Fly Ryanair if you want to go to the President's Wedding

I like Ryanair - they're cheap, have a good network of destinations, AND - they have a good sense of humour.
This was published in "Le Parisien" yesterday:


In case you've been off the planet for the past 2 months, this is the french playboy of a President Nicolas Sarkozy and his lady of the day, Italian model Carla Bruni. The thought bubble out of her head says "With Ryanair, all my family can come to my wedding!" - playing on the speculations that the happy couple is about to get married.
Bruni is suing for 500,000 euros, Sarkozy for 1 symbolic euro of compensations.

That a president would be in such a situation is... nationally shameful! Jeez!!
But thank you Sarko for the entertainment!!

Corruption in Cairo Airport... (this could almost sound like a bad film title, huh?)

I am back in Cairo, where I shipped back all my belongings. Funny how, after such a long time, all my CD collection is in the same country...

Because I had too much luggage I had to ship a 32kg bad of cloths and books to Cairo.

Went to pick it up from the “Cargo Village” at the Cairo Airport, which I assumed - oh, so wrong I were - that I’d be able to swiftly recover my stuff.

Long story short, I had to display serious anger, including a threat to go to the police - I never thought it’d work - to be ushered in to the big ‘me3allem’, the Padrino (Godfather) if you wish, of customs workers. Sitting comfortably on the same chair in the Cargo zone’s cafeteria he’s occupied for the past 47 years - he’s been there since 1961, which is prior to the establishment of the Airport Customs Police itself - haj Yehya (or me3allem Ye7ya), high on his chair, surrounded by his various aides and sipping coffee, took my passport with his gold-laden hands, told his ‘boys’, through his coffee and smoke-stained four teeth, to do a number of things here and there, had them bring me the papers to sign. He even offered me coffee.

The whole thing took less than an hour - but cost me about 400 Egyptian pounds (50 euros), which either went to bogus charges (including sales tax (!)), various bribes and ‘3ideyya’, and of course the ‘fees’ of the Padrino.

And here’s the kick, though. Of the 400 EP, the customs duty on my bag were 2.5 EP. 0.625% of what I paid. 99.375% went to either legal, or to somehow tolerated corruption.

I've always agreed that corruption is a serious development problem, but it feels different to see it. Now if I were a trader and had to follow imported goods, say weekly, and had to go through the bribes dance every time, it would soon be economy untenable. Not to say the ridiculous waste of time, crucial if we're talking about perishable goods.
Where does solving the problem start, though? Most of the poor sods who asked for mini-bribes receive a ridiculous monthly pay, surely insufficient to feed a whole family. But then again - where do you pay them from?

One thing that Padrino Yehya did right, though, and which is worth underlining - by centralising the work around his own persona (and his cafeteria chair), I didn't have to pay his boys or follow them around everywhere; I only paid him, in a centralised location, which saved me time; while he redistributed the money.

In a sense, he did what the government failed to do. (And in the process, earned the money that the government should've earned).

On a completely different note - I've recently Amistad, which I had never done before. Djimon Hounsou is majestic. A majestic slave. The irony. A particular nod of admiration to the mast/crucifixion symbolism - a little over the top, but beautiful nevertheless.

The Dishounourable Man

French foreign minister and man-who-used-to-have-morals Bernard Kouchner laying a wreath at the Rwandan Genocide Memorial in Kigali, on Holocaust Remembrance Day (Jan. 27th).


Given that France was financing and arming the genocidaire Hutu regime (or interim administration, to be more precise, since president Habyarimana had been murdered (his plane was shot down) at the eve of the genocide), and was covering for them in the Security Council, voting against the funding and mandate of the UN Mission for Rwanda (UNAMIR) and refusing the use of the word 'genocide' (what do you call 800 000 dead in 100 days, a fucking accident?), I think that the French government has a lot to expiate for. And since the foreign minister didn't even apologise - speaking only of 'France making a mistake' I think he shouldn't be let anywhere near the pure, blood-soaked soil of the little country.

Shame on you, Kouchner. You disgust me.

Gaza moves into Egypt

Well, at least half of Gaza, according to the UN, has crossed into Egypt.
While being a sovereignist and all that, and being a little irked (officially, at least) at the bulldozing of the Palestinian-Egyptian border by Palestinian activists, I can't blame them for a second.

Heck, if I were there, I'd have joined.

Think of the logistical nightmare for the Egyptian authorities, though. You've got a million persons pouring into your country. These people probably have family ties on your side of the border. They are emprisoned by a ruthless and illegal occupation force. They have no light, no food, no medicine, and are very quickly running out of hope. And the rest of the world is watching.

