Funkengroovin Wednesday - Another Car Chase

(Below): As you can see one of the windshield wipers is broken, but who needs those here in Cairo, Huh? (That's not the only thing broken on this Beetle.)



(Below): Okay, okay, okay, so we're not chasing them. Sometimes we let them pass us up!



(Below): Now this is starting to look like one hell of a mess!



(Below): Did VB not say potentially unroadworthy?



(Below): And on the other side of the road....



(Below): VB never gets it right - eye - hand movement not quite as fast as camera -car!


NEWS:
Regardless of where you are in the world, what troubles you and your countrymen have, there is a kinship which rises above politics - the love of car. Two of the following articles showcase this kooky devotion, along with the video trailer.

VB's been thinkin' about what to do this summer, when she returns to the States, in two weeks. We could do a variety of things (since our Maine camping trip has been canceled). VB is just wondering if we want to go nuclear on this one - that's all. Sounds a bit freaky? Maybe, but we could visit Dick Cheney's underground hideaway, in Pennsylvania.
Book Review: A Nuclear Family Vacation

"In A Nuclear Family Vacation, a husband-and-wife duo of Washington, DC-based defense reporters takes a journey deep into the nation's nuclear weapons complex. But wait—this turns out to be a surprisingly fun road trip, even though it's led by a pair of Beltway policy wonks. Nathan Hodge and Sharon Weinberger join the small but growing number of nuclear tourists who, like the families that swarm Gettysburg and Antietam each summer, visit Cold War nuclear sites and get nostalgic about mutually assured destruction."

Iraq:
Hot rods are these Iraqis' driving passion
Photo Gallery

"A tricked-out muscle car on the streets of Baghdad can turn heads, tempt carjackers or anger fundamentalists. What's a gear head to do? Floor it.

The fall of Saddam Hussein has enabled them to create their dream rides like never before. Hussein's notorious son Uday and his cronies personally controlled all car imports into Iraq. Uday was also a car freak known for on-the-spot confiscations of any vehicle that caught his fancy.

The end of the Hussein era opened Iraq's borders to an unrestrained flow of new and used cars, along with exotic parts and Western car magazines. The MTV show "Pimp My Ride" is now a popular feature on Arabic satellite television; Bilal Hussein, the Mustang driver who dreams of flaming mufflers, is a big fan.

But the dictator's ouster also unleashed a new era of Baghdad lawlessness that makes owning a head-turning ride a dangerous hobby. In addition to the threat from roving gangs of opportunistic carjackers, there are armed fundamentalists, both Sunni and Shiite, who might view an overly showy car as sinfully extravagant.

"We have the Mahdi Army on one side, Al Qaeda on the other side, thieves everywhere, and we're caught in the middle," said Hussein, who also sticks to safer streets."

The West Bank:
WEST BANK CAR ENTHUSIASTS START THEIR ENGINES

"One of the last cities remaining under the Israeli blockade hosts a rare showing of race cars – some of which predate the second intifada.

And with little disposable income after eight years of war and economic closures, most of the race cars were refurbished old compact sedans. The 49 contestants navigated the course one by one."

U.S.A.
Electrified VW Is 'Liberating' For Boulder Man, (Full story and news video at the link.)
BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4) ―

"A Colorado man says he has ended his addiction to foreign oil by converting an old Volkswagon Beetle to run on electricity."

Since this week's news seems to be mostly from the Middle East region, VB is foregoing the usual music video for another look at how much the love of cars transcends politics, religion, race, ethnicity, and all that. A big thanks to yb39 who posted a comment, with the link to the video trailer. Question: When will we actually get to see this movie? It's not even listed on imdb yet.


The Beetle - Trailer eng

Funkengroovin Wednesday - Hillman Minx

Last week VB focused on Road 9 and all the VW's she spotted in just one afternoon. For awhile last year, a rare car was parked on Road 9 for months, probably waiting for hard to find parts. It was a Hillman Minx. As quoted again below, "In the early '50s, the Minx was the number one imported car in the US and Canada. But it was deposed by a strange, rear-engined, beetle-like machine from West Germany, called a Volkswagen."

(Looking at the layout here, you can tell VB wrote most of this last year.)

VW and Rootes

"In truth, history is seldom that clear cut but the circumstances of the Rootes/ Volkswagen connection is an interesting one and we'll worth recounting with hindsight '


Rootes first significant involvement with the Beetle came when its Humber company produced a report on the military version (the Kubelwagen) which was captured in North Africa, probably after it ran out of petrol in the wake of Montgomery's victorious campaign. This 1941 example (number 1339) was taken to the Rootes factory at Ryton on Dunsmore, Coventry in January 1943. It was completely dismantled and appraised to form the subject of a document Report on Examination of German Light Aid Detachment Vehicle Type V. W. 82 "Volkswagen", published later that year."




"With the benefit of hindsight, Rootes was probably the least qualified British car company to undertake such an investigation. Its contemporary cart-sprung Hillman Minx with front-mounted, side valve engine was about as traditional as the Volkswagen was unconventional, with its all-independent torsion bar suspension and rear-mounted air cooled flat-four, ohv engine. But Rootes involvement with the Beetle was destined, by chance, not to end there.

When the Volkswagen factory was operating under direct British control in 1945-1947 one of the officers who played a role in getting the car back into production was Wing Commander Richard Berryman....


Berryman told Rootes of the production problems that were being experienced at Wolfsburg but, despite this, having driven many miles in the Beetle, he was convinced that the car was a tough, durable product and virtually unbreakable. He was certain that Volkswagenwerke was a viable proposition and suggested that Rootes buy the plant.


But, it seems, Rootes was not interested. He told Berryman that his company had a Beetle to evaluation and his engineers did not believe that the noisy, rear-engined German car had much of a future. At the time Rootes had more orders, both on the home front and from overseas, than they could cope with... S Berryman departed after providing Rootes' Advertising Manager with the VW specifications he had brought with him from Germany."























