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.)

Road 9 - Revisited

Since I've started to feel better, I decided to venture out in the 90 degree plus heat for Road 9. I had some business to take care of. On the way, I saw this sight, which I may have posted in an earlier blog (total building included). This wonderful tree, is now in bloom. These trees are all over Maadi, and they're just stunning with their draping, graceful flower scattered branches.

Arriving on Road 9, I noticed a few changes are taking place. Significant ones, if you like food, coffee, and Egyptian made goods.

First of all, we have a new restaurant in Maadi. It's either called "Restaurant 55" or "Cafe 55," or is it just "55," (sorry, I forget). I would call it "continental cuisine". We ate there before I returned to the States last month, and they had already applied for a liquor license, but I don't know where that stands right now. They have several dining rooms and an outdoor cafe where you can also smoke sheesha. This new place is located in a villa just across the street from Lucille's. I'm sure we'll get back down there, and eventually have an update on the liquor situation.

I don't care what Lucille's policy is (or why), but one thing that goes with a great hamburger, is a glass of Cabernet. And after I've walked the distance, I do like to sit, relax and have a drink with dinner. Sooo, I am looking forward to another place where I can eat and enjoy a glass of wine, with my food. Dry restaurants are like dry counties in the U.S. - everyone goes out of their way to find the sauce.

Someone, maybe Cairogal (not sure), mentioned that Mediterraneo might have closed. It doesn't look like the lights are on, but I have not been down there during the evening. One of the salesmen at Cleo's Corner Bazaar (next door) said they were indeed open. Since I haven't seen this for myself, the conclusion is: Up in the air. Who knows? But, across the street is a new addition.

In place of Chicken Tikka, "I Like Mine Spicy," is a brand new Costa Coffee, with a wonderful balcony overlooking Road 9, and the construction (or deconstructionist activities) nearby. Don't ask - you have to see it to believe it. It's Cairo!

This has got to be putting the squeeze on Beanos, the coffee shop next door, who: have had a nonchalant service attitude; dogs that piss on customer's backsides; and people using long extension cords to wire up their wi-fi computers, thus leading to possible disasters of all sorts.







No, lookie here. Beanos has taken over the old shop, La Poire, the patisserie, and is expanding! The coffee wars on Road 9 are about to commence!
Let me add that Road 9 has been a one way street for several months now, although that message has not gotten through to many drivers (or they ignore the signs, or they can't read, or they don't give a damn, or...). As a result, Fridays are a great day to watch errant drivers get bumper locked with right way drivers on Road 9, typically in front of Beanos.







While I was on my way to my marked destination, I ran in to this fellow, who I had only seen there once before, recently (since my return from the States.) He must be a hot weathered friend, because, he's new.








Here finally, at one of my destinations, where we bought two small, turned, inlaid tables from a young man, I finally arrived. I am just starting to sweat at this point. This is the lighting shop on Road 9 with Egyptian lights, but he also sells glass, inlaid boxes, and some copper. You might spot this young man in the photo on this page praying in the background of his lights, where you will also see Cleo's Bazaar and the woodworking shop.

He's very devout, and I've had to browse and walk around Road 9, waiting for prayers to end, just so I could go into his shop. These small prayer meets are referred to as Zawiyas. The L.A. Times has all the details here.

"The zawiya has endured since the days of the great caravans when merchants sought rest and God on journeys across the desert. Partly inspired by the mystic Sufi branch of Islam, zawiyas spread from hinterland to city, providing spiritual fulfillment and help for the poor. These days, with Egyptians disgruntled over a corrupt government and President Hosni Mubarak's aloofness and failure to improve their lives, zawiyas have become entrenched community outposts."

While I'm at the shop, this young entrepreneur says, "Yesterday I had three shops on Road 9. Today I have four." He tells me he's opening another shop in Cleo's Corner Bazaar. His father owns the copper shop there. He explains that he has a variety of goods to sell (I think he already told me once before he owns a glass making shop), and just needs more room to showcase his goods. He claims to be "cheaper than The Khan," which is true, since the sellers at the Khan prey on shopaholic tourists looking for souvenirs.

When the men bring in the two small tables we bought, I recognized one of them and said, "I know these guys. They built some cabinets for us."

The young man replies, "Hahaha, yes, we own them too."

