‏إظهار الرسائل ذات التسميات Egyptian X-Files. إظهار كافة الرسائل
‏إظهار الرسائل ذات التسميات Egyptian X-Files. إظهار كافة الرسائل

2/01/2015

#Egypt’s flag rises 20 meters high in #Tahrir Square

Egypt’s flag rises 20 meters high in Tahrir Square!!!






Experts plan to fix King Tut mask after glue gaffe



Experts plan to fix King Tut mask after glue gaff


The head of the conservation department at the Egyptian Museum was demoted to a low-profile post in the wake of an inappropriate restoration of the 3,000 year-old funerary mask of King Tutankhamun using household epoxy glue.

Elham Abdelrahman, who supervised restoration work at the museum of over 180,000 artifacts, was transferred to the Royal Carriages Museum in the Citadel of Saladin, Antiquities Minister Mamdouh el-Damaty announced Thursday.







Damaty also referred other conservators involved in the irresponsible repair of the golden mask to investigations, and stressed that legal proceedings would follow.

Abdelrahman was replaced by Saeed Abdel Hamed, who was head of restoration department at the Coptic Museum.




 Images of the mask showing conspicuous globs of glue around the gap between the braided beard and the chin recently circulated on social media and drew sharp criticism.

Last week, media outlets reported the mask’s beard broke off in 2014 and was hastily glued back on by conservation staff. Moreover, the piece was reattached with epoxy, which, while sometimes used, is considered a debatable material among conservators.

Damaty said in a press conference Sunday that Tutankhamun’s mask is safe and the reaction to the incident was “overexcited and unjustified” and would have a negative impact for Egypt’s reputation and tourism sector.

1/20/2015

Saint Samaan #Church #Christian #Jew #Islam #egypt #Coptic





Saint Samaan #Church  #Christian #Jew #Islam #egypt #Coptic 












In the MoKattam, every Thursday evening mass and public exorcisms take place in one of the cave churches. Dive into an area where miracles are often, and the people extraordinary.
In the Mokattam, every Thursday evening mass and public exorcisms take place in one of the cave churches. Dive into an area where miracles are often, and the people extraordinary.
By Louise Sarant, Community Times
Mansheyet Nasser is mostly a Coptic area situated on the lowest slope of the Mokattam hill. This is the residence of the Zabaleen, or slum dwellers, who cart away the rubbish of Cairo metropolis. Apart from a dozen houses inhabited by Muslims and a small “masged” (mosque) among the dusty roads deprived of asphalt of the neighbourhood, mostly Copts are installed there.
The main road of Mansheyet Nasser, lined with cram-full garbage bags that reach impressive heights, bakeries, butcheries and other religious shops, climbs steeply to what the residents call “el dir”, the monastery, even though no monastery is to be seen. However, five amazing churches are established in this secluded and final area of the neighbourhood. A curvy paved road leads to a wide area back by the impressive raw, colored rock of the Mokattam, carved with holy images of the Christ carried out by Marcos, a polish sculptor.
Partly because of the round cafeteria packed with youngsters, who seem to enjoy this moment of rare freedom, and also the huge cave church know as “Saint Samaan Church” excavated in the rock that can host 20,000 people, the common sense of proportion starts to diminish. Thursday evenings sermons of Abouna Samaan, the priest of Mansheyet Nasser, attract thousands of people each week, some from the Mokattam, others from Cairo.
Microbuses also bring faithful Christians through the narrow and smelly streets of this tiny village. The contrast between the pristine and no-smoking area of “el dir” and the smelly streets of Mansheyet Nasser is startling, and gives an impression of sudden serenity and harmony.