The History of VW and the Wartime Kübelwagen

"Car production aside, the long running debate over who should actually own the factory and the facilities it offered continued throughout 1945. Technically, the Wolfsburg facility was on offer to the Allies as part of the war reparations, yet on repeated occasions no other country took up the offer. This was partly because a half-demolished factory and a few battle-scarred machines was hardly the most desirable of prizes, but also because the British motor Industry refused to see the value of Porsche's basic design, Because the military had found the little car so very effect during the war, one of the very first post war Beetles was sent to England for appraisal. The bastions of the British car industry did not share the Army's enthusiasm, finding the car too ugly, noisy and generally too odd, Compared with what was on offer in Britain In the immediate post war period, the Beetle was completely incongruous, so their reaction is understandable. Later that year, a delegation from the British Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) visited the factory and wrote a report, 'Investigation of the Developments in the German Automobile during the Post War Period'. This was followed by a further report, published In 1946. Entitled, 'Investigation into the Design and Performance of the Volkswagen or German People's Car', it contained a comparative road test between a Hillman Minx and the Volkswagen that had been sent to England some months No doubt on the say-so of the few engineers at the Humber car company evaluated the Volkswagen, the British eventually turned both car and factory down. And although this was proved very bad judgment, they can take comfort In the fact the they were by no means the only ones."


Wiki Overview

Isuzu Hillman Minx

From Hillman Minx-A Spotter's Guide

"In the early '50s, the Minx was the number one imported car in the US and Canada. But it was deposed by a strange, rear-engined, beetle-like machine from West Germany, called a Volkswagen. Technically backward compared to the Hillman, the Beetle scored with the novelty of day-in, day-out, rain or shine reliability. Being British, the Minx was about as reliable as the summer sun in Brighton. Which is why the Minx is forgotten, and the Beetle went on to become the most popular car the world has ever seen."


Battle for the Beetle

"Ludvigsen traces the Beetle's impact on the world of autos, from the Chevrolet Corvair and Hino Contessa to rear-engined Fiats, Skodas and Hillmans. We learn why the most startling decision made by VW chief Heinz Nordhoff was not to change his car's design. And we are brought right up to the 1998 launch of VW's New Beetle. For those who wish to comprehend its amazing impact on the auto market, Battle for the Beetle is the essential source." (First Chapter: Birth of a Menace accessible from main page.)



NEWS:
Mostly general - no VW news this week (see below)

The following article makes VB wonder if traffic in Cairo is safer than in the USA. She knows for sure, that to get practically anywhere from her house, she has to go through numerous roundabouts. And street signs? Not so many.
How’s My Driving? A Q&A With the Author of Traffic

"Q: What’s a surprising thing that can make roads more dangerous?

A: Sometimes, it’s the appearance of safety that makes roads dangerous.

Take four-way signalized intersections versus roundabouts, for example. Most people in the U.S. prefer the former, which give clear, simple, precise instructions on how to proceed; whereas we still tend to view roundabouts as these weird, confusing European imports.

But four-way signalized intersections physically have many more potential points of “conflict” than roundabouts; also, roughly 1,000 people per year die in intersections because of red-light running. People tend to reduce their caution going through signalized intersections because they think they “have the light.” At a roundabout, you’re less sure of your right of way, and in any case, everyone has to slow to enter a roundabout, so by its very nature it prevents the dangerous t-bone collisions of a four-way signalized intersection."

"Q: How effective are road signs really?

A: Last week I just spoke to someone at the Chicago D.O.T. At a particularly curvy part of Lake Shore Drive, they’ve had trouble with crashes. They tried putting up signs, then tried larger signs, then tried larger flashing signs. Still people behave foolishly. Finally they tried putting markings on the pavement that trick drivers into thinking they’re going faster than they are (an example of the “choice architecture” discussed in Thaler and Sunstein’s Nudge). When we actually see signs to begin with, as we often don’t seem to when doing something like talking on a cell phone and driving, it is a further mystery how and if we decide to act on that information.

“Children at play” signs and the like are absolutely ineffective in changing a driver’s behavior, and studies of drivers through school zones show they were driving much faster than they remember. It’s been argued that signs allow us to basically stop thinking, and in certain places experiments have been done in which they’ve been removed, with no negative safety effects."



New York Times Book Reviews has a list of books for summer reading. Road Maps to Automotive Adventures
"Recent books about automobiles offer everything from an armchair tour of dream garages to a history of Henry Ford’s Model T." One of the books reviewed is "Peking To Paris," which is a companion to the TV series. It just finished it's run here in Cairo on the Star or Showtime (not sure which actually) Travel Channel. One of the cars on the trip was a Bathtub Nash, which the New York Times showcased in The Sportsman’s Life in a ‘Bathtub Nash’. "The Nash Airflyte, known as the "Bathtub Nash," was once the vacation vehicle of choice for outdoorsmen, with seats that turned into a bed."

Your Scene: Weird Wheels
"Here are some of the weirdest cars readers have found on the roads."

'Aware Car' Knows When You're Too Old to Drive -- and Tells You
"The car of tomorrow will make senior citizens better, safer drivers and let them know when they ought to hang up the keys for good. It also could tell the DMV.

Researchers at MIT's AgeLab are building the "Aware Car," a Volvo XC90 packed with cameras, monitors and sensors that keep tabs on drivers and their behavior to improve safety.

AgeLab studies the quality-of-life issues of an aging population, and the idea behind the Aware Car isn't getting older drivers off the road but allowing them to drive safely as long as possible. The $1.5-million vehicle also could help automakers design safer cars, and it's one of several ongoing efforts to build the ultimate "nanny car"....

Because Big Brother is providing a lot of the money Reimer and his colleagues are spending, the technology also could give the government the means to evaluate drivers' competency behind the wheel and determine whether it's time to yank their licenses."


June 6, 1933: A Car, a Movie, Some Popcorn and Thou "1933: The world's first drive-in movie theater opens in Camden, New Jersey.

Their popularity soared after World War II, when Americans started having kids in droves. (Can you say "Boom"?) The drive-in offered cheap family entertainment, a place where parents could take the kids without having to shell out for a baby sitter, or worry about them bothering other patrons.

Since drive-ins offered a certain amount of privacy, making out in the back seat of the car was a rite of passage for Teenus americanus, circa 1963. You could get it on in the front seat, too, if you had a column shift, or even a bench seat with four on the floor. But bucket seats? Forget it."