I retorted, "You own all of Road 9!"

He giggles and says, "Yes, we do. Hehehe."



He's now selling egg lights, like the one in the photo, but on stands. They are huge and made of laced glass rounds, not tightly mosaic like the one pictured here. Nice - now, if only I could find the right color.... Sorry, I was so intrigued after he lit them all up for me, I forgot to get a photo.

I'm off to my next destination - Metro Market followed by Drinkies, for an alcohol delivery order. Between Metro and Drinkies I encountered a visual delight. You'll have to return on Funkengroovin Wednesday to see what I found.

Weekend News Roundup: Maadi Has Best Burger!!!

An assortment of articles this week, ranging from the world's best hamburger to just a few censorship items. Three articles about Egypt, plus a few on politics, and one on diversifying America's parks, constitute the rest of the articles (not necessarily in this order.)

How many times have I mentioned Road 9 in Maadi? Well, one establishment there, Lucille's, has been named "The Best Hamburger" by the author of Postcards from Cairo for TIME Magazine.

The World's Best Hamburger Is in Egypt

When I asked general manager Essam Mabrouk the secret of the burgers, it turned out there is indeed a special ingredient, which is lathered on the beef patty as soon as it hits the heat. (He hinted it has something to do with fish, but refused to divulge more.) Mabrouk hauled me into the kitchen to show me some other reasons for Lucille's success: fresh, organic ingredients. Six kitchen butchers double-grind ultra-lean round and rump steaks, mixing in a secret ratio of "clean" fat, and then double-press the patties in a mold to ensure cooking consistency. The lettuce, tomato and onions are grown in the Nile River basin's year-round sunshine, requiring no preservatives. "It really boils down to the fact that it's all homemade," Lucille tells me. "We've gone back to basics. I don't throw anything in the grinder that doesn't belong there."

Also, an excerpt from a book about an Egyptian family moving abroad.

Searching for My Father's Lost City

Before we fled, Cairo was a cosmopolitan crossroads. How much still remains?

My father, who had lived in Egypt since the turn of the century, had been a prosperous businessman and pleasure seeker who gambled with King Farouk. My mother was a teacher and librarian in a private school supported by a Pasha and his wife. I attended the tony Lycée Français du Caire where at five, I wore a grey uniform with a crest. We left a year later, when my father, who had tried to hold on, succumbed to pressure from my older siblings who felt there was no future for them in Egypt.

Sadly, reluctantly, Dad gave away the lease to our apartment and signed papers known as aller sans retour. It meant that we were leaving and never coming back.

It was a wrenching departure, and we never got over it. No matter where we went we always looked back on Egypt with longing. "Ragaouna Masr," my dad would cry out in Arabic, especially as he fell on hard times in America. Colloquially, it meant "Take us back to Cairo!"

My father died in 1993, having never returned to Egypt. Recently, I returned to Cairo.

Adapted from 'The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit,My Family's Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World ' by Lucette Lagnado.

From Amazon

Book Description
In vivid and graceful prose, Lucette Lagnado re-creates the majesty and cosmopolitan glamour of Cairo in the years between World War II and Gamal Abdel Nasser's rise to power. Her father, Leon, was a boulevardier who conducted business on the elegant terrace of Shepheard's Hotel, and later, in the cozy, dark bar of the Nile Hilton, dressed in his signature white sharkskin suit. But with the fall of King Farouk and Nasser's nationalization of Egyptian industry, Leon and his family lose everything. As streets are renamed, neighborhoods of their fellow Jews disbanded, and the city purged of all foreign influence, the Lagnados, too, must make their escape. With all of their belongings packed into twenty-six suitcases, their jewels and gold coins hidden in sealed tins of marmalade, Leon and his family depart for any land that will take them. The poverty and hardships they encounter in their flight from Cairo to Paris to New York are strikingly juxta-posed against the beauty and comforts of the lives they left behind.

An inversion of the American dream set against the stunning portraits of three world cities, Lucette Lagnado's memoir offers a grand and sweeping story of faith, tradition, tragedy, and triumph.

Egyptian attempts to curb smoking receive skeptical response

CAIRO, Egypt: In a country where perhaps the most popular national past-time is puffing on a water pipe or chain smoking while drinking tea, new laws designed to curb smoking are receiving a skeptical response.