You've also got an increasingly angry population at home that is ready to snap if you make the wrong call - especially that they aren't allowed to object on local politics and have taken the habit of venting their anger on pan-Arab causes (Palestine, Iraq, Lebanon, etc.)

Then you have, well, the US and Israel on the other side.

What do you do?

Presidential Jokes - the English Version!

Better late than never, huh? :)


Pres goes to a primary school, and during the Q&A session a kid raises his hand and says:
"Hi, my name is Rami and I have four questions:
1- Why have you been Pres for the past 25 years?
2- How come you don't have a Deputy?
3- Why do your countries control everything in the country?
4- Why is the country's economic situation so lousy and you haven't done anything?

And just as Pres was about to answer, the recess bell rang.

After the kids returned from recess, another one raised hsi hand and said:

"Hi, my name is Tamer and I have 6 questions:
1- Why have you been Pres for the past 25 years?
2- How come you don't have a Deputy?
3- Why do your countries control everything in the country?
4- Why is the country's economic situation so lousy and you haven't done anything?
5- How come the recess bell rang half an hour earlier?
6- Where did my friend Rami disappear?

----------------------------
Pres: You know, Lucifer, I want to do something to the Egyptian people that would really screw them over!
Lucifer: Well, here's an idea: psss psss pss psss...
Pres: Naaaaaaaaaaaah. You're a loser, find me something better!
Lucifer: Okay, okay, so how about this: psss psss psss...
Pres: Nope, you whiny! I've got a good idea, this is what I'm gonna do to them: psss psss psss...
Lucifer: Dude, for God's sake, don't do THAT!!!

----------------------------
Pres: "Ahmed, tell me honestly - who's better, me or Gamal Abdel Nasser?
Ahmed: You, of course, Mr. President! Abdel Nasser feared the Russians - and you don't!
Pres: Hmm. So, who's better, me or Anwar El Sadat?
Ahmed: You, of course, Mr. President! Sadat feared the Americans - and you don't!
Pres: Good. Now, who's better - me or Omar Ibn El Khattab? (second Calife of Islam, a truly great man)
Ahmed: You, of course, Mr. President! Omar Ibn El Khattab feared God.. and you don't.

----------------------------
A guy finds Aladdin's lamp and rubs it. The genie asks him what he wishes:
Guy: "Well, I'd like a bridge that goes from Cairo to Rome".
Genie: "Dude, that's way too hard for me - ask for something else!"
Guy: "Okay. Well, I'd like the Pres to not be Pres anymore!"
Genie: "Hmm, and do you want this bridge to be three or six lanes?"

----------------------------
A guy is stuck in traffic, and suddenly someone knocks on the car's window:
- They kidnapped the Pres! And they're asking for a 10 billion dollars ransom, otherwise they'll soak him in gas and burn him... So we're gathering donations.
- And how much do people donate on average?
- 5 to 10 litres of gas.

We Want You (or rather, your stupid online avatar)

We knew that some people spent a huge time on virtual reality (VR) websites, of the type of 'Second Life' and the like. Living through their virtual avatars, which correct their every mistake and give them the body, the hair, the attitude or even the mansions they always dreamed (but were always too often online to have), even spending real money to buy virtual property (I'm amazed at how dumb people can be).

I'm not sure what happened but it's either that the mainstream people have actually become citizens of these VR websites, or if enterprises have started to recruit geeks who fear reality too much, but it seems that there's going to be an ONLINE RECRUITMENT FORUM on SECOND LIFE.
Yes, the caps were for shouting and yes, you heard me.
Avatars representing recruiters will be attracting online net-izens to their companies booths, and discuss with them their recruitment needs and career plans. Air France, Axa Insurance and l'Oreal will be game (literally).

Think what you want of it. Good idea to go bring those geeks where they are? a bad idea because people will blatantly lie (more than they do in real interviews?)

One thing is sure -- if I'm going there, I'll do something i always wanted to do in an interview: show a lot of cleavage. >:-)

Gaza Under Siege (yet again)

Seems that Gaza has become the world's most environment-friendly region, burning no energy whatsoever - well, because they pretty much don’t have any.

Gaza has been running on generators for the past three days, and that includes hospitals, which have become exactly like war zone clinics: not enough beds or medical supplies, and barely any electricity to keep people alive - which means no heating by night. And Gaza is cold in January. A local health official said hospitals faced a catastrophic choice between cutting "electricity on babies in the maternity ward or heart surgery patients" or stopping operating theatres.

