Supermoon over the Red Sea

Super moon. 14% bigger than a normal moon.

low tide

deserted beach

And here we have various failed attempts at capturing the moon while keeping the camera still.  The last few are pretty cool.

Photo Essay: Tiring department store Adventure

An quick visit inside the Tiring Building off of Midan Attaba. You've probably seen it from the bridge when coming back from the Azhar/Hussein area. It was finished in 1912 and owned by an Austrian fellow but he soon got kicked out of Egypt by the British at the end of WW1. Then Egyptians took over and...

A general view of the entrance

nice glass work on the overhang

A nice man (after checking we're not spies of bad people) showed a back entrance. in it, go down some stairs on the right, walk back, and you'll see a very old elevator. or you can just browse around all the belt shops until you find the staircase.  

A nice dome right above a staircase, which probably let in lots of nice natural light back in the day. 

Staircase leading to the roof top

There was someone sleeping in the dome, so we didn't bother them.

Iconic: The slaves carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders. notice the pharaonic hairstyle, and super pronounced abs

This must have looked cool when it was all lit up.

Yet another view of Cairo's rooftops...

A cool rooftop garden!

remnants of of a mannequin... forever sunbathing 

back down to the organized chaos... and off to azhar to get some books mended...

For more information on this building, please see:
http://www.egy.com/landmarks/97-02-22.php
and this lovely CairoObserver article:
http://cairobserver.com/post/38678056409/

Photos taken on July 2nd 2013

Photos: Cuter doggies

and now.. for people to calm down a bit... I would like you to view these cute street dogs!

Why Egypt will be "fine"

Just a quick post that I've been meaning to write for a few days:

For anyone who's worrying about the violence in Egypt, here's why I think things will stay stable:

With all of Egypt's hard power being concentrated in the hands of the army, and the army's industrial complex, the army has a huge interest (and the power to enforce) in keeping stability. 

As an institution, the army would be very badly hit if there was a civil war.

Let me elaborate why:

The army controls approximately 30% of the Egyptian economy (estimates vary). With this control, it gets revenues. If the country goes to hell, the economy will go to hell, an so will the army's coffers. If people stop (unknowingly) buying army-produced goods, the army will suffer, greatly.

So basically, the army has a business interest in keeping the country stable and Egyptians consuming, and because the army has the monopoly on power and is accountable to no one (not even the president), they can step in when they see that their business interests are at risk.

Then, they will put someone in place who will be favorable to their business interest (which happens –at least partially– to be in Egypt's interest as well, i.e. stability and GDP growth). The army's power-deal with the MB last year was just this, except the brotherhood took their socio-political interest WAY too far, and those didn't not coincide with the people's. 

caveat (hehe):

of course... there may be a few martyrs and car-bombs along the way... but still. I believe that the army will succeed in maintaining stability.

SnapShots from July 2nd

...about one hour after the tamarrod campaign's deadline for Morsi to resign, and about 24 hours before the army's ultimatum...

There's a military helicopter flying above

cool street art

SnapShot: me on France24

I stood by for about 5 minutes, watching them do the different takes. Finally it got boring to watch, so I left, and I guess that was the best take! this is on Dokki street. in the same report, he also interview some merchants I know in Soliman Gohar!

Photo: Maadi Buildings

I forgot the name of this street, But I was impressed how everything is so straight.