How to Change Your Own Oil in a Jiffy
"You don't need the Apple genius bar to swap out your RAM, so why waste $50 at Greasy Lube when you can swap out your own sludge?"

Motorcycles and emissions: The surprising facts
"Long story short: Motorcycles, even small ones, are more polluting than Hummers, but it's the best that can be done for now. If you want to make a difference, consider an electric two-wheeler for your next bike or a gas-powered model with fuel injection and a 3-way catalytic converter."

No Mortgage Needed for These Beauties , (Slide Show of "Low-Cost Collectible Cars, and more info, at the link.)
"Bargain collector cars start well below the price of a Ferrari tune-up, and the variety is wide-ranging.

FIRST, the good news. Unlike some investments, collector cars rarely become completely worthless, in the way that shares in a dot-com have been known to do. Barring floods and fires (at least you can insure against those losses), collector cars will rise and fall in value, but they will rarely hit zero."


VB just arrived back home, in Connecticut, late yesterday afternoon, and apologizes for the late post.


Di-Gue-Ding-Ding by Michel Legrand

Funkengroovin Wednesday - Confusion Reigns Supreme Revisited

One Thing Leads To Another


Remember this Bus?


And the blog about it:? Well, when Vagabondblogger isn't in Cairo, carousing around looking for VW's, she's in Connecticut reading. One of the new books she recently bought is, Volkswagens Of The World. Apparently some guy, Simon Glen, traveled the world photographing, and documenting a variety of Volkswagen cars and buses, and their derivatives (a little compulsive wouldn't you say?)

VB found a very similar looking Bus photo: "A 1978 Brazilian six-door Transporter Type 201 Microbus Luxo."

From there VB decided to do a more specific Internet search. Even though you can find anything you want on the web, when you're looking for something you don't know anything about, it's pretty much like looking for a needle in a haystack. So check out this Bus VB found at TheSamba.com. Very similar. It's a Brazilian six door transporter.

And, as in Cairo, when it comes to Brazilians, their VW's may not be what they seem to be. According to Malcolm Bobbitt, author of The Volkswagen Bus Book:

"...There was also a problem, in the materials sent from Germany did not always compliment production then current in Brazil. Thus, the situation often arose that vehicles that were seemingly representative of a particular era were adorned with fittings, such as doors and trim items, from previous models.

There were a number of anomolies concerning Brazilian-built Transporters in respect of styling arrangements being peculiar to other models. Hence, some Bay Window Microbuses were fitted with side and rear windows of a pattern similar to those seen on the Split-Screen Samba. Specific to Brazilian production was a water-cooled Bay Window diesel-engined model, complete with an external radiator fixed to the nose of the vehicle."

If that's not bad enough, according to Simon Glen (the dude who traveled the world):

"In 1975 its successor, although fitted with a single carburettor, 1600 twin port engine, and looking like a second generation Type 2 from the front, was really just a 1957 Type 2 with a second generation, one piece wind-screen, front panel, front doors, and dashboard fitted to the front. From the front doors back the body was still the first generation shell, which was how it remained in production until 1997! ...From 1976 the 1600 twin port engine was standard and there was a 'Luxo' model of the Microbus with a unique arrangement of doors on both sides....." (Photo below)

It's pretty obvious that the section between the two side doors was welded onto the bus, in the photo VB took at the Car Market. It's not a very good job either. That was never an issue. VB wanted to know where the hell these guys got this idea from? (Dangling, VB knows this.) So, she found out. And as odd as she and The Boss Man thought Cairene VW's were, apparently it's a worldwide phenomenon.


TheSamba.com got their photo from an old car site in Japan. This site has some amazing VW's and their uses. For those photos go here. VB's fave is Heidi Pizzaria, which you can get to by scrolling down. They've even installed a brick oven!






Check out the labels under the photos called "cut," which gives you inside views of the Buses. So, VB is adding these two pages as links, since they're totally awesome! This site will keep you busy for hours. Also, when you scroll down, and leave your pointer on one of the cartoons it will show you the actual machine. VB thinks she wants to start a traveling hookah / sheesha business now - discussions are in progress with the kinder.


For views of other rare Buses:
Dream bus for VW fanatic, has an article and photos about a restored 1953 Samba.


And things get stranger. Would you use a bus as a trailer? If so, take a look at DoubleDutch Bus. Unfortunately, their link "It's genetic" is only in Dutch, but you'll get the picture. They provide many photos, and some explanations in English, with a post of how the trailer came to be, but again, only in Dutch! Pictures abound, and if you're like VB, then a picture speaks a thousand words, and what else do you need, huh?



NEWS:

Conocophillips Corporate Archive -
William Stout, left, with a Scarab.
A Visionary’s Minivan Arrived Decades Too Soon

"Built by a pioneering aircraft designer in the 1930s, the Scarab was a milepost on a road not taken.

On a rainy day in 1936, Mr. Stout and his Scarab visited one of the new cottage-style Phillips gas stations, at Third Street and Keeler Avenue in Bartlesville, Okla., in the heart of the oil patch. A Phillips executive greeted him; in the background of a photo from that day, bystanders look skeptically at the vehicle shaped like a loaf of home-baked bread. The tall, mustachioed Mr. Stout is wearing an overcoat in the photo, and looks like a scientist from one of the “Thin Man” films of the era.

The Scarab’s layout is worth a second look for designers working to pack maximum utility into modern vehicles. It can be seen as the forerunner of the Volkswagen Microbus, the Renault Espace and other one-box designs.

By 1935 he was publicizing the Scarab, which took its name from the beetle held sacred by ancient Egyptians. Its layout was like that of the VW Beetle, however greatly stretched: engine in rear (a Ford V-8), housed under a vast curve of complex grillwork. Mr. Stout praised the car’s aluminum construction and hoped to build 100 a year. He courted Philip Wrigley, of the chewing gum empire; the tire magnate Harvey Firestone; and Willard Dow, of Dow Chemical."



