Look at the following image: a BMW 745 parked sideways in the middle of King Abdullah road and most likely it was “drifting” recklessly. Notice the huge dent in the front.

I posted some videos I found that were taken in the same are of Riyadh: King Abdullah Road, in front of KSU entrance and near Raka’a Center (Here’s a Gowalla link)

This video is of a pickup truck (GM most likely) “drifting” continuously.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXVLk4YUBoM

In this one a variety of cars doing the same drift in the same spot (if you went to the right a bit that’s where the BMW has stopped). I really hope Riyadh Traffic police has seen these videos and caught them.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa6yBazHBs8

Now a brand new Mercedes Benz S-Class in the night! Who gave him that car? I blame careless parents!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFcO0ux89aY

This is at the KSU roundabout. Road and road and road.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9szKHd-e1Pw

This guy was dumb enough to take a closeup of his license plate!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=do8vnaNZnLY

Lexus here:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKnetwiChPQ

Lincoln:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCG7oTNBGTQ

Some more in Prince Turki road which is a major Riyadh road parallel to Takhasossi and Olaya.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzmaUZaCcUQ

www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8wFs_OkHyw

Only in Saudi Arabia indeed. Riyadh Traffic is slow to react and they probably rather catch you speeding than catching these crazy people.

Related posts:

1. YAYA! (funny videos)
2. Dear Saudi Driver
3. Youtube collection: Awesome and EXTREMELY Weird

Here’s a link to the CNN video and here’s a mirror on Youtube.

A big thanks to SaudiMac English and Arabic editions. And hopefully this will push for Apple presence in Saudi Arabia.

Related posts:

1. SaudiMac posts for January 2010
2. Arabic iPhone almost here
3. Finally, Arabic on the iPhone!

I would like to start the Smokefree Riyadh twitter campaign. Just tag #SmokefreeRiyadh in any tweet discussing a non-smoking location in Riyadh or to warn against a smoking only location. I hope to see #SmokefreeJeddah and more.

A big thank you to Dunkin Donuts in Saudi Arabia for finally banning smoking in their branches!

A big question: “Saudi signed anti-smoking pact” in 2005. Whatever happened to that? #SmokefreeSaudi.

Looks like Twitter search is useless so I linked to Google Search within Twitter instead.

Related posts:

1. Saudi signs anti-smoking pact
2. The recursion joke
3. The location for Tweetup Riyadh March 2010

Enjoy the videos, he is extremely funny.

One more note: extra thanks to Jimmy Kimmel Live page on Youtube for allowing visitors from Saudi Arabia to watch the videos. A few months ago visitors from Saudi Arabia face “This video contains content from Jimmy Kimmel Live . Who has blocked it in your country on copyright grounds” message but now it’s available! Make sure to thank them on Twitter: JimmyKimmellive.

Yehya at Star Trek DVD Release Party part 1:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IpypBKkECI

Part 2, Yehya shares Falafil with everyone:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2V4zJudcqM

Yehya at the Grammys:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyhBJOymPMQ

Yehya at Night of 100 Stars in 2009, Yehya asks some to add him on facebook and poke him, heh:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBjCCqG8utc

Yehya at the 2009 AMAs:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9HbMIynhC3o

Yehya at the MTV Movie Awards:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VhqKX-Lb4E

Related posts:

1. Reckless Drifting videos
2. Youtube collection: Awesome and EXTREMELY Weird
3. Lost Answers, funny song

Anyway, The Maxer sent me this solution: this flickr_configuration_file.cfg file should work in Saudi Arabia with most Nokia phones including N97.

Related posts:

1. Flickr with Nokia Share Online 4.3
2. Nokia in Saudi Arabia: Screw the consumers
3. What I did with my Nokia N95

Riyadh Bookfair Schedule & location

It will be held at the new REC building (Gowalla location).

As for the schedule, the fair will be open from 10am to 10pm except Friday which opens at 4pm:

• Wednesday 3/3/2010 For All
• Thursday 4/3/2010 For All
• Friday 5/3/2010 From 4pm to 10pm For Men
• Saturday 6/3/2010 For All
• Sunday For All but from 4pm to 10pm For Men
• Monday For All
• Tuesday For All but from 4pm to 10pm for Men
• Wednesday For All
• Thursday For All
• Friday 12/3/2010 From 4pm to 10pm for Men

“For All” means “family” “men & woman”, ya know. And yes, no women only days.

Technical books?

There is no list of registered publishers online.

Issues with the website

Can I rant? I wanna rant!