THE STORY OF SAMAAN, THE SHOEMAKER

In order to understand why the father of the neighbourhood, whose name is Farahat, has chosen to baptize himself, as well as the church, Abouna Samaan, it is necessary to go back in time, while keeping in mind the legendary aspect of this tale.
A thousand years ago in Egypt, a rather tolerant Caliph encouraged Muslim, Christian and Jewish teachers to debate controversial issues without anger. A battle of wits started between a Jew and a Christian upon religious matters, and the Jewish teacher, in order to force the Coptic patriarch Abraham to the wall, quoted an excerpt of the Bible that says: “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to the mountain move from here to there, and it will move”.
The Caliph was thrilled because through the accomplishment of this miracle, the Christian faith would be validated and there would be a way of expanding the city eastwards, blocked by the mountain. In case of failure, the future of the whole Christian community would be doomed.
The patriarch was granted three days to achieve this miracle, and started by warning the whole community of the imminent threat upon them, inviting them to pray and feast through the day. On the third day, the patriarch, hopeless, had a vision of the Virgin Mary that unveiled the identity of the man who will accomplish the miracle: Samaan, the shoemaker. Indeed, at sunset on the same day, the mountain rose up three times, and while it rose for the last time, the sun was seen under the mountain. The history, or legend, of the miracle that saved the whole Christian community from an assured extinction is still vivid today, which explains the name both of Farahat and the church.
Many miracles happen in those churches of the Mokattam, which also justify the use of the shoemaker’s name.

THE EXORCISM PROCESS

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On Thursday evenings, the first hour and a half is devoted to praying in the massive church of Saint Samaan and listening to the sermon of Abouna Samaan.
Around 9 pm, the huge assembly parts in two, those who go back to their homes and those who will follow the mass exorcism that is to take place right after the sermon in Mar Girgis Church. This church is considerably smaller than the previous one; still around 2000 people can be seated without a feeling of claustrophobia.
Originally, this church was a cavern filled with 140,000 tons of rocks. The auditorium-like shape of the cave is filled with rows of quite uncomfortable folding seats. In the middle stands a stage where the acts of exorcism are performed, and on both sides of the central stage, two neat queues (one for women and one for the men) are forming. Dressed in black with a bushy grey beard and a wooden cross in the right hand, Abouna Samaan radiates an impression of solemnity and wisdom that is quite striking to the audience.
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A tiny orchestra, led by a dynamic choir and a few instruments is lightening the atmosphere by playing a whole repertoire of songs glorifying Jesus while the exorcisms take place. The lyrics can be easily followed on a big screen that is hung on the wall of the cavern, scrolling on images of happy people. A woman is on stage, standing in front of the priest. Her body is shivering while he firmly presses his wooden cross on her forehead while whispering a prayer. In an instant, she is lying on the stage floor, almost unconscious.
A khadeema immediately covers her body with a white sheet and Abouna Samaan crouches close to the distressed women. Her body is struck by spasms, and her high-pitched screams fill the whole cave. The attention of the audience is total. After hitting her many times with his wooden cross so that her body calms down, he grabs the microphone and asks to the evil spirits inside her: “How many of you are there?” She screams louder, the audience stiffens.
“Six”, she answers.
The priest starts praying for her in the name of Christ and in the name of the cross, then orders her to lift her left leg. “Irfa!” he yells, while the leg of the young woman begins rising under the sheets, thus creating a very unnatural shape. “Put it back down!” yells the priest, and she obeys promptly. On the third time she lifts her leg, he addresses the devil and tells him that now is time to leave this body, and that he will let go of her when her leg touches the floor for the last time.
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At that moment, one of the numerous khadeemas on the stage pours “Baraka” water (from a real Baraka bottle) into the priest’s palm. As soon as the poor woman’s leg is back on the floor, Abouna Samaan sharply splashes her face with the holy water, prompting the immediate release from the evil spirit that inhabited her. She is helped to stand on her two feet again, and is invited by the priest to stomp her feet in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. She then readjusts the veil that has been crumpled in the exorcism process, and leaves the cave.
It could sound unconventional, but many Muslim men and women come to Abouna Samaan for an exorcism. It also happens in the Mar Girgis Cathedral in Ramses, where Abouna Makary Younane proceeds with exorcisms every Friday evenings.