If you want to read one piece in this Roundup, please take a look at The Obscured Continent, from the Columbia Journalism Review. It's a critique of a recent Vanity Fair Magazine, The Africa Issue. For anyone who is a Vanity Fair fan like I am, seeing Madonna on the cover of a magazine featuring articles solely about Africa, made my skin crawl. The woman "bought" an African child, for God's sake (and some controversy to go along with it) and we should look at her as a spokesman / representative of what's happening in Africa today? It's a never ending parade of celebreality angst, and let's not forget, they are today's swamis on the issue, are they not? It's like a mad dash by the "look at me, look at me, look at me" brigade screaming, "I'm a do-gooder. I've got morals too! " scrambling for (retch!) the next award - The Nobel Peace Prize? (People, please don't trample over each other now.) I don't think buying children is exactly what the Prize committee had in mind. After I received a lecture from a GAP store employee on how many vaccines $1.00 could buy, when I was purchasing a "Red" item for less than that, (and already knowing that only about ten percent actually went towards the "Red" campaign,) it seemed to me to be just another way to make more money. The business of America is business, and Africa be damned! Don't get me wrong, but as The Columbia Journalism Review critique states, Vanity Fair could've presented more Africans who are working to make a change, rather than a bunch of botoxed celebrities.  Oh and is Africa so damned desperate that ten percent will fix it?  C'mon!  What a load of capitalist garbage! Why don't they outsource to Africa and help the Africans help themselves?  

For those of you who need some comfort read  this:

In a recent story, the Washington Post tackles cause marketing's paradoxical nature, and seems to theorize that perhaps consumers are just a little too confused to participate in such initiatives: "Cause marketing soothes the compunctions of a mass-consumption culture at the same time that it contributes to that excess. It allows us to be giving at the same time that we are selfish."

Mother Jone's latest issue: Politics 2.0, describes the technological revolution in politics. It also displays how a blog like the Daily Kos can influence thousands of people to email, call, write to their representatives, or just whoever the Daily Kos is angry with at the moment, subsequently stirring them into a frenzy. Someone tell me how this is different from Osama's call to arms. These people are becoming celebrities, they get paid and advise politicians. They are basically becoming the same people they despise - lobbyists and Republicans, and they also command a cadre of thousands.  Oh, and you think Cheney's a secretive creep?  Apparently, it's contagious.

Open-source politics is the idea that social networking and participatory technologies will revolutionize our ability to follow, support, and influence political campaigns. Forget party bosses in smoky backrooms—netroots evangelists and web consultants predict a wave of popular democracy as fundraisers meet on MySpace, YouTubers crank out attack ads, bloggers do oppo research, and cell-phone-activated flash mobs hold miniconventions in Second Life. The halls of power will belong to whoever can tap the passion of the online masses. That kid with a laptop has Karl Rove quaking in his boots. And if you believe that, we've got some leftover Pets.com stock to sell you.

Picnics, Games and Culture Shock

Parks Work to Tailor Services While Educating Immigrants on Rules

Feeling helpless, parks employees turned to their computers, Googling such terms as "Persian" and "holiday" and "spring." That's how they learned that on Sizdeh Bedar, a popular celebration in Iran, it's considered unlucky to stay indoors. Now each April, the park is ready with extra staff.

Parks are changing, too: Montgomery County built a cricket field for its Jamaican and Indian expats. Fairfax County is contemplating bigger picnic pavilions for Latino families, who tend to gather in large groups and stay longer. The Northern Virginia park authority plans to offer instant kimchi, a cabbage dish, alongside hot dogs at some of its snack stands to appeal to Korean golfers.

"It's about connections rather than enforcement," said John Berlin, program section manager for the Fairfax County Park Authority. "It's putting out the welcome mat to the international community, not just saying, 'Here's how we Americans do things.' "

The "Do As I Say, Not As I Do" law of the week, coming from the U.K. in a TIME Magazine article:
Hubble, Bubble, Hookah Trouble

Despite all the predictions of mass outrage, New York, Dublin and even Paris have adjusted to bans on smoking in public places with quiet resignation rather than rebellion. But with London's ban commencing this week, the city's sizable Muslim population will not easily accept the closure of their beloved shisha bars.

