And indeed it was very close to a ski jacket, I was wearing my much beloved faux-fur-lined, super-warm, bright-red winter jacket, because well, the weather is being very unpredictable these days, and whether it’s May or December, I really do not enjoy feeling cold.

My beloved red jacket:

Plus, anyone who knows me will most definitely agree that I am a little more warm-blooded than most- I am almost always very cold.

In April, when we were hit by the heatwave, I refused to switch my winter clothing for summer clothing. After all, we were still in April, and there was no way in hell I was going to switch to t’s and skirts in spring.

The heatwave came and went… and May is here, and the next heatwave is no where in sight. I keep looking longingly into my closet at my gorgeous sandals and beautiful shorts, and just thinking how much I miss 35+ degree weather.

I guess I’m sticking to my red jacket, but perhaps it’s time to remove the detachable faux-fur-lining and
cap. Hmm… but then again it rained the other day, and I was the only one who didn’t get wet. Perhaps it’ll rain unexpectedly again?

I haven’t watched a news channel in a very long time, I usually stick to reading the news online. But today my dad had the TV on Al-Jazeera, and I couldn’t believe how much more horrible the situation in Lebanon looked than it did in photographs.
Masked gunmen… Blockades in the middle of the streets… It’s really horrible.

I can’t believe that Lebanon is still heavily divided- “Sunni living quarters”, “Shia living quarters”, “Christian living quarters”, “Druze living quarters”… they seem to have a million divisions. And I cannot relate to that.

I was young when the Lebanese Civil War ended, but the thought of it still really scares me. Beirut still has bullet wounds in its buildings… it isn’t time again for another civil war. It’s never time again for that. Let’s hope this passes “3ala kheir”.

[link to more images]

My cousin just added this vintage photograph of the family to Facebook. My father is the third one from the left on the bottom row, and my grandfather is the man holding the baby. Everyone else in the picture are my dad’s brothers and sisters.

This photograph was taken in Nablus, Palestine, and was probably taken around 1955.
For more vintage family pictures, go here.

In March, the Nine Inch Nails released their album ‘Ghosts’ under a non-commercial Creative Commons license, meaning that it can be shared freely. The band confirmed that they had uploaded the album themselves to sites like The Pirate Bay, Waffles.fm and What.cd.

Even better yet, thanks to the Nine Inch Nails, the free music vibe is going to get a fresh boost today. A brand new track from the band entitled “Echoplex”, is now available for free download on Facebook. Yes, Facebook.

If that’s not cool…

[source]

Related links: The Pirate Migration

That’s pretty funny, designed by artist Mark Jenkins and Evan Roth. Too bad there’s no color for Arab. [link via]

Microsoft walked away from a bid to acquire Yahoo when its increased, $45-plus billion offer was rebuffed by the pioneering Internet company as not enough by half.

The surprise Saturday announcement came after a week of tense negotiations and about three months after Microsoft informed Yahoo that it intended to buy it, the better to compete with internet ad behemoth Google.

“Despite our best efforts, including raising our bid by roughly $5 billion, Yahoo! has not moved toward accepting our offer. After careful consideration, we believe the economics demanded by Yahoo! do not make sense for us, and it is in the best interests of Microsoft stockholders, employees and other stakeholders to withdraw our proposal,” said Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft in a prepared statement.

[source]

Apparently though, this is not the last we will here about this deal.

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