1/01/2015

نهاية 2014 وبداية 2015

اممممممممم هتكلام على مصر الاول
احية طبعا على سنة 2014 من اولة لحد اخرة والى جاى اسود من الى فات و الى مش شايف دة اكيد ابن كلب اعمى اة او معرص و مستفيد من الى بيحصل و دول كتير اوى , طبعا فشخ الاخوان و مرسى والوسخة دية و السيسى و المجلس المعرص بتاع مبارك الى فعلا ركب على ثورة يناير 2011 الى شوفنا فية العجب و دم و عيون راحت للاسف ان الشعب ابن متناكة بطبعة طول عمرة شعب بيحي يعيش عبد ويعشق حياة العبودية و دة من ايام الفراعنة فا تقريبا دة فى الجينات المصريين انهم عبيد وبس.........
الى يزعل يخبطة فى الحيطة
يعنى بعد كل الى الى ماتوا والى راحت عيونهم و فى الاخر مبارك وعصابتة براة و الداخلية حمامة سلام, و احنا بقينا شعب بيتعاقب عقاب جماعى طبعا علشان شبابة فكر فى حريتة , كرامة ولقمة عيش لا اكتر ولا اقل بس ازى ما هما شعب عبيد

وطلع المعرصيين زى ما فى كل تاريخ طلع مبارك و عصابتة اطهر من الطاهرة نفسة والشعب هو المتهم اة هو كدة  ما هو قضاء مصر شامخ وعادل 

الى الواحد بيشوفة وبيسمعة وبقى يحصل و قطع الكهرباء  والقرف و الاشعار و عدم الامان و يا كدة يا هتبقى زى سوريا وليبيا ونجيب لك داعش هاة اختار انت بقى !! يا الوسخ يا الاوسخ

و الشعب دماغة اتغسلت وباقى تايهة و اتلعبت نفس اللعبة شعب ابن عرص بطبعة يا حب يكون عبد للفرعون وبس
الكرف التلات 
السيسى لم يحكم مصر أو أى عرص منهم هيفشخوا المصريين بسبب الثورة هيكدرونا و يفقرونا وهياخدو قروض من البنك الدولى و قروض من طوب الارض و دة هي سبب تتضخم  يعنى الدولار الى ب٦ هيبقى ب ٢٠ و ممكن ٣٠ جنية !!!!يعنى اكتر من ¾ سعر مصر يدخلوا الفقر....
غير شوية مشاريع وهمية فنكوش كبارى،مدن جديدة،مفاعل نووي أو والله لزوم تخليد فخامة الرئيس..
 و ممكن يدخلوا فى حرب وهمية مع دولة او مجموعات إرهابية مسلحة وهميةعلشان الى يفتح بقة يبقى عميل و خاين و من اعداء الوطن و طبعا هما مش هيفشخوا الشعب بس لا ابدا دة الهدف تدمير مصر و ثرواتة و ارضة تخيل لم الواقع يفشخ الخيال لم يتم بيع أرض مصر علشان نقدر نسدد ديون مصر 
و تجفيف كل موارد الدولة و اولهم النيل طبعا و الآثار هتكون للبيع عادى و شوية يتم إعلان إفلاس مصر و قتة الى هيحكم مصر هنا أصحاب الديون السيادية طبعا الامارات و السعودية و من خلف الستار اسرائيل 
و شعب مصر وقتة مش هتقدر يقول لا علشان بقى متعودة
هبقى اكمل بعدينا لحس اتبضنت ...............

12/11/2014

Minha Husaini Girl form #Egypt work as tea boy! #women

Minha Husaini she girl 22 old i think,she finish her study in Tourism and because no security now work for must of egyptian people .

she  shift her hair to can deal with guys in st, and Most of the time, sexual harassment, and she go to work in tahrir Sq !!! in down town  ,,,, its dangers place , but she go bur the police come after her
and they asked her to give then money to let her work ;)









8/28/2014

#Egypt in 1911

Egypt in  1911






+

7/28/2014

That how Egyptian (devils) kids Treatment of a lion #EGYPT



That how Egyptian kids of (devils) 
Treatment of a lion !!