• Web site was launched in the last minute, the old website provided useless information. This point will be repeated in many forms.
• No list of Registered Publishers.
• About/History of the Riyadh Book Fair page is empty.
• How can you link to a register publisher page but somehow the page only appeared yesterday and registration is closed!
• There is no English website, I was expecting to have multiple languages available especially to help guests and expats.
• At least there is a search page, not enough I rather see a list of publishers/books.
• Hall Map can be available as an image, why only use a PDF?
• More useless registration info launched after the beginning of the Bookfair!
• FYI: list of Irregularities, seminar program and FAQ.

I will visit it soon, I hope they have some good computer books.

Related posts:

1. Riyadh International (but not technical) Book Fair 2010
2. Riyadh International Book Fair
3. The location for Tweetup Riyadh March 2010

Riyadh Book Fair always have a new domain every year, before it was www.riyadhbookfair.org but they LOST THE DOMAIN?! seriously? How hard it is to renew a domain name? It’s not hard!

The new domain is riyadhbookfair.org.sa but the website is horrible and hard to navigate and.

Please, visit the English site and have a laugh.

What I find disappointing is the lack of technical publications, the only publication company listed (list is in Arabic only, nothing on English site) with a technical name is “ثري دي كمبيوتر سنتر ” no need to translate, it is pronounced “3D Computer Center”!

I was expecting more technical books so this is a major disappointment (yet again). The US publishers listed are “school zone publishing” (kids books) “INTERNATIONAL TRADE LINKS” (I couldn’t even find a website for them) and “مركز مصادر المعلومات” wait wha?

Riyadh Book Fair starts tomorrow, I could go if I have any time to waste … if you spot some tech books (computers mainly, but if you find something interesting please post a comment).

Here’s the Riyadh International Book Fair 2010 Schedule listed here (apparently only men with Afros are allowed, and no women only days):

• Tuesday 6/3/1430 3/3/2009 Inauguration ceremony
• Wed 7/3/1430 4/3/2009 for all
• Thurs 8/3/1430 5/3/2009 for all
• Fri. 9/3/1430 6/3/2009 from 16:00 to 22:00 fro men
• Sat. 10/3/1430 7/3/2009 for all
• Sun. 11/3/1430 8/3/2009 for all, From 16:00 to 22:00 fro men
• Mon. 12/3/1430 9/3/2009 for all
• Tues. 13/3/1430 10/3/2009 for all, from 16:00 to 22:00 fro men
• Wed 14/3/1430 11/3/2009 for all
• Thurs 15/3/1430 12/3/2009 for all
• Fri 16/3/1430 13/3/2009 From 16:00 to 22:00 fro men

And here is the exhibition location on Gowalla: Riyadh Exhibitions Company.

Related posts:

1. Riyadh International Book Fair 2010, let’s try this again
2. Riyadh International Book Fair
3. The location for Tweetup Riyadh March 2010

According to Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME)’s early warning page (there is no English warning page, so you might as well go out?): A sandstorm is approaching Riyadh and Horizontal visibility of 1 meter!

تحذير رقم(2)من الساعة(10:30)صباحا الى الساعة(12:30)ظهرا ليوم الاثنين الموافق 15 ربيع الاول 1431ه شبه انعدام فى مدى الرؤية الافقية حيث تتدنى الرؤية الافقية الى اقل من (1)م بسبب العوالق الترابية على المناطق((الشرقية – الرياض – القصيم ))….لذلك يجب اخذ الحيطة والحذر.

Schools have already started sending students home. Hope everyone will be safe.

Image from American Bedu.

Related posts:

1. Sandstorm over Riyadh video
2. The location for Tweetup Riyadh March 2010
3. Gitex closed for today!

The fact that DSL connection up means that the signal should be good, yet somehow I cannot “dial in” the beloved STC Afaq DSL servers. That’s the only assumption I have: STC’s servers simply can’t handle the load and they should buy some servers already!

Why did I reboot the DSL modem in the first place? Because the Upstream was only 100Kbps and it made accessing the web slower. That’s it: I won’t reboot my modem even if the Upstream was 1Kbps. It’s not worth being offline for that.

Now we have Mobily: the iPhones in some parts of Riyadh are having problems connecting to Mobily’s cell towers. iPhones simply lose the cell network and stuck on “Searching”. So now I can’t even use the iPhone to connect to the Internet, leaving me offline for this night.

Update on Mobily: disabling 3G fixed it. Thanks Tom Merritt!

I will probably post this by the morning and hopefully Internet connection should be back.

Offline Update 1: Down for 3 hours.

Related posts:

1. Saudi Telecom (STC) and Mobily ad wars
2. A new STC ad makes fun of Mobily’s slowness
3. iPhone 3GS in Saudi Arabia from Mobily on October 27th

Let’s start with awesome! Sxip Shirey and Adam Matta perform Moon in her Belly. Sxip with a harmonica and Adam is a human beatbox:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbpOoTEFD_g

And now something weird, someone has taken Mahmoud Awad’s songs and used a strange filter. This thing better not be the next big meme.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6fldyHVOsA

And here’s another:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5DqEHxY4FM

Finally some AMVs (Anime Music Video) from my favorite Anime/Manga, One Piece. Spoiler warning of course.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHISe0ODCH0

Related posts:

1. Video: Saudi Numa Dance
2. YAYA! (funny videos)
3. Evian Roller Babies video

Remember that the Tweetups are now held on the first Monday of each month instead of Thursday.

