packed and ready.

i got me new superduper phone with a superduper camera built in,….

♦♦

i got my hoodie ready,…

and my nice warm coat,…

cos apparently its colder than a teet that belongs to a goat.

12 hours to go, and more than enough time to play with my new toy business expense

see you guys on the other side.

Istanbul to do list.

since i tend to go into holiday mode when i fly, even if its for business, i figured this would be a good way for me to keep track of the important stuff i need to do.

so heres a note to self.

hey skunk, dont forget:

- you have a Lasik appointment on the 28th. hopefully they’ll say its ok to stick a laser in your eyes. if all systems are go and its done onthe 28th then you’ll have a follow up on the 29th.

- you have to pass by the istanbul stock exchange and ask about the international market, the isx free zone as a base of operations for your company and the effects of taxes on your profits. also ask about what happened during the new currency introduction. and walk around emirgan.

- dont forget to pass by the fish and vegetable markets. if youre living there you probably wont be shopping at the tesco/carrefour all the time.

- have a look at some real estate outside the city. there should be a list of towns in your phone by the time you leave.

- pay attention to the traffic, it cant be that much worse than here.

- head down to beygolu one day and talk to someone about the music scene. best time might be on the weekend, and look for weirdly dressed peoples cos theyre always fun to talk to.

- visit some banks and ask about the green dollar.

- eat eat eat eat. look for really shitty looking joints and try not to get dysentry.

well, theres not much more else that i absolutely must do. the typical tourist sites can wait, and all these things gives me something to do every day, with a nice wide margin for error or the last minute spontaneous “jump on a bus without knowing where its going”.

i will most definately be blogging from there so until the 27th i bid you farewell.

Saudi gang rape victim sentanced to 200 lashes.

(CNN) — A court in Saudi Arabia increased the punishment for a gang-rape victim after her lawyer won an appeal of the sentence for the rapists, the lawyer told CNN.

The 19-year-old victim was sentenced last year to 90 lashes for meeting with an unrelated male, a former friend from whom she was retrieving photographs. The seven rapists, who abducted the pair, received sentences ranging from 10 months to five years in prison.

The victim’s attorney, Abdulrahman al-Lahim, contested the rapists’ sentence, contending there is a fatwa, or edict under Islamic law, that considers such crimes Hiraba (sinful violent crime) and the punishment should be death.

“After a year, the preliminary court changed the punishment and made it two to nine years for the defendants,” al-Lahim said of the new decision handed down Wednesday. “However, we were shocked that they also changed the victim’s sentence to be six months in prison and 200 lashes.”

you can read the full story here.

where does one start on a story like this?

to begin with, this is nothing more than a prime example of what i was writing about in a previous post ( which you can read here if you really want to).

reading between the lines,….
lets start at the begining,…

first she was sentanced to 90 lashes for meeting with an unrelated male,….

uhhh! the whore!

doesnt she know that the mere presence of an unrelated vagina will turn men into crazy lust filled animals?!

and that the jigglement of unrelated mammary glands will turn “hardened” arab men into sex maniacs?

( yes, yes, pun intended )

cos lets face it, surely, its not the man’s fault that he cant control himself.

infact no man can control himself,…

thats what the judge said by passing the verdict and handing down the sentance. read that again,… a “judge”, presumably someone with indepth legal knowledge and impeccable ethical standards says it was her fault for provoking the rapists.

well if you ever want to rape anyone you know where to do it from now on.

and the court has in effect ruled that men, muslim or otherwise, are weak.

and it doesnt stop there,….

now, her lawyer appealed the case and won. kudos to the judge at the court of appeals!

but, yes, its doesnt quite stop there,…

the appeal was turned over.

the lawyers licence was revoked.

oh and one more thing,….

because she was pissed off at the original sentance of “only” 90 lashes, she went and publicized her case, hoping to get some support for her cause. and because she didnt “just take it like a man” her punishment has now been increased to 200 lashes.

ie: the kingdom is like vegas, what happens in the kingdom stays in the kingdom!

personally i think i would prefer cheating in vegas and getting beaten up by mobsters in the desert, to,… well,….

getting beaten up by mobsters in the desert.

and just in case youre wondering what the punishment looks like, heres a picture from the wonderful holiday destination of Aceh Indonesia,…. only according to the blog this guy only had 40 before they were afraid he went into shock and they took him to hospital:

oy vey,….

Universal truth no. 14

an opinion is like an asshole,…..

everybody has one.

which is an old saying,…

and thats fine,…

but,….

its just that some people are full of shit,

and have a chronic case of diarhea and Irritable Boewl Syndrome.

the corn enigma.

why is it that corn,….

on its way out,…

looks alot like corn,…

on its way in?