In fact No words can explain! What the lion and his wife did for them,nothing ! 
why that happiness the kids of (devils) ? WHAT WRONG FUCKEN WITH THEM ! ;(

And that fucken garden watching them! sun of pitch  like nothing happened 

FUCK YOU AND FUCK HOW PUT TO WORK  THERE ALL OF YOU JUST FUCKEN SYS!!  



The Egyptians Eid al-Fitr #Egypt 2014





















5/02/2014

Scientists Discovered the Egyptian Secret to Moving Huge Pyramid Stones #Egypt


The question of just how an ancient civilization—without the help of modern technology—moved the 2.5 ton stones that made up their famed pyramids has long plagued Egyptologists and mechanical engineers alike. But now, a team from the University of Amsterdam believes they've figured it out, even though the solution was staring them in the face all along.
It all comes down to friction. See, the ancient Egyptians would transport their rocky cargo across the desert sands, from quarry to monument site with large sleds. Pretty basic sleds, basically just large slabs with upturned edges. Now, when you try to pull a large slab with upturned edges carrying a 2.5 ton load, it tends to dig into the sand ahead of it, building up a sand berm that must then be regularly cleared before it can become an even bigger obstacle.
Wet sand, however, doesn't do this. In sand with just the right amount of dampness, capillary bridges—essentially microdroplets of water that bind grains of sand to one another through capillary action—form across the grains, which doubles the material's relative stiffness. This prevents the sand from berming in front of the sled and cuts the force required to drag the sled in half. In half.

As a UvA press release explains,
The physicists placed a laboratory version of the Egyptian sledge in a tray of sand. They determined both the required pulling force and the stiffness of the sand as a function of the quantity of water in the sand. To determine the stiffness they used a rheometer, which shows how much force is needed to deform a certain volume of sand.
Experiments revealed that the required pulling force decreased proportional to the stiffness of the sand...A sledge glides far more easily over firm desert sand simply because the sand does not pile up in front of the sledge as it does in the case of dry sand.
These experiments served to confirm what the Egyptians clearly already knew, and what we probably already should have. Artwork within the tomb of Djehutihotep, which was discovered in the Victorian Era, depicts a scene of slaves hauling a colossal statue of the Middle Kingdom ruler and in it, a guy at the front of the sled is shown pouring liquid into the sand. You can see it in the image above, just to the right of the statue's foot.

4/30/2014

R.I.P Bassem Sabry (1982-2014)


Bassem Sabry, a voice of Egypt's 2011 revolution, dies in accident


Cairo-based journalist and strategist for liberal party Dostour was respected for his analysis of regional politics


http://anarabcitizen.blogspot.com/

One of the voices of Egypt's 2011 revolution and its aftermath, Bassem Sabry, has died in an accident aged 31.
A Cairo-based journalist and political strategist, Sabry rose to prominence during the Arab uprisings of 2011, achieving widespread acclaim for his analysis of regional politics in several local and global outlets, including al-Monitor and the Huffington Post. He was frequently cited in international media, including the Guardian.
For a period, Sabry was also a strategist for Dostour, a new liberal party founded by Mohamed ElBaradei, a figurehead of Egypt's 2011 uprising who is now in exile.
But whatever his formal affiliations, Sabry was admired for rarely letting his personal preferences skew his commentary. In a deeply polarised and often vicious political environment in which many others abandoned the centre ground, Sabry won respect across the political spectrum for his principled, fair and insightful analysis.
Paying tribute to Sabry, the Cairo analyst HA Hellyer said: "I was honoured to call Bassem Sabry a companion, a colleague and most of all, a friend. At a time when Egypt sorely needed voices that rejected destructive polarisation and mutual hatred, Bassem was one of the few that insisted on standing for far loftier principles. He believed in a better Egypt for all Egyptians – and worked tirelessly, often very quietly and without taking credit, in pursuit of that goal."
Zeinobia, another well-known Egyptian blogger, wrote on her website: "I know that he did his best to change the world around him to a better place."
Sabry's death also sparked a wave of emotion on social media. "Only the good die young," wrote Ragia Omran, one of Egypt's leading human rights lawyers. "What a great loss for those who still have hope for a better Egypt."
Sabry's cause of death could not immediately be verified. His funeral will take place at west Cairo's Mostafa Mahmoud mosque on Wednesday, with a memorial at the nearby Hamdiyyah Shadhiliyya mosque at sunset on Saturday.

last tweet form him was ask for blood for lil girl

3/22/2014

Happy Mother’s Day

Happy Mother’s Day to all Egyptian and Arab mothers all over the globe celebrating this day today , even if it was late. 

