Mind Soup

Tobacco control legislation will come into effect in Lebanon on September 3rd, 2012. As usual, the Lebanese government will implement random laws without studying the effect it will cause on society and the economy. Don't get me wrong, I am not against the smoking ban, but it should not be like this. This law that was approved is out-dated and comes back from the early 1900s and is technically very strict that I doubt it will even be properly enforced. What's mainly wrong with this law is that it does not allow for smokers to have specialized places to go to. It is also incomplete as it sets the stage for poor implementation, corruption and a non-negligible negative effect on the country’s tourism and hospitality sectors. The figures and infographics below are prepared by The Syndicate of Owners of Restaurants in Lebanon and are part of a study conducted by Ernest & Young in Lebanon. It makes you think twice before following the tobacco ban law blindly. UPDATE...

I’m gonna say it once and for all: Blogs are not a medium for free advertising or pushing press releases. If this is what your sell to your clients as community management or blogger relations, you have to reconsider, and this is why. If you send a press release to a blogger every day, they have most likely spammed you by the third day. On the occasion that they haven’t, you would have probably just pissed them off. Shall I demonstrate? (I have been taking screenshots about this topic for a while to build up for this post). Let's start with this PR Agency in Dubai. Every quarter, they send bloggers an email as below: complete with very annoying follow up emails: Not only are they spamming bloggers with their advertising, they don't have the decency to find the blogger's contact information themselves but keep harassing bloggers to send it to them. It's as if someone is asking you to shoot yourself in the face. And if you don't reply to...

I am a firm believer of the work of NGOs especially in Lebanon where politics and the government do nothing toward a more civilized society. A recently founded NGO, " 4 a Cause ", organizes events of which the profits go to associations and causes in need. The events are variated, fun and offered to the youth to raise awareness about where help is needed. The first event is going to be a concert: Music 4 a Cause in which the profits will go to Baitna , a non-profit charitable organization, that aims to provide homes for impoverished mentally handicapped people, particularly orphans and those uncared for to welcome them in a family atmosphere. So save the date, this August 30th , Bands and DJs are on board with us to entertain you 4 a very noble cause! Standby is opening 4: - Joy Fayad - Lazzy Lung - Meen the Band . They're followed by: - Mini B (NRJ) - Underrated . Doors open at 6.00pm. Presale tickets: 20$. But you'll also be able to get a ti...

Prepare your red carpet outfits and dancing shoes, it's going to be a blast!  Geekfest 5.0 will bring out all that is geeky in fashion and blend it into the urban tunes of modern Lebanese Bands and Performers. Though geeks would not admit they are into fashion, we do know that there is a certain subcultural attire associated with them and we are about to expose it to the world!  REGISTER NOW The Program  7:30 PM | Registration Early registration secures spots for special sponsor goodies and Geekfest branded swag. Come early before the good stuff runs out 8:00 PM | Let’s Talk the Talk Maya Metni | Le Geek, C’est Chic! How to dress like a Geek? A practical guide |  Maya is a visual communication consultant. She gathers her musings & inspirations in her blog  www.mayametni.com  & @ mayametni  Toni Yammine | Crowdsourcing Music Videos – Meen the Band |  Toni is a Lebanese musician/director. He likes chocolate so much, and...

Two weeks ago, I was attending the Arabnet Digital Summit and I insisted to attend the sessions about Education to understand more about the view of professionals and educators towards the use of technology in education. Needless to say, I was disappointed with what most of them had to say. The speakers still had a traditional approach to education, a Web 1.0 approach as I like to call it. They only cared about using technology to push material to their students rather than stimulate and encourage them to learn. They were promoting 20-year-old technologies such as Blackboard and Moodle (which are basically sites that host the lectures and are traditionally structured to minimize interaction). Some were bragging that they  have implemented these programs in their schools and universities as if it was the most advanced technology and will bring great benefit to their students. Others were promoting them because they sell these programs for millions of dollars to Arab educa...

Who's gonna get me a cupcake? This week, Mind Soup turns three, though it seems that I have been blogging for a much longer time. It has been a great year for the blog; featured several times in print and on Al Jazeera as well as cited in several studies and MBA thesis projects so I'm proud :') I'd love to thank all my readers especially my friends who have always shown great support in my blog and kept it going even when I had absolutely no time to update it. At the beginning of this year, I was thinking that this would be the last year for the blog but with all this encouragement and exposure, I just couldn't retire it. Yesterday, Mind Soup's facebook page  received its 1000th like, and that is possibly the best birthday present :) So here's to many years to come and may you always come back and find fresh posts!

source I was in TSC Signature (Beirut Souks) this week. If you don't know already, I'm a tea addict and I like to go to that branch because they have different types of tea not available anywhere else. In the tea section, there was a whole column for premium Lipton tea (not the regular yellow box ones). All of the Lipton premium teas were at priced 6490LL so I decided to buy the Vanilla Caramel Truffle one (among other things). I made sure that the price is correct and that the shelf label is correct and that it matched the item that I bought. I paid at the cashier and just before leaving I checked the receipt and saw that I was charged more for that item (7990LL to be exact, that's $1.00 more). I went back to check with the manager and told him that the pricing is not right. He went to the stand to check the label. After acting puzzled and confused, he tells me that this label is for a different product. Does he really think I'm that stupid? I gave him a mea...

AUB Carpooling is a very impressive campaign by the Greenpeace club at AUB . ( Facebook event ) The AUB Carpooling activity allows students, faculty and staff the ability to conserve energy while making new friends. Stuck in traffic jams and not finding a parking space? Paying a lot for fuel and parking? Bored of driving alone to and from AUB? Tired of coming and leaving by taxi? Carpooling is what you need! Not only is this a good idea and helps reduce pollution, it also reduces traffic, saves money and possibly creates friendships. I really hope that AUB helps in investing and promoting this project (but they probably won't until media start talking about it as usual.) You can read more details about this in The Daily Star , excerpt below: Erik Zakhia, a third year mechanical engineering student and president of the Greenpeace AUB Club, which is independent from the national branch of the global environmental NGO, came up with the idea when he saw that the faculty o...

Whitney Houston, one of the best female vocalists and great artists of modern music, passed away last night  (February 11, 2012) at the age of 48. Cause of death is still unknown. The world has lost a legend and indeed it was too early for this loss. We will always love you Whitney. May your soul rest in peace :'(

The “Coalition for the Protection of Women,” is a group of Lebanese citizens who refuse the perpetuation of the violence against women under the protection of existing antiquated laws. They stand by the women of their country, who have been raped, beaten and those who have decided that oppression and discrimination under the guise of law is no longer acceptable. As such, they are calling on the parliamentary subcommittee chaired by MP Samir El-Gisr to halt its subversive activity related to amending a draft law to protect women from conjugal violence originally proposed by the Kafa Association in 2007. The committee has come under significant political pressure from special interest groups who seek to amend the law to ensure that it is ineffective and inapplicable. These amendments have rid the original text of its specificity by expanding it to the rights of children, elderly, men thus maintaining the imbalance of the Lebanese legal code vis-à-vis women. In light of this grave ...