Oh, and the Israeli Ministry of Defence spokesperson pretends that "If they shut it down, it's not because of a fuel shortage, but because they want to create the impression of a crisis”.

Gosh, I’m going to puke the lemon sorbet I just had.

The latest Bush visit to the region has been so insignificant that the only thing pundits found to discuss is why he stopped to listen to the US and Israeli anthems in the Tel-Aviv airport, while his protocol people striked out the same ceremony from his schedule in Palestine.

The overly-cheerful are glad he said that outposts must go - outposts being, well, the equivalent of Settlements to the Settlements, full of overly-zealous Jewish extremists who believe that not only the West Bank should belong to the Jewish people, but so should Jordan. Yalla. Not a word on the real settlements, though - ‘il va de soi’ that these are okay.

Should we feel insulted? Nah. Not worth it. We should, however, raise hell over the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Seriously.

UPDATE -- For those in Palestine and in Israel, a convoy will head to Gaza on Saturday the 26th, bringing water, filters, and other emergency goods. More info on http://www.end-gaza-siege.ps/IndexEn.htm

A guide into the $100 Oil. Rule #1: Don't panic (updated)

BBC News reported on a guy at the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) who purposefully sold a lot of oil barrels at a loss to push the prices just above 100$ - or, in the words of another trader, "He paid $600 for the right to tell his grandchildren that he was the first in the world to buy $100 oil."

The reason I find the story interesting is that, beyond being amusing, it means that the $100 mark is only that: a mark. It’s no different than it being $111 or $50, it was just a nice round figure.

Nothing to panic about, basically.

Why are prices increasing then? It’s surely not the maneuvers of a lone trader playing around. It’s violence in Pakistan and in Algeria, instability in Nigeria, war in Iraq, rigged elections in Russia. But that’s marginal, and essentially circumstantial. More importantly though, it’s a (still) strong US economy, and booming -very, very booming - Chinese and Indian demands. And until the demand slows or the supply increases, we’re heading in the same increasing direction. Nothing strange - it’s just supply and demand...

Are the prices this ginormous? Hmmm, not totally. In PPP adjusted dollars, we’re still below prices in 1981. Call it a $100 or £51, the numeric value is secondary.

Who’s to blame? It’s easy to bitch about OPEC hiking prices - even though they control less than 40% of the world supply, and that countries like Russia and Norway can very, very easily send prices in either direction. OPEC (and its big guy, Saudi Arabia) is under a lot of pressure from importing countries to keep pumping - even if it runs against their own interests. In a word: OPEC is helpless.

A final thing, because I’m tired of hearing people bitching about ‘those Arabians who charge us $4 a gallon (of gas)” (real quote). A barrel of oil is 159 litres. Even at $100 the barrel, it’s still less that a buck a litre.
Now tell me how much is a litre of Coca-Cola - at the cheapest, a dollar?

Comparing relative importance for the world economy, well, when Coca-Cola Inc. stops charging more than Oil for its sugary beverage, we’ll talk.

UPDATE -- I just got these numbers yesterday: in France, 75% of the price of gasoil is TAXES - which is an income of 17 BILLION euros per year.

Stop blaming the producers, for fuck's sake.

Presidential Jokes

Une fois n'est pas coutume.. I couldn't help but post these recycled, but ever amusing Presidential jokes in arabic. Presidential means that they poke fun at the country's Big Boss -- and since he's been around since before I was born, well, so have the jokes. But they still work like fire, baby! Might attempt to translate a couple of them in English or French if there's enough popular demand.. Enjoy.

مره حسنى مبارك راح مدرسه ابتدائى فلما جت فتره الاسئله ولد رفع ايده
مبارك ساله اسمك ايه فقاله رامى فقاله ايه سؤالك يا رامى ؟
رامى : انا عندى اربع أسئلة
1- ليه انت رئيس بقالك 25 سنه ؟
2- لسه معينتش نائب ؟
3- ليه ولادك ماسكين كل حاجه فى البلد ؟
4- ليه مصر حالتها الاقتصاديه زفت و انت مبتعملش حاجه؟
ساعتها بالظبط رن جرس الراحه وبعد الراحه رجع مبارك وقال احنا كنا فين بقى؟

مين عنده سؤال؟
ولد صغير تانى رفع ايده فمبارك سأله اسمك ايه قاله تامر فقاله سؤالك ايه يا تامر ؟
تامر : انا عندى 6 اسئله
1- ليه انت رئيس بقالك 25 سنه ؟
2- لسه