Happy Mother Day to all the martyrs’ mothers from all parties who lost their children especially in last year because of a disgusting fight over power. Happy Mother Day to the Mothers of the detainees who are waiting for the return of their children back home safe. 
Happy Mother Day to all the fantastic women and mothers working hardly to provide their children a better life. 
Happy Mother Day to all mothers in the world. 

2/21/2014

'The Square' Film On Egypt's Revolution Will Not Be Shown In #Egypt #Tahrir #25jan

There’s a lot anyone can learn from Jehane Noujaim’s Oscar-nominated documentary “The Square,” an examination of the 18-day uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak.




But Egyptians may be least able to benefit from its lessons. So far, the film has not been approved for screening here.
On the third anniversary of Mubarak’s ouster, which falls on Tuesday (Feb. 11), Egypt is more polarized than ever, largely between those who are sympathetic to the Muslim Brotherhood and those who support the military. The film is a reminder of what Egyptians share, regardless of religious or political beliefs.
“The Square” depicts the uprising through the eyes of six revolutionaries who lived in Tahrir Square during those historic weeks and follows them as Egyptians struggled to redefine themselves. Mubarak’s ouster ushered in a tumultuous period that saw clashes with the military, the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood, the return to the streets to demand the deposal of the Muslim Brotherhood’s President Mohammed Morsi, and the sit-ins that followed Morsi’s overthrow by the army.
The film, available to American audiences on Netflix and in theaters, ends with the clearing of the Morsi supporters’ encampment, which resulted in nearly 1,000 deaths. Since then, the Brotherhood has been outlawed and people have been arrested for simply possessing Brotherhood materials, now a crime.
Noujaim, 39, is an accomplished documentarian and TED Prize winner whose credits include “Startup.com” and “Control Room,” a film about the Al-Jazeera network. “The Square,” though, is not a film that intends to accurately and journalistically represent all factions. Noujaim, an Egyptian-American who spent much of her childhood in Egypt, lived on Tahrir Square with her characters during the revolution. In many ways, she is one of them, and “The Square” is her contribution to the revolution.
The film depicts those historic events from the revolutionary’s point of view. There were hundreds of thousands of people in the square; Noujaim chose to follow the ones she was intrigued by, trusting that viewers would do the same.
Two of the most captivating characters are Ahmed Hassan, a young street revolutionary, and Magdy Ashour, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and a father of four who, under Mubarak, was imprisoned and tortured. Despite their differing backgrounds and perspectives, the two become fast friends, and the exchanges between them provide some of the film’s most compelling moments.
Through Ashour viewers get a nuanced view of the Brotherhood and its army of foot soldiers, a stark contrast to the heavy-handed, black-and-white demonization of them in Egyptian media of late. Ashour had been a loyal member of the Brotherhood for decades, attracted to its religiosity and benefiting from its financial support. After it seized power, he began to question some of its decisions, which left him conflicted.