Café owners allied with El-Nour are lobbying for London to follow the example of New York, which made exceptions in its smoking ban for cigar rooms and hookah bars. They point out that the British ban already exempts private homes, hospitals, prisons, hotel bedrooms and, revealingly, the Houses of Parliament. If politicians can continue to puff away with impunity, they ask, why can't we?

Censorship:

I've included the article on the mosque debate because I consider attempts to stop it from being a built a form of censorship. Decide for yourself.  And Iran starting it's own English speaking station?  Anyone who has kept up with the news knows this is another scheme to divert Iranian attention away from their country's own pressing issues (which Achmadinajed is sorely at need to do.)

Germans Split Over a Mosque and the Role of Islam

Plans for what would be one of Germany’s largest mosques are rattling an ancient city to its foundations.

But the proposal has also drawn fierce criticism from a respected German-Jewish writer, Ralph Giordano, who said the mosque would be “an expression of the creeping Islamization of our land.” And he does not want to see women shrouded in veils on German streets, he said.

“For me, it is self-evident that the Muslims need to have a prestigious place of worship,” said Mr. Schramma, who belongs to the center-right Christian Democratic Union. “But it bothers me when people have lived here for 35 years and they don’t speak a single word of German.”

Cologne, with one of the largest Muslim populations of any German city, already has nearly 30 mosques. Most are in converted factories or warehouses, often tucked away in hidden courtyards, which has contributed to a sense that Muslims in Germany can worship only furtively.

But Mr. Broder said that his underlying message was valid, and that his stature as a writer gave him the standing to say it. “A mosque is more than a church or a synagogue,” he said. “It is a political statement.”

Trial in Editor’s Killing Opens, Testing Rule of Law in Turkey

Eighteen young men are charged in the assassination of the newspaper editor Hrant Dink, a Turkish citizen of Armenian descent, who was shot and killed in January.

The trial’s verdict will have broad implications for free speech. Ultranationalist Turks have used an article of the country’s criminal code that forbids “insulting Turkishness” to push the government to bring charges against Turkish writers, including Orhan Pamuk, the Nobel Prize-winning novelist. Mr. Dink received a suspended sentence under the statute. His supporters argue that a limp prosecution of his killing will embolden nationalists.

Orkut.com banned in the UAE

Dubai: Controversial website Orkut.com has been blocked in the UAE after Gulf News highlighted the concerns of readers that it contains sexually explicit material.

Iran Expands Role in Media, via Satellite and in English

Press TV, Iran’s new 24-hour English-language satellite television channel, which aims to compete with the BBC, CNN and Al Jazeera International, launched on Monday

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told the staff during an opening ceremony on Monday that the channel “should stay beside the oppressed people of the world,” the official Islamic Republic News Agency said.

“Broadcasting the truth immediately, providing precise analysis and exposing the plots of propaganda networks of the enemy is among your duties,” he was quoted as saying.

Looking Is Free

Vagabondblogger and Son went to the Khan today. We were suddenly suprised to find out that, "looking is free! looking is free! No charge for looking!"

Well, Alhamdulillah - Thanks to God- because I always thought there was a charge for looking (at least that's what I always tell Vagabondblogger Boss Man.)

And when asked, "Where are you from? Canada?"

"No. The U.S."

"Oh U.S! Howdy!" (Is Borat here somewhere? He must be hiding.)

"Where in U.S? My seester lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania!"

"Connecticut."

"Oh, Conneticut very good area." (Thumbs up.)

Here comes the onslaught, from all directions, of New York and many other State topics which end up being a muddled mess of simultaneous confusing conversations. And then one guy asks Number 1 Son, "Are you Egyptian? Look our skin is the same."

"No American. Greek American." (Yeah, we're the badasses that lost to the Persians - and they're the ones in a huff? Good thing Number 1 Son didn't have any imperfections at birth, or we would've had to throw him over the cliff - it's a Spartan tradition - you know - among those of us from the Peleponnesse. I didn't start it, okay.)

One thing's for sure - as usual - looking may be free, but picture taking has it's price, as with this hawker, (below) who insisted we smoke one, after taking his photo.

Sheesha anyone? (Yeah, that's a cigarette in one of the pipes.)


For some reason, Vagabondblogger no longer likes malls and that's becoming true of Souks and Bazaars, as well.