Without much of a local soccer scene to speak off (unless of course we’re talking about racism), Jordanians tend to follow and relate to soccer tournaments abroad with a lot more passion (case in hand: Euro Cup, Italian League, World Cup, etc).

During large tournaments such as the Euro Cup taking place now, the entire town seems to turn into a large soccer themed party. The games are watched by every class of society, young and old. The good teams and the bad teams are the focal point of a lot of the casual conversation in offices, cab rides and waiting lines. When the games are on, society seems to forget about the horrendous rates of inflation increasing every day, their shitty jobs, and the gas prices: all that matters is the ball being kicked from European to European.

Soccer matters. It is practically the only activity that a large portion of the population rallies around, fingers crossed. Yet, it comes with a price, as the games are never screened on local tv. It comes on an AlJazeera +1 card with a price tag. For example, in our case, our receiver doesn’t come with a card slot, so in order to get access to AlJazeera +1, not only do we need to buy the card, but also buy a different satellite dish with a card-slot enabled receiver.

We considered it seriously at first, as there are at least 6 people with constant access to our tv who would like to watch the games every day. But then it was decided that instead of spending money on a receiver + satellite + card, we’ll just go watch the games we feel like watching every now and then at random places around town.

Then of course came the very unpleasant surprise taking place as “Minimum Order” and “Cover Charge”.

For example, below are the exploitation policies of some of the places we sometimes hang out at:

The Courtyard – ten jd cover charge
Salute- Five jd cover charge
Tche Tche- two jd cover charge
Champions: ten jd cover charge
Players: 15++ jd minimum charge (yes, with a ++) and a 5 jd cover charge
Books- ten jd minmum charge
Canvas- ten jd minimum charge
Prego- seven jd minimum charge
La Calle- two jd minimum charge

The only place I have called that actually didn’t have an exploitation policy was Dubliners.

I mean, it is really grade A exploitation to make use of the fact that not everyone has AlJazeera +1 to bump up the prices to a minimum of 10 jds, and even worse, a 10 jd cover charge! It makes you just feel like damn, if these guys are so open about capitalizing on such occasions, how else are they ripping us off on a daily basis?
I think I’m going to boycott the places that have high minimum charges and cover charges for good.

Not sure how practical this is, but it sure is a cool idea. I’d imagine that Arabic typography would make a much better looking scarf though.

Via the always awesome Boing Boing

Step 21: Jump at any opportunity to take pictures of strange sock/shoe combinations.
In this photo: Roba Al-Assi [photos | remove tag]
Added June 13

From the album:
“How to Act Like an Idiot – Part 1″by Hal

Hal wrote:
at 9:55am on June 15th, 2008
I’m only not on the Internet when I’m sleeping or when I’m shopping.
No wait, sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night to hug the Internet a little, for comfort :p
And yes. The socks are art. ART I tell ya. Yo when am I gonna see Rainbow Bright’s apartment?!?!? :D

Yasmeen wrote:
at 12:14 am yesterday
1: Roba and Moose’s apartment looks like the horrific aftermath of a Rainbow’s drunken night out, seriously, the thing just went out, got wasted, came back in there and PUKED ITS GUTS all over the place.

2: Roba, seriously? The socks?

3: Hal I wake up and hug Ally Mcbeal for comfort at night. She speaks to me. Is that so bad? She’s my internet. How lame did that just sound? Moving along.

4: Hal, your album is hi. la. rious. Emphasis on all three syllables please. Merci. Point final.

Hal wrote:
at 11:40am yesterday
Yasmeeeeeeeen! Ok so
1: I CAN’T WAIT. I am so gonna make fun of that crib MOHAHAHHAHA.
2: That’s what I said. The ‘seriously?’ part.
3: Seriously?
4: :D

I’ve always been seriously amused by abandoned spaces. There’s a certain charm to them, the charm of a place that was once a person’s warm, loving home. The charm of walls that saw intimacy that outsiders have never seen.

When I pass by an abandoned space, especially in the once very beautiful neighborhoods such as Jabal Amman and Weibdeh, I always stop and try to imagine what it was like when the gardens were green, and a family sat and had coffee in the courtyard.

Yet, most of these spaces are impersonal to me. For the most part, the days of their glory came to pass before I reached maturity. My fascination with them is just that of an outsider, trying to imagine what it would have been like to be a part of that space before it was abandoned.

Then this weekend, we decided to go check out if there is anything to salvage in one of the first houses that my family ever lived in. They bought it sometime in the early-to-mid 80′s and we moved to Saudi Arabia a very, very short time afterwards, leaving the house abandoned to vandalism and insects.

During those early years, we used to spend the summers there, but then sometime in the early 90′s, we switched to spending our vacations at my grandmother’s house instead. It has been completely abandoned since then, and when we moved back to Amman 20 years later, my parents decided to buy our current home, because it is close to my grandmother.

The house has basically been forgotten for the past 15 years. The thing I found most interesting when we went there this weekend is how it’s obvious it was never really meant to be abandoned the way it was. The dishes are still stacked neatly above the kitchen sink to drain, the cupboard in the toilet is still stocked with toothpaste and shaving cream, and the toys are still haphazardly thrown around as if my brothers and I had just finished playing with them.

I remember those toys very clearly, and I remember that we used to love sitting on the stairs while we play. My mother had painted a Snow White mural on our bedroom door because I used to love Snow White. I don’t remember her painting it, but I remember being very proud of them.

It is one thing to walk into an abandoned space that you cannot relate to, and a completely different thing to skip over cobwebs and think, damn, I used to love that spot. It’s as if a moment of my childhood got stuck in time, complete with 80′s logos and 80′s fashion.

Of course, with a lot more layers of dust.

A new program called “CarePhilly” is being rolled out in Philadelphia in an attempt to get drivers to follow speed limits.

The technique: high tech 3D decals that they believe will fake out drivers into thinking there is something in the intersection.

It must be either the most brilliant move ever or the dumbest. I mean, what happens when the drivers go over this fake speed bump the first time? And what about word of mouth?
What do you think? Smart or stupid?

[via]