When Morsi was first elected, many Egyptians opted for Muslim rule. But that feeling didn’t last long. Only 150 days into his presidency, Morsi made a power grab that gave him even more authority than Mubarak.
The revolutionaries were upset with his autocratic maneuvers and with the new constitution that the Islamist-dominated parliament drafted, which they considered a betrayal of the ideals they had fought for. Noujaim said she spoke to many ordinary Egyptians during that time — many of them practicing Muslims — who were “deeply disturbed” that the ruling party was now determining who constituted a good Muslim.
Ashour is visibly torn in the film between the revolutionaries, whose principles he, too, had stood for, and the Brotherhood. He found himself increasingly at odds with Hassan and his other friends from the square.
“If there were an alternative, I wouldn’t want Morsi,” he says at one point in the film. “We’re afraid that if Morsi falls we’ll be taken back to prisons,” Ashour said.
One of the film’s most poignant moments comes a short time later when British-Egyptian actor Khalid Abdalla sits with Ashour and his son and shows them video of Muslim Brotherhood members attacking protesters outside the presidential palace, some of the very same people who had been in Tahrir with Ashour.
Ashour’s son had gone to the presidential palace that day, and was on the side of the Brotherhood throwing rocks at their opponents. Ashour looks mournful, and chastises his son for his actions: “You have to stand as an individual,” Ashour tells the boy. “You have to think for yourself.”
It is Ashour and his conflict that resonated most strongly with some of the film’s most conservative and religious audiences in the United States.
When Noujaim took the film to Sundance, some of the screenings were in downtown Salt Lake City and attended by Mormons and ex-Mormons. They, as well as evangelicals, came up to the filmmakers after showings and said that, despite initially thinking they had the least in common with Ashour, it was he whom they related to the most. They identified with his deep faith, his trust in the fledgling government, and his ultimate disillusionment. Those feelings transcended culture and creed.
“We are all confused sometimes, and we question our beliefs,” Noujaim said.
Once Morsi was overthrown and the Brotherhood was again the victim of state oppression, that changed.
“Once they were persecuted, Ashour was immediately back on their side,” she said.
His rueful words all those months ago now seem prescient. Authorities recently raided his house, and he is reportedly in hiding.
Noujaim said she is not one of those filmmakers who believes her work can change the world. Perhaps, though, it can make a difference in what’s happening in Egypt today. Noujaim, who is currently in the U.S., hopes to be able to bring the movie to Egypt.
But “The Square” has already thawed some icy relations in the places it’s been shown. Noujaim said she spoke to an Egyptian woman in the United States who had seen “The Square” on Netflix, and decided to bring her family to a screening.
Like many other Egyptian families, they were so divided over events that relatives weren’t talking to one another. Seeing the film together enabled them to find enough understanding for one another’s viewpoints to enable them to begin to communicate once again, the woman told Noujaim.
And therein lies perhaps the most salient lesson of the film, particularly for Egyptians.
“We are all human beings,” Noujaim said. “Reminding ourselves of our humanity is a very simple idea, but I think it couldn’t be more important right now.”