Worried about cats crawling onto your engine to keep warm in the winter? Well then, don't go to New York City, where you will find Under the Hood, a Cozy Rat Retreat.
"It turns out that rats, of which New York City has an ample supply, love to cozy up inside car engines this time of year.

Ignition wires seem to be a particular favorite, he said.

Mr. Gruber, who often finds telltale chicken bones and candy wrappers, said he sees cars with the problem about twice a month; they have often been parked near Riverside Park.

Paul D. Curtis, an associate professor at Cornell University who specializes in wildlife management, said rodents in general tend to be attracted to plastic tubing and wires. “They do need to chew constantly to wear down their incisors,” he said, “and there’s something about the texture of the plastic that they really like.”

Another article, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles: "60 Years VW Bulli - The Book" goes to print, (about the Bulli Anniversary bash in Hanover, which VB posted here,) is in the news again. Unfortunately, if you get on the sales website, You can't even find it, anymore. VB was able to locate it it in December, but mailings were not offered to U.S.A. residents. If anyone has a heads-up on where we U.S. citizens can purchase the book, or what's happened to it, please let VB know. She was hoping to get a copy, and is very disappointed by the lack of availability. VB just loves how the media announces this stuff, but doesn't follow up on ordering information. BTW, this is exact same article as before (you'd think the news media could come up with an updated version. What's it been - Close to one month?)

Great Site:
Ever wonder what movies and TV shows your favorite car has been in? Well, now there's a database available: Internet Movie Cars Database. You can search by make or do an advanced search by model. Surprising information including photo shots from the actual scenes.



Blink 182-First date (Check out the split-window featured in the video.)

Weekend News Roundup

Well this week's Roundup is mostly Egypt. Stories cover urfi marriages (also discussed in the book, Muhajababes), F.G.M.(again); to crackdowns on the press, the Muslim Brotherhood, and a human rights organization. Muslims in America covers new State Department bloggers, blogging for America. Censorship covers the Egyptian stories as noted earlier, plus book removals from U.S. prisons, which was included in last week's Roundup, and my favorite new topic - spying on Americans - the new F.I.S.A. Law recently passed by our spineless congress. I am not going to go over the "Don't taser me, bro!" episode, even though I think it was a form of censorship, and another example of the police over reacting. If I have to see the video again, I'm going to start screeching!


EGYPT:

YOUNG EGYPTIAN COUPLES IN A HURRY TIE TEMPORARY KNOT

Concern grows over use of a secret, unrecognized 'urfi' marriage that many couples feel allows them to be alone and to engage in sexual activity.

In Egypt, a Rising Push Against Genital Cutting

KAFR AL MANSHI ABOU HAMAR, Egypt — The men in this poor farming community were seething. A 13-year-old girl was brought to a doctor’s office to have her clitoris removed, a surgery considered necessary here to preserve chastity and honor.

The girl died, but that was not the source of the outrage. After her death, the government shut down the clinic, and that got everyone stirred up.

“They will not stop us,” shouted Saad Yehia, a tea shop owner along the main street. “We support circumcision!” he shouted over and over.

“Even if the state doesn’t like it, we will circumcise the girls,” shouted Fahmy Ezzeddin Shaweesh, an elder in the village.

Slideshow

Interview With a Young Egyptian

My parents at home don’t know that I work in F.G.M., and if they find out, they’ll kill me. ...

MUSLIMS IN AMERICA:
For State Dept., Blog Team Joins Muslim Debate

Two Arab-Americans have been hired to post on blogs and Internet forums in an effort to improve America’s image.

Some analysts question whether the blog team will survive beyond the tenure of Karen P. Hughes, the confidante of President Bush who runs public diplomacy. The department expects to add seven more team members within the next month — four more in Arabic, two in Farsi and one in Urdu, the official language of Pakistan.

The team concentrates on about a dozen mainstream Web sites such as chat rooms set up by the BBC and Al Jazeera or charismatic Muslim figures like Amr Khaled, as well as Arab news sites like Elaph.com. They choose them based on high traffic and a focus on United States policy, and they always identify themselves as being from the State Department.

CENSORSHIP:
EGYPT EXTENDS CRACKDOWN TO PRESS

The arrest of Ibrahim Eissa and three other opposition journalists is the latest signal of tightening government control, reflecting anxiety over presidential succession.

Egyptian and foreign human rights activists say the crackdown on the press is unprecedented in recent Egyptian history. While state harassment comes with the territory for independent journalists, never before have four editors been tried and convicted at the same time.

Mr. Said, the political scientist, argues that the current crackdown reflects the cycle of Egyptian politics since independence.

"Towards the end of regimes they engage in harassment of opposition leaders, close newspapers and so forth," he says. "It's like in September 1981 when [Anwar] Sadat arrested many politicians of many political persuasions." Shortly after that, Sadat – then president – was assassinated. "That's why many people are calling what's happening now the winds of September," says Said. "These are the last years of Mubarak's life, and whenever the government feels it has to ensure a favorable successor, it does this."

GOVERNMENT BANS MUSLIM Brotherhood's ANNUAL RAMADAN EVENT

CAIRO: The government has banned the Muslim Brotherhood's largest annual social gathering for the first time in 20 years, part of a concerted crackdown against the country's opposition, the group's leadership said Sunday.

Every year, the Brotherhood invites a diverse group of some 1,500 people to one of Cairo's five-star hotels for a gala dinner during Ramadan.

The government has also targeted organizations unrelated to the transfer of power. Earlier Tuesday, authorities closed the Association for Human Rights Legal Aid, which had been involved in the first lawsuit against a state security officer for torture.

Egyptian officials said the group had received funding without the necessary permission, but fellow human rights groups said the closure was related to the torture case, which ended with the officer's acquittal on Sept. 5. Associated Press.

AS STATE CLOSES PROMINENT HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP, ACTIVISTS FEAR FURTHER CRACKDOWN

Noha Atef, the editor of the advocacy website www.tortureinegypt.net, agrees. According to her, the shut down of such a prominent legal aid organization is meant to have a chilling effect on human rights advocacy in Egypt.

“This association is very active and has defended many torture victims, so it is only logical that the government would come after them,” she says.

