representing Islam give a wrong image and impression about it.
Why is that?
Because many people mix their cultures with Islam and come up with a weird mix and label it “Islam”… and Islam isn’t true if you add to or remove from it.

This is a video I found, explaining this, in a humorous form

from www.UmmahFilms.com

Nice one by Tantric.

I came across this song on Yahoo! Radio and decided to post it. I downloaded their full discography, most of it not a great as this song, but generally nice.

Down & Out by Tantric. From the Album “The End Begins”.
Enjoy

Labels…

Is labeling people fair? No. Even if you learn to live with the stereotypes. you still get pulled down. Just because people think all “Metalheads” are involved in cults and worship the devil, get high and kill themselves, or that all Arabs/Muslims have bombs strapped to them waiting for their Big Mac to be late to blow McDonalds and the whole block up, instantly they slap a sign n someone’s forehead and label them…

I’m skinny, so I must be bulemic/anorexic.

I’m fat, so I must eat everything I see.

I’m emo, so I must cut my wrists.

I’m a goth, so I must listen to nothing but heavy metal.

I’m black, so I must be on welfare.

I’m Hispanic, so I must be dirty.

I’m Asian, so I must love math.

I’m Jewish, so I must be good with money.

I’m Muslim, so I must kill you.

I’m Arab, so I must be a terrorist.

I’m old, so I probably cant drive.

I’m religious, so I must shove my beliefs down your throat.

I’m republican, so I must not care about poor people.

I’m democrat, so I must not believe in being responsible.

I take anti-deppressants, so I must be crazy.

I’m a guy, so I only want to get into your pants.

I’m a girl, so I must think irrationally.

I’m Irish, so I must have a bad drinking problem.

I’m Indian, so I either drive a cab.

I’m Native American, so I must dance around a fire screaming like a savage, or be apart of a gaming casino.

I’m a teenager, so I must drink and do drugs.

I’m a cheerleader, so I must be a whore.

I’m a punk, so I must do drugs.

I’m young, so I must be naive.

I’m rich, so I must be a snob, conceited.

I wear black, so I must be gothic.

Im a black male, so i must be a thief.

I’m a girl and I roll wit alot of dudes, so i must be easy

I wear what i want (diffrent styles) so i must be a poser!

I’m a jock, so i must be strong.

I’m a Metalhead, so I must worship the devil.

I’m Persian, so I must own a club.

I’m African so I must click!

I’m from South America, so I must be white trash.

I’m Canadian so my English has to be screwed!

I’m Egyptian, so I have to live in the Pyramids and have a pet Camel in my backyard.

I’m good friends with a person from the opposite gender, we must be secretly in love.

I’m from the Arabian Gulf, so I must drink petrol in my tent in the desert.

Bottom line is that stereotypes are WRONG. Put this on your blog/site/facebook notes if you feel the same. Change whatever you need to change to fit what people label you. People need to know that you’re not “Emo”, “Goth”, “Black” or whatever. People need to know that you are YOU.

It would be kind of you to link back

Oh Crap..!!! I Got a Job!!!

Shouldn’t I be happy and put like a happy expression maybe in this title, maybe because I’m maybe so freakin happy with this..? Nooooo… I must show that I’m freaked out for no reason.
And speaking of which…holy shit I got a job and I am on fire!! Not just that I designed a flyer for a certain event, now that it has gone official, and I got the original PSD files to the band’s logos and photos so I can add them to the posters, and make other posters for the event, I was also hired by Music Gates as the grapics designer for the rest of their flyers, and for every single Metal Accord event from now on. I will also be participating in organising future events by the company. I am on the Music Gates team!!!

I will also be getting backstage passes for the Vader concert, AND my the band INFLIKTORA will have a great chance when debuting on Metal Accord’s stage! I’m psyched!!

Now the next job for me, is redesigning Metal Gates’ and Metal Accord’s logos. Plus I have to deal with the stupid group that was recently created by some weirdos against Vader coming to Egypt. So, too much work for me right now (considering I still didn’t give up on Medicine )

Soon I will be posting the new logos when I’m done and they’re approved, or maybe I’ll have to wait for Metal Accord 9 before I can do anything, just for the sake of not burning the logo too fast. Just let us clear out from Vader, because this event is taking too much effort from everyone on MG, and then we’ll see what happens.

Wish me luck… (lots of it)… =D

The First Real Metal Concert In Egypt. Its Vader!!

This is about one of the greatest Death Metal bands in history. One of the only few bands that was able to sustain and remain ON FIRE for as long as 25 years. We’re speaking about the famous Polish metal band VADER. The best selling European Death Metal band ever.

Vader, touring to celebrate their 25th anniversary, will stop by in Egypt, for a first time performance! The progress is great, from the government banning metal music a few years ago, to now, when real international bands are performing in Egypt!

And, opening for them will be 3 great bands, Nervecell (all the way from Dubai) as well ass Dark Philosophy and Worm! Isn’t this amazing!!

Just like Tiesto and David Guetta came like a gazillion times for techno/house fans, Craig David for RnB fans, and others whom have been making the best concerts in the region, its time for Metal fans to get something..! And its April 11th of this year. It will be huge!

Plus, this gig is organized by a friend of mine, Ahmed Gamal! I seriously applaud Ahmed Gamal and Sammy Sayyed for their work on the metal scene in Egypt so far!! Egypt Metal Gates, Music Gates, and Metal Accord are simple amazing you guys… Its worth mentioning that Sammy Sayyed is the Vocalist for the band Scarab (formerly HateSuffocation) one of the best Metal bands in Egypt, and have performed in this years Dubai Desert Rock Festival ‘08.

Oh, and by the way, the flyer above is the official flyer for the event, and is designed by MEEEEEEE!! (what do u think??)

Too bad I won’t be able to make it to this concert either, as I am still stuck in Ukraine. I can’t love this country more!