As #Egypt 's Tourism Industry Crumbles, Business Owners Look To Military General To Restore Security

When Egyptians rose up against their government three years ago, it wasn’t just dictator Hosni Mubarak’s reign that crumbled. The mass protests, political instability, and now, increasingly frequent terrorist attacks, have devastated Egypt’s once-thriving tourism sector.

For many Egyptians still working in the industry today, there is only one answer to their problems: Gen. Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who is gearing up for a likely presidential bid and is seen as a leader who will bring back security to businesses.
"Sissi is the only man who can solve Egypt’s problems," said Emad Nour, a third-generation shopkeeper in Cairo’s sprawling Khan el-Khalili bazaar, where tourists used to flock before the unrest began. "He can fix the security problem here."
Nour once made a decent living making intricate tables, traditional lamps and other handmade items that often attract tourists. But nowadays he, like many other vendors, has barely anyone coming to his shop.
"We depend on tourism," he said with dismay. "If there are no tourists, our lives are not good." Lots of stores around him have closed down, he said, adding that many shop owners have given up and changed professions entirely.
At Cairo’s ancient Giza Pyramids, which used to be swarming with foreigners, desperate vendors and guides with skinny horses now harass the occasional straggling tourists. Buses carrying tourists from the capital to resort towns along the Red Sea now travel in armed convoys through the restive Sinai, where hardline militants have launched a campaign against security forces. Once bustling hotels and youth hostels are eerily quiet.
From 2009 to 2010, before the revolution, Egypt took in $11.6 billion from tourism,according to Reuters. But 2012 to 2013 were marked by a devastating dip in tourism, with Egypt only earning $9.75 billion from the industry. Following the military's ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi last year, tourism fell by a whopping 45 percent, Tourism Minister Hisham Zaazou told Reuters.
Under the military-backed government, unrest has surged. In recent weeks alone,gunmen assassinated a top government figure, a jihadist group targeted security forces in Cairo with four bombs, and dozens of anti-government protesters have been killed in clashes with police.
On Jan. 29, the U.S. Embassy in Cairo urged its citizens to "limit their movements to the near vicinity of their neighborhoods," warning against traveling outside of Egypt’s cities by car. And many governments, like the United States and the United Kingdom, have issued travel alerts for Egypt.
Thousands of dissidents have been imprisoned, and rights groups and critics have slammed the interim government as repressive and increasingly authoritarian. Yet despite a heavy-handed crackdown on what the state has labeled a "war on terrorism," many Egyptians, especially those working in tourism, say forceful rule is the only way to restore security.
"We need a man who can stabilize everything," said Abdel Rahman Aly, a tourism company owner. "I’m against a man with a military background, but there is no one else."
In Egypt, Sissi is portrayed as a national hero. Posters bearing his face are plastered everywhere. Pro-government protesters who rallied on Jan. 25, the three-year anniversary of the revolution, didn’t chant revolutionary slogans of "bread, freedom, and social justice." Instead, they wore Sissi masks and praised the military leader for cracking down on violence.
"This man is an idol," Aly said. "If that works for everyone else, that works for me."
Aly says the only reason his company is still afloat is because he has started coordinating international trips for Egyptians, having largely given up on foreigners coming to the country. But with military checkpoints everywhere and a very real fear of terrorist attacks, the success of even this venture seems improbable.
Unlike Aly, some have their doubts that Sissi can up live to the expectations of his cult-like followers.
"The notion that Sissi can curb terrorist attacks is odd in my view," said Shadi Hamid, a Middle East analyst and fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Saban Center. "Under Sissi, over the last seven months, terrorist attacks have increased significantly. Brute force seems to be his approach to dealing with things -- but that’s not how you defeat terrorism."
Dr. Kareem Eltamamy, the owner of Dahab Hostel, a once bustling youth hostel just a short walk from Tahrir Square, agrees with that sentiment.
"If Sissi became president, the Muslim Brotherhood or whoever is making these explosions will just become more angry," he said, mirroring popular consensus that the Islamist group is behind the attacks, even though a Sinai-based jihadist group has claimed responsibility for most of the recent terrorist attacks across Egypt.
Eltamamy said his hostel, which is widely known among backpackers and budget travelers in Egypt, doesn't come close to reaching capacity on a good day. He describes the past few months in a single word: "hell." Unlike many Egyptians who wholly believe in Sissi’s promise to quell the violence, he doesn’t think the current security situation, or the tourism sector, will turn around anytime soon.
But after three years of tumult, he said he doesn’t know how it could get much worse.
Eltamamy recently poured money into remodeling his hostel, hoping to draw in tourists from the "adventurous" crowd he says now occasionally comes through. But so far, it hasn’t helped.
"Nobody wants to go to a country that is exploding," he said with a sigh.

The first stone calendar #egypt

The first stone calendar


In the Sahara Desert in Egypt lie the oldest known astronomically aligned stones in the world: Nabta. Over one thousand years before the creation of Stonehenge, people built a stone circle and other structures on the shoreline of a lake that has long since dried up. Over 6,000 years ago, stone slabs three meters high were dragged over a kilometer to create the site. Shown above is one of the stones that remains. Although at present the western Egyptian desert is totally dry, this was not the case in the past. There is good evidence that there were several humid periods in the past (when up to 500 mm of rain would fall per year) the most recent one during the last interglacial and early last glaciation periods which stretched between 130,000 and 70,000 years ago.
During this time, the area was a savanna and supported numerous animals such as extinct buffalo and large giraffes, varieties of antelope and gazelle. Beginning around the 10th millennium BC, this region of the Nubian Desert began to receive more rainfall, filling a lake. Early people may have been attracted to the region due to the source of water. Archaeological findings may indicate human occupation in the region dating to at least somewhere around the 10th and 8th millennia BC.