“The state wants to send a message to other civil society groups — they say ‘this was one of the biggest groups and we can just dissolve it whenever we want.’” she adds “That this can happen to a big organization with a lot of its own lawyers — how do you think normal people who don’t have a team of lawyers with them will feel about standing up against torture?”

Bush Calls for Expansion of Spy Law

Critics Right and Left Protest Book Removals

The federal Bureau of Prisons is under pressure from members of Congress and religious groups to reverse its decision to purge the shelves of prison chapel libraries of all religious books and materials that are not on the bureau’s lists of approved resources.

The Republican Study Committee, a caucus of some of the most conservative Republicans in the House of Representatives, sent a letter on Wednesday to the bureau’s director, Harley G. Lappin, saying, “We must ensure that in America the federal government is not the undue arbiter of what may or may not be read by our citizens.”

Weekend News Roundup

What can Vagabondblogger say? It's the same old hypocrisy, from the same old guys, isn't it? Let's not dwell, but enjoy a bit of comic relief instead. So, before moving on to the headlines, please take a look at a Little Britain skit. As for the travel bit from Russia: Traveling to any ex - USSR country, traveler beware! This story is not an isolated event, it is a procedure many have been through, albeit some, without the jail time. Which leads us to Putin, who's got the whole of Russia, if not parts of the ex-Soviet Union, under his thumb. I'm sure there are bits and pieces I've missed this week, or possibly purposely ignored. Please, send your complaints through the proper channels.

In Dog We Trust: Japan's Childless Turn to Canines

Dogs now outnumber children aged 10 and under in Japan -- there were 13.1 million dogs in 2006. As the number of humans shrink, the dog population is growing, research firm Euromonitor says, and so is the market for dog-related products.

It is one of the many shops that provoke the ire of animal welfare activists such as Briar Simpson, a New Zealander who works for Animal Refuge Kansai, Japan's largest animal shelter.

She says some of the dogs in all-night pet shops are used in elaborate con schemes: a hostess will ask her wealthy, drunken lover to buy her a little dog; the next day, she will bring the dog back to the shop in exchange for cash. The shop keeps a cut.

BOOKS: (reviewed previously in the NYT)

'Down the Nile': Traveling by rowboat down the world's longest river

Add to that a passion for the Nile. "The Nile was the longest river in the world," writes Mahoney. "It rubbed against ten nations. Some 250 million people depended on it for their survival. It had fostered whole cultures and inspired immense social and scientific concepts." What adventurous memoirist – particularly one seeking a topic for her next book – would not wish to ride on its back?

Egypt is a country, she tells us, in which sex outside marriage is "strictly forbidden." And yet, she says, "I had never visited any country in which sex had so often arisen as a topic of conversation."

How religion forges global networks

Much has already been written about the arrival of world faiths and how they are reshaping the American religious landscape. But in God Needs No Passport Levitt brings a fresh perspective, one that suggests the current debates are out of sync with reality. The true picture, it turns out, is both unsettling and encouraging.

The transnational lifestyles that Levitt explores are criticized by some Americans as disloyal – "like polygamy." Muslims especially have been looked upon with suspicion since 9/11 for maintaining such ties. But those of any faith who live transnationally are the face of the future, she contends.

"I always tell people from Muslim countries, none of you have ever really tested Islam as it was meant to be tested – as a pluralistic religion that ... accepts everyone for what they are," says Imram, an American Muslim. "America is probably the most Islamic country in the world even though it is not a Muslim country, because it has the principles an Islamic state is supposed to have.

TRAVEL:

Tourist in Russia Stumbles Into a Legal Predicament

Roxana Contreras is stuck in Russia accused of trying to smuggle cultural treasures out of the country after she purchased souvenirs worth $20 from a street vendor.

“We understand that she didn’t know, but that’s her problem,” Ms. Osennyaya said. “We have a saying,” she said, “Lack of knowledge does not free one from responsibility.”

Aleksei A. Andreyeshev, her lawyer, said he was equally puzzled by what he described as court officials’ capriciousness. In a telephone interview, he said that prosecutors had been unavailable and that the judge who will decide Ms. Contreras’s case hung up on him when he asked about the details of the hearing.

“He just threw down the phone and didn’t give me any information,” Mr. Andreyeshev said.

Oksana A. Romaneko, a spokeswoman for the court in Ramon, where the hearing will take place, would not provide information about the case. In a faxed response to questions, she said, “Any interference in the affairs of the court can be criminally prosecuted.”

CENSORSHIP:
Russia Arrests 10 in Slaying of Outspoken Journalist

Swiss Court: Yukos Case Is 'Political'

The decision, disclosed on Thursday, said that Russian authorities' pursuit of what was once Russia's largest oil company had a "political and discriminatory character . . . underlined by the infringement of human rights and of the right to defense."

The legal actions against the company were organized "by the powers in place with the goal of putting to heel the class of rich people known as 'oligarchs' and sidelining potential or declared political adversaries," the ruling said.

Arrest Ordered for Russian Oil Entrepreneur, a Critic of the Kremlin

Mikhail S. Gutseriev, a former owner of Russneft, published a letter last month critical of the government on a company Web site and in a Russian business newspaper.

Funkengroovin Wednesday - On The Road

Vagabondblogger often sees VW's when she is on the road traveling around Cairo. One of the things she hates is when the windows of her own car, get in the way of a photo. It's also annoying to have a camera that won't take the picture right away. So, since the title of today's post is "On the Road", here's all the VW photos I practically missed - the ones that got away. Let's just say the eye is quicker than the hand, and the damn driver won't slow down for Vagabondblogger - Sheesh!

Oh and this week, due to the overwhelming excitement from the news media about Mad Men, today's blog includes more "style" and "fashion" than usual (how could that be?)


Road Rules

Aug. 13, 2007 issue - Jack Kerouac's "On The Road" gets the full 50th anniversary treatment next month, and both cheerleaders and hand-wringers acknowledge that it radically changed American culture—somehow or other. True, the National Quiet Desperation Index has only risen since 1957, and if the book's exaltation of junker cars and diner food had really taken hold, we'd have fewer SUVs and fast-food franchises. But "On the Road" showed, and continues to show, generations of young readers a more intense, more passionate—and more closely examined—life. Some who've busted out to live it themselves died on the streets. Others have refreshed the American sensibility, in music, art, fashion, or in simply learning to kick back and take pleasure in pleasure. This book has stayed, as one of its early readers would say, forever young.

