camper's blog

Crazy...it seems that someone created a replica map of the AlJazeera Newsroom (the Doha one) and posted a video of the Marines shooting it up.

I'm home alone! So are most of my friends in Doha. That means we're like a band of roving bachelors trying to fill up time after work. This usually involves lots of time spent at the cinema, eating junk food, playing indoor sport (the heat remember) and long card games. It's like being in university all over again.

Lots of people who do not live in Qatar find the exodus of our families during summertime strange and a bit weird. You'll often get "you wife is gone for HOW long!?" as if they are trying to figure out if you are having marital problems.

Qatar is gearing up for it's municipal elections on the 1 April 2007. While many residents in Doha a are concerned with the major disruptions caused by infrastructure projects and road safety, one candidate is focusing on the issue of issues : ladies underwear!

According to an article in the The Peninsula a candidate is greatly concerned that

most outlets selling lingerie have male salesmen, which is not a desirable practice in a conservative society like Qatar's, said Hassan Al Jefairi. In a communication addressed to the social affairs division at the Department of Labour, he said that men should not be allowed to work in shops that sell exclusively female garments.

And, especially if it comes to buying lingerie, a woman would usually avoid visiting a shop which has male sales personnel. "So, give visas to single women so they can not only work in lingerie shops but also in other outlets as well as offices," he said

When asked if concerned about social problems that may arise out of having single females, he answered :

"So, we need to be selective and issue visas to women from good families. Anyway, a woman who is willing to come here and take a job for a monthly salary of QR2,000 or QR2,500 will definitely have a good character, because if she is morally corrupt, she can earn this much money in a day in her home country itself. There is no need for her to look for a job overseas,"

To be fair, the fine candidate's proposal is about much more than lingerie. It is about the rights of migrant workers in Qatar:

"This is a violation of human rights not to make opportunities available for single and unmarried men to mix and socialise with young women, fall in love and get married and live a happy and stable family life," he remarked. "I have written all these things in my letter."

"Let me be clear that I am not talking here of bringing over women with suspicious character and encourage immorality. What I am saying makes sense as it would add to social cohesion and stability," said Al Jefairi.

Watch this blog for more Qatar Municipal Election Coverage!

In Qatar there is only one decent bookshop (that happens to be a Saudi chain) that has a few shelves of English books. Shopping there is hit or miss - you don't go there to look for a title. You go there in the hope of stumbling upon something interesting.

The kids selection is not bad though. The other night we saw Disney's "My Very First Encyclopedia with Winnie the Pooh and friends". We grabbed it and thought it was exactly what we needed for our daughter - not only does she love Winnie the Pooh but she's also started taking a keen interest in nature.

Piglet Censored in Middle East : Hello Kids!

We flipped it open and noticed that some of the pages had been vandalised with a black marker. We figured it must have been bought and returned after some kids had got there hands on it. Further inspection made us realise that this was actually systematic. Someone had deliberately "censored" out each and every picture of Piglet from hundreds of pages in the book with a black marker (my guess is that the book got caught by Saudi Censors enroute to Doha).

Well, Saddm Hussein was executed on Eid Day. While he was a bad bad bad man, being executed on Eid isn't really a nice thing to do.

Also, the fact that many people including his lawyers are claiming that he didn't get due process isn't great for our faith in the Iraqi legal system (what legal system you ask?). The one thing that the US has taught us is that even the guilty have rights and that they should be given a fair trial. Getting tried under occupation is hardly fair.

What do you think

Well, it seems like a big day for everyone at Al Jazeera tomorrow. As reported here, Al Jazeera English is launching tomorrow. I know there are a few people who work at Al Jazeera floating round on this site. It would be fantastic if you'd share your experience and the feeling of what it means to launch a new station with the rest of us!