2/12/2014

Tomb of ancient #Egyp t's beer maker to gods of the dead discovered


Imagine a warm brew of lager so heady you had to plunge a straw through the thick surface scum to get to the fermented liquor a.



Welcome to the favored brew of ancient Egypt's New Kingdom; a 3,200-year-old barley beer that a new archaeological find this month is shedding new light on.
A Japanese team headed by Jiro Kondo of Waseda University stumbled on the tomb of ancient beer-maker Khonso Em Heb while cleaning the courtyard of another tomb at the Thebes necropolis in the Egyptian city of Luxor.
The tomb, replete with highly colored frescoes, is being hailed as one of the most significant finds of recent times.
Egypt's antiquities minister Mohamed Ibrahim described Khonso Em Heb as the chief "maker of beer for gods of the dead" adding that the tomb's chambers contain "fabulous designs and colors, reflecting details of daily life... along with their religious rituals."
One fresco shows Khonso Em Heb -- who apart from being a brewer, headed the royal storehouses during the pharaonic Ramesside period (1,292--1,069 BC) -- making offerings to the gods along with his wife and daughter.
The newly discovered tomb is to be placed under tight security until the excavation work is completed, the ministry said in a press statement.
According to Professor Poo Mun Chou, a leading Egyptologist at Hong Kong's Chinese University, the discovery is not only significant in terms of what it tells archaeologists about life during the New Kingdom period of Ancient Egypt, but marks a new direction for Egypt's beleaguered antiquities ministry.
Still reeling from a disastrous break-in at the Cairo Museum in 2011 --- when looters smashed two mummies and made off with more than 50 artifacts --- Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities had slapped stringent restrictions on archaeological digs.
For Professor Poo, the latest discovery is a sign that archeology in Egypt may be returning to normal.
"The significance in this find is that for quite some time archaeologists haven't been able to excavate an intact tomb," he said.
This is a new find and is quite unexpected.
Poo Man Chou, Egyptologist


"An intact tomb will give us a more complete view of the funerary customs which can be compared with other tomb paintings."
He said the frescoes were well preserved.
"The Supreme Council of Antiquities has for some time had a policy of not excavating new tombs but preserving those tombs that have already been excavated.
"This is a new find and is quite unexpected."
Apart from the recent political turmoil in Egypt, which has led to a surge in the number of illegal digs and antiquities damaged by looters, Professor Poo said the sheer speed with which new discoveries were being made had meant the government was having difficulty keeping up with logging and preserving the finds.

Excavation around Thebes could be returning to normal.
Excavation around Thebes could be returning to normal.


Add to this the problem of protecting ancient tombs, which begin to degrade the moment they are opened, and Egypt's antiquities authorities have their work cut out for them.
"In Egypt, of course, the dry weather means the danger of this is less, but still after some time the color of the painting begins to fade away.
"That is why Egypt now has a stricter policy."
While foreign archaeological teams are still operating in Egypt, the political climate has made it more difficult for them to do their work.
Even the International Association of Egyptologists (IAE) was told late last year that Egypt --- because of the political situation --- was unable to host the 2014 International Congress of Egyptologists.
The IAE is currently seeking bids for a second country to host the prestigious congress.
Meanwhile, historians and archaeologists are making use of the latest find while it is still available to be studied.
"Alcohol in ancient Egypt was very important -- not just in terms of daily consumption but also as an offering to deities. Beer, in particular was very important," said Poo.
"Beer during the New Kingdom period was probably one-fifth or even one-tenth the price of wine making it a very popular drink for people of all social strata."

While the appeal of beer across all social classes remains to this day, Professor Poo says the modern drinker might struggle to recognize the barley or millet-based beverage of ancient times.
"While it's a close cousin to modern beer, it's manufacture was more primitive and they had to use a tube to extract the liquid from below which would have had a fermented layer of substance floating on the top of the jar," he said.
"It would have had bubbles," he added.