Turns out Vagabondblogger is a trend setter now too. Don't say I didn't tell ya to watch the show.


'Mad Men' sells the '60s with authenticity

AMC's period drama Mad Men (tonight, 10 ET/PT), set in a Madison Avenue ad agency in spring 1960, is a universe on the precipice of revolutions, from social to racial, political to sexual. And those threads of change are carried through in the details, the carefully researched artifacts of the era, some evocative, some barely remembered. "When you look in the past, everybody knows the broad strokes," says prop master Scott Buckwald. "It's the little slices of life that make the difference." USA TODAY dusts off a handful of the items in Mad Men's attic.

Volkswagen 'Beetle'

Mad Men angle. "No chrome, no horsepower, foreign, ugly," says art director Salvatore (Bryan Batt), looking at a VW ad. "I guess they went with their strengths."

Infestation. Before Toyota, before Honda, this was the import invasion. The Volkswagen (the descriptive Beetle wasn't officially acknowledged till 1967) was economical, reliable and adorably homely, soon to be embraced by the counterculture even as it was rejected by the establishment. The ironic, understated ads were as revolutionary as the auto. In 1960, 127,000 were sold in the USA; by 1970 they were selling more than 400,000 a year.

Insect aside. Prop master Buckwald says they pulled the ad from an old issue of Life, tinted it and rebound it in another magazine. And it turns out on the series that the neighborhood divorcée, Helen Bishop (Darby Stanchfield), drives one, which will do neither's reputation any good.

A Return to That Drop-Dead Year 1960
By RUTH LA FERLA
Published: August 23, 2007

To a style aficionado, “Mad Men” is that rare TV show in which an ashtray, a lipstick or an aerosol tin gets star treatment.

Magic Bus: Project VW reveals hidden surprise

For the owner of a 1958 double panel restoration project, the drug connection hit a little close to home. When checking out the undercarriage of his new purchase, TheSamba forum member Joshua B. found 14 LBS of marijuana stashed away. While we can't provide an exact street value of such a find (if you can, let us know in the comments) we can assume that it's a hell of a lot more than the value of this rusted out old groove-mobile.

Check this picture out:
The Billiards Table Volkswagen Bus seen at the Woodward Dream Cruise

If you are a surfing dude but also a great fan of billiards, then it seems as if all your dreams can be answered as at the recent Woodward Dream Cruise event visitors had the chance to see a Billiards Table Volkswagen Bus, man this VW Camper come Billiards Table is so cool.

The Virtues of Avoiding Interstates

Many connoisseurs of the highway are championing the use of slow roads — back roads with scenery and history — instead of faceless Interstates.

The List:
Scenic Roads That Deserve a Detour

Here are some slow roads with special attractions.

Off the Road

Hey, Jack Kerouac, I know you dressed like a bum, but a shop in Soho is selling your boots for $475

So maybe, given your late-in-life embrace of capitalism, you'd actually endorse that Hogan merch (especially if you got a cut of the profits). In any case, as so often happens, you're worth far more dead than alive. Want to really spin in your grave? Check this out: Johnny Depp once paid $15,000 for an old raincoat of yours, and $10,000 for a tweed overcoat.

Six Days On The Road - Dave Dudley

Weekend News Roundup

The Weekend News Roundup is a bit lengthy this week. A few Cairo neighborhood pieces; Egypt's water shortage (and crocs); book reviews: one on a book mentioned previously, and others include two about India's Independence, comparing the decision to partition to what is happening in Iraq, with a mention of one of my favorite books, A Peace to End All Peace; then of course the censorship spot (my fave: "Innovative Approach To Censorship" of how a Saudi Sheikh can put the screws to a major British publishing company - I' d like to see him try that in the U.S.,) plus, the usual censorship march in some Middle East countires, and from Putin (I liken him to Darth Vader and his deathly neck pinch); and my newest pet peeve, the recent  U.S.wiretapping law. Phew!

Egypt Today Magazine has a section describing all the different neighborhoods of Cairo, including mine Welcome to the ‘Burbs

With all the perks of big city life — but without the noise, congestion and concrete of Mohandiseen — Maadi is a haven for suburbanites.

Then there's the commentary in Al-Ahram News about Gated communities, By Salama A Salama.

Luxury real estate is not the answer to our problems. If anything, it will heighten the sense of social injustice and political exclusion that is growing all around us. This new lifestyle can only worsen the situation where political extremism and political oppression combine to destroy the social fabric of our country. We need to have a strategy for investment. We need a strategy that takes into account the social and political repercussions of investment. We cannot let businessmen and contractors tell us how to live.

Under the "Book" section, US author offers simplistic, sincere view of Egypt, critiques a book of an expat's view of Cairo, somewhat dissing it since the book's author lived in Maadi. After reading the above commentary and World's Apart, below, I don't think Maadi is that far removed from the rest of Cairo. We're not "gated"; we don't have a golf, tennis, and pool club at our disposal; we do see beggars - mothers with infants begging for money for food (putting their pursed hands up to their mouths); we have continual brownouts and blackouts; but fortunately, so far, we've been lucky with the water situation (except in February when the Metro flooded); and we do have access to the Metro. We may be a "suburb" but in the States we'd be called an "inner ring suburb" meaning that we are just a step outside the "inner city." The next article describes the differences in how the rich and poor have been dealing with the recent water shortage currently going on here in Egypt, Worlds apart

Residents of Daqahliya fought each other with sticks and stones to fill their water containers last week in scenes which, say the residents of one village, grow increasingly chaotic as the water shortage drags on.

A world away, in Qatamiya Heights, one of Cairo's many new up-market suburbs, residents were upset when water began to trickle from their taps. Then it was cut completely. But unlike the villages in Daqahliya water did not need to be trucked in. Instead residents headed for the supermarkets, buying box after box of bottled water. Maged Raouf, who has just moved into the area, has sent his children to stay at a relative's house until the water returns. "I can't possibly continue to pay this much for bottled water every time I have a shower". The facilities at his gym, he says, have become his de facto bathroom for the time being.