Lyrics

When the day is dawning
on a muggy old Doha morning
How I long to be there
With Osama who's waiting for me there

Every lonely newsroom
Where I hang my hat
Ain't as half as pretty
As where my Shiulie's at

Is this the way to Al-Jazeera?
This is the end of the BBC era
dreaming dreams of Al-Jazeera
And sweet Shiulie who waits for me

Is this the way to Al-Jazeera?
I'm going to get paid lots of
lira, Storky's off to Al-Jazeera

But the sand is blazing
Crown Prince Hamad bin Khalifa is waiting
Though it may be harder I'll be reporting on the Intifada.
Just beyond the sand dunes
There's a world so new
Oh jilbabs and palm trees
And then there's camel poo

I had the most unexpected but pleasant experience the other evening. I was out doing some shopping in Landmark and returned to the parking lot to find my car battery dead!. Aaargh! My predicament looked pretty bleak...it was late at night and the car was parked facing a wall so it wouldn't be easy to jump start it - that is, if I could find someone with jumper cables who would help me...

Just then I saw a Qatar Police patrol car drive past.

ABC is planning to air a fraudulent docudrama titled, The Path to 9/11 to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. If you want the details of the fraudulent film, then read the links below.

I saw an article in the Gulf Times Timeout about how Chrysler is recalling Jeeps. Does anyone know if this affects Jeeps in Qatar?

As an expat living in Qatar, I want you all to join me in wishing Qatar a Happy Independence Day!

On 3 September 1971 Qatar became an independent state. Who would have guessed that 35 years later the tiny State of Qatar would be one of the most influential countries in the Arab world? While oil and gas has made the country ridiculousy wealthy, it is the vision and guts of the Emir that really put Qatar on the map. The most famous of these of course was the establishment of what has become the beacon of free speech in the region, Al Jazeera. Other projects that are pushing bounds include:

• A massive educational project at the Qatar Foundation
• The hosting of the 15th Asian Games later this year
• Currently an elected member of the UN Security Council (thanks gettinginandstayingin)
• The massive amounts of aid spending

Of course no country is without its problems but today I think we owe one to Qatar - a little country with big heart!

And of course, here is one to Qatar Living, a small (but growing) community with lots of heart!

And some people complained about Palestinian kids being indoctrinated...

Thank you for killing the kids. They must have deserved it. They must have been evil terrorists. You are so strong and powerful. Your life is worth more than theirs. You take what you want. Feel free. Get out all your pent up hatred. Keep on killing. Keep on destroying. Ahlan wasahlan.

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It's a sad world we live in. Have a look here.

"Yes, seven (and still counting)! The seven goals include three children and two women. More than 40 injuries are in hospital, some are critical.

New war crimes by the Terrorist State of Israel and its gang called Israel Terrorist Forces."

Last night I received what I think is the first case of mass mobile phone SPAM in Qatar. In the early evening I got an SMS from 3406819963 which said:

CONGRATULATIONS! LOTTERY WINNER

Your mobile number attached to ticker number 5XX-XX won US$1.116,000.00

Call:00346-6-819-963.

lotterypostwin/-a-t-/malaysia.com

I thought "Oh man...now we're into mobile phone spam" and forgot about. Then, later this evening my friend with me received the exact same message. Now our two numbers are totally unrelated in sequence. Also, I'm a contract user and she's got a pay as you go account. I'm wondering if they are just SMSing a whole range of Q-Tel phone numbers just to see who will catch.

With e-mail we are now sort of oblivious to spam. It comes and goes and we don't really bother with it. But with this, it's a bit different since the message may catch you off guard and you may think that the message is from some real competition they entered. Worse still, most modern mobile phones highlight numbers so you may accidently dial it.

I'd be interested in the economics of this sort of scam. Surely it's costing the scammers a few cent per SMS message? I suppose the premium price number (I'm assuming it's a premioum price number in Spain since +34 is the Spanish country code) just has to be set at a high enough price point.

Over and above the economics, I'm also wondering about the liability of the mobile carrier. SMS is not like e-mail - the carrier should accept some liability and they can reliably trace who sent the message.

So did anyone else get the message? I'd be interested to know how many of you actually received it (any if anyone actually fell for it!).