Related posts:

1. Riyadh Tweetup for November
2. Second Riyadh Tweetup
3. Riyadh International Book Fair 2010, let’s try this again

Video and lyrics after the break.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1PAB6Sgdp8

Lyrics

When LOST first started there were all of these mysteries and we hoped it would, end well
With one season left we are starting to lose faith but only time, will tell
So we wrote this song for the creators of LOST to see
That all these issues and plot points continue to be missing
How can they solve them all?
We’ll have to see if they can because we’ve all been waiting from the start to get

ANSWERS
Like what is the smoke monster
ANSWERS
What do the numbers mean
ANSWERS
LOST we’re counting on you

What was that giant bird and where did it come from, did it really say, Hurley
Whats the significance of pushing the hatch numbers every 108 minutes
And why did the Dharma Initiative not automate that process
And how in the name of physics did the Black Rock crash on the island
The writers can’t solve them all
Like who built the Lamp Post Station and why do they have to recreate the crash to get

BACK THERE
How’d Jack get Locke’s letter back
ANSWERS
Whats in the guitar case
ANSWERS
LOST we hope you’ll come through

Why does the monster look like smoke to everyone but to Locke its a white light
How does it manifest itself into dead people and project video of people’s past
And why were they experimenting on Polar Bears in the first place
And who built the giant wheel that controls time and space
The writers will never solve them all
Like where did Jacob come from hows he have magical powers that cause things to happen outside of the

ISLAND
Who’s the guy who had Jacob killed
ANSWERS
How’d he take over Locke’s body
LOST
You’re making it up as you go

If so many met the castaways in the past why don’t they remember them, later
When Jin survived how could he time travel when he was so far away from the island so the only way that would be possible is if Jin jumped off the ship and landed unconscious in the water then somehow managed to move downstream following the precise bearing of either 325 or 305 depending if you go by the number Michael was given by Ben or Lepidus was given by Faraday and end up close enough to the island to time jump with everyone else all in a matter of second which seems completely preposterous but they probably hope nobody realizes that it makes no sense and we’ll likely never get an answer

There’s far too many questions to fit into just one song
Listing every single thing will make this song far too long
So here’s a few more to ponder on
So you can continue to realize that LOST has too many questions that they’ll never

ANSWER
Why do Whidmore and Ben fight
ANSWERS
Why do people get healed
While others are allowed to die
Why did Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sayid crash in 1977
While Ben, Sun and the rest ended up in the present
What is the Others origin
Why doesn’t Richard Alpert get older
Why can Miles speak to the dead

Boy do we hope that there’s
ANSWERS
To all of these and more
WILL THEY
Answer them before
THE SERIES
Finally comes to an end
LOST
We’re so freaking confused!

Finally, here’s “Lost in 8:15 minutes” updated with seasons 1 to 5.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGvZkS-teAU

Related posts:

1. Lost plane crash scene done in 24 style
2. YAYA! (funny videos)
3. STC is having problems with their billing system

As usual I made a post on SaudiMac.com English website and SaudiMac.net Arabic site.

Can you guess what’s the main item? Yup, the Apple iPad.

Related posts:

1. I am on CNN!
2. Riyadh International (but not technical) Book Fair 2010
3. Riyadh International Book Fair 2010, let’s try this again

Translation: Single men absolutely cannot rent a room, no exceptions allowed. Families can rent a room only with an original family card (دفتر العائلة) no photocopies allowed. These are instructions from the Saudi MOI.

Apparently someone misused the services of the Mövenpick resort, so everyone else have to pay the price . But they should exclude all single men, not just us Saudis. I am sure single expatriate men won’t have this problem because that sign is in Arabic only. Also Mövenpick Al Nawras should have mentioned this on their website as well just to be fair.

Guess I can’t go unless I get married or borrow my father’s family card . If you know the cause for that policy then please share it!

Related posts:

1. Nokia in Saudi Arabia: Screw the consumers
2. Riyadh International (but not technical) Book Fair 2010
3. Unblock in Saudi Arabia Successful: Squidoo

www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKcKtjrL5bc

Lost’s final season (season 6) will air Tuesday February 2nd, a bit early this season. I will be downloading acquiring it of course on Wednesday.

Related posts:

1. Lost Answers, funny song
2. video: Smooth Criminal, Saudi Style
3. Spiderman attends a Saudi university