And, in Only in Egypt! a rather unfortunate result of the water shortage.

CAIRO -- A regularly updated collection of weird and whacky news items from Egypt.

Morning shower soils employee's reputation

EGYPT'S RELENTLESS summer heat and water shortages recently proved too hot to handle for one hapless, hygiene-conscious employee.

A 27-year-old man whose un-air-conditioned home's water supply was often erratic, making bathing a rare luxury, had made it a habit of reaching his work premises early in the morning, so as to avail himself of the on-site showers.

However, on one such occasion, while enjoying a refreshing soap-and-lather, the man realized he had left some other bath essentials in his work desk. Hoping to grab them and return unnoticed to complete his wash, he set forth frothy-but-otherwise-unadorned on his quest.

Unfortunately for the would-be bather, his boss had opted for an early start that morning, too, and was not amused to see his nude employee fumbling for bath oils in the middle of the office space.

The employee was docked five days wages from his total salary, and an official investigation into the affair was ordered by his superior. (Al Ahram)

BOOKS:
Against the Current
By LISA FUGARD
Published: August 5, 2007

In 1998, Rosemary Mahoney set out to row the Nile on her own.

Mahoney rows from Aswan to Edfu — a three-day journey — in Amr’s boat with Amr following in his felucca. She then takes a taxi to Luxor, where mobs of Europeans soak up the sun in skimpy attire and young Egyptian men work as gigolos. The inevitable conversations about sex — with Ahmed, a male prostitute, and Adel, a lawyer — are surreal, lurid and terribly sad. The freedom of being able to talk to a Western woman in an open way soon dissipates, and we see men who are frustrated and bored, struggling against the strictures of Islamic culture.

FIRST CHAPTER
‘Down the Nile’

“[T]hough in Egypt the assumption of the veil at puberty was officially a matter of individual choice, many Egyptian women wore the hijab . . .”

US author offers simplistic, sincere view of Egypt

What also discredits some of her remarks is that she lived the Cairo's Maadi neighborhood, where a lot of Westerners isolate themselves. Indeed, many of them find it similar to Washington, DC - an observation Eck, herself, makes. This limits the reader to seeing only one of Egypt's many faces, whereas the book aims to cover Egyptian society in its entirety.

Many Westerners in Egypt, or "expats," as Eck calls them, don't move around a lot, let alone socialize, outside Maadi. They live in a Western community in a Westernized neighborhood, as if they had brought the West with them to Egypt. This, in turn, keeps them from experiencing true Egyptian society and culture, and this was a defect in the memoir. Eck mainly concentrates on her life in Maadi, where she spent most of her stay, outside of a few months in Alexandria.

Nonetheless, from her Maadi base, Eck still offers valuable insight into the "expat" community she mingled with: "Expat women lead interesting lives. Since most have young children, they do volunteer work, ride, go out to lunch, shop, and take golf lessons while their children are in school ... Some [expat] women have their own car and driver. Everyone seems to have a maid at least three times per week. Others have a nanny and/or a cook. If they live in a villa rather than an apartment, they may have a gardener, and their own security guards or bawwab."

The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit
By MICHIKO KAKUTANI
Published: August 10, 2007

In this stunning memoir, Ms. Lagnado gives us a deeply affecting portrait of her family and its journey from wartime Cairo to the New World.

In “The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit” Ms. Lagnado — an investigative reporter at The Wall Street Journal — gives us a deeply affecting portrait of her family and its journey from wartime Cairo to the New World. Like André Aciman in his now classic memoir, “Out of Egypt” (1994), she conjures a vanished world with elegiac ardor and uncommon grace, and like Mr. Aciman she calculates the emotional costs of exile with an unsentimental but forgiving eye. This is not simply the story of a well-to-do family’s loss of its home, its privileges and its identity. It is a story about how exile indelibly shapes people’s views of the world, a story about the mathematics of familial love and the wages of memory and time.

FIRST CHAPTER

“On the first Thursday night of every month . . . Om Kalsoum, the Nightingale of the Nile, the greatest singer Egypt had ever known, broadcast live from a theater in the Ezbekeya section . . .”

EXIT WOUNDS
The legacy of Indian partition.
by Pankaj Mishra

In the nineteen-twenties and thirties, Churchill had been loudest among the reactionaries who were determined not to lose India, “the jewel in the crown,” and, as Prime Minister during the Second World War, he tried every tactic to thwart Indian independence. “I hate Indians,” he declared. “They are a beastly people with a beastly religion.” He had a special animus for Gandhi, describing him as a “rascal” and a “half-naked” “fakir.” (In a letter to Churchill, Gandhi took the latter as a compliment, claiming that he was striving for even greater renunciation.) According to his own Secretary of State for India, Leopold Amery, Churchill knew “as much of the Indian problem as George III did of the American colonies.”

Remembering Partition

The parallels with contemporary Iraq are far from exact. The British Empire ruled India for nearly a century and, at the end, drew the boundaries that spawned decades of conflict; they should have felt an obligation to keep the place from collapsing before they departed. India was also a real country before the British colonized it, whereas Iraq was a colonial contrivance from the outset. (For the amazing story of how the British invented Iraq, and messed up the Middle East for all time to boot, see David Fromkin's A Peace To End All Peace.)

MUSLIMS IN AMERICA:
American Muslims Reimagined

Why comics? "I love the medium." Wilson responds. "I can't say enough good things about it. I call it 'the beautiful medium' because it's the only genre of storytelling in which the past, present and future are available to the reader as one image--I make use of that in Cairo, a novel about five very disparate characters and a genie whose stories are interwoven against the backdrop of modern-day Cairo. Outsiders is more overtly political of the two, because it deals with the hotly contested Transboundary Aquifer System in the northern Sahara."

Universities Install Footbaths to Benefit Muslims, and Not Everyone Is Pleased

By TAMAR LEWIN
Published: August 7, 2007

As the nation’s Muslim population grows, issues of religious accommodation are becoming more common, and more complicated.

Nationwide, more than a dozen universities have footbaths, many installed in new buildings. On some campuses, like George Mason University in Virginia, and Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Mich., there was no outcry. At Eastern Michigan, even some Muslim students were surprised by the appearance of the footbath — a single spigot delivering 45 seconds of water — in a partitioned corner of the restroom in the new student union.

“My sister told me about it, and I didn’t believe it,” said Najla Malaibari, a graduate student at Eastern Michigan. “I was, ‘No way,’ and she said, ‘Yeah, go crazy.’ It really is convenient.”

TRAVEL / PETS:
Think Your Dog Is Smart? Its Collar May Be Even Smarter

By ANNE EISENBERG
Published: August 5, 2007

Collars with Global Positioning System units, motion sensors or other additions help owners keep track of their pets the high-tech way.

EGYPT:
Gone crocodile hunting on the Nile

The Egyptian media is abuzz over a rare reptile sighting in Cairo. Our reporter joins the chase.
By Jill Carroll

Word is, the crocodile – or alligator – has swum downstream to the northern Cairo neighborhood of Maadi.

OIL:
Ghana aims to avoid the 'oil curse'

"

What most people don't understand about oil is that, not only does the money not filter through to the majority of the population, but it's much worse than that," says Nicholas Shaxson, an oil analyst at the London-based Chatham House think tank and the author of "Poisoned Wells," which examines how the resource affects countries. "It actively makes most people poorer."

Why 'peak oil' may soon pique your interest

World oil production peaked in 2005, says one expert, and that presents serious problems in the future

For years, many in the oil industry viewed the peak oil forecasts by Simmons as odd. Now his position has a lot of company. Several websites publish sophisticated material on the issue. There's the Oil Drum (www.theoildrum.com), featuring "Prof. Goose" and "Gail the Actuary." Those pseudonyms hide a full professor at Colorado State University and an actuary in an Atlanta suburb. There's also the Energy Bulletin (www.energybulletin.net). The site's coeditor, Bart Anderson, say it receives 11,000 visits a day. Peak oil enthusiasts, he says, have now divided into a majority seeing life after an oil crunch and those he calls "doomers."

In Britain, Douglas Low, director of the Oil Depletion Analysis Centre (www.odac-info.org), foresees a "crisis coming up" with a real shortage of oil. In June, he notes, the world used 1.5 MB/D more crude than it produced. He expects much higher oil prices in the future.

CENSORSHIP:
Mr. Know-It-All: Bannable Blog Behavior, Scam Bait, MySpace Geezers

Is it OK to ban someone from posting comments on my blog?

Innovative Approach to Censorship

Imagine this scenario. Two reputable American scholars write a book about how certain ostensibly charitable organizations are financial pass-throughs for radical terrorist groups. The book, which is amply documented, is published by a major academic press in Great Britain. Soon after the book appears, a wealthy Saudi sheik sues the publisher (not the authors) for libel. The publisher, evidently fearful of the cost and burden of litigation, promptly announces that it is withdrawing the book from circulation. It requests that all copies of the book be returned by booksellers and libraries so that the book may be pulped, destroyed, never read by anyone. The publisher issues a statement of apology, acknowledging serious (but undefined) errors in the book, and makes a financial award to the sheik, who pledges to give the money to UNICEF (the sheik is a multi-billionaire).

Syria To Crackdown Tougher On Web Sites

Already, Damascus has stopped blogspot from being used in the country and plans on making it difficult for users to have comments pages on their blogs.

"It is hard to believe that Syria would want to close down all websites with comment sections. Already all Blogspot blogs have been blocked in Syria. They can still be read through Bloglines or any other RSS feed, but the comment sections are not so easily accessed," Joshua Landis, Co-director at the Center of Peace Studies, University of Oklahoma, wrote on his blog.

Iranian journalist sentenced to death in closed trial

MEXICO: Journalist shot and wounded after corruption reports

Abuses Belie China Pledge on Rights, Critics Say

Iran: Another Reformist Paper Closed

Russia stretches 'extremism' laws

For example, any speech deemed "extremist" that occurs during a broadcast can lead to a media outlet being warned, and then shut down, by authorities. "The practical outcome of this rule is that radio and TV stations will simply stop having live debate and talk shows," says Dickmann.

Russia: Top Court Upholds Ban on Party
By JOSHUA YAFFA
Published: August 8, 2007

The Supreme Court upheld the Moscow City Court’s ban of the National Bolshevik Party as an extremist organization. The small fringe party has gained notoriety for its vocal and theatrical antigovernment demonstrations. The group’s leader, the writer Eduard Limonov, said in a telephone interview that he did not expect the latest ruling to affect its activities, including participation in the Other Russia coalition, a loose movement of anti-Kremlin forces that includes the former chess champion Garry Kasparov. “They will not shut us up,” Mr. Limonov said. “We have no fear.” He said the party would appeal the ruling to the European Court of Human Rights.

MY CURRENT PET PEEVE: THE NEW WIRETAPPING LAW
A Gateway for Hackers

The Security Threat in the New Wiretapping Law
U.S. communications technology is fragile and easily penetrated. While advanced, it is not decades ahead of that of our friends or our rivals. Compounding the issue is a key facet of modern systems design: Intercept capabilities are likely to be managed remotely, and vulnerabilities are as likely to be global as local. In simplifying wiretapping for U.S. intelligence, we provide a target for foreign intelligence agencies and possibly rogue hackers. Break into one service, and you get broad access to U.S. communications.

AT&T Tells Court That Secret Wiretapping Destroys Privacy (in 1927)

The function of a telephone system in our modern economy is, so far as reasonably practicable, to enable any two persons at a distance to converse privately with each other as they might do if both were personally present in the privacy of the home or office of either one. […]

The wire tapper destroys this privacy. He invades the "person" of the citizen, and his "house," secretly and without warrant.[…]

[…]It is better that a few criminal escape than that the privacies of life of all the people be exposed to the agents of the government, who will act at their own discretion, the honest and the dishonest, unauthorized and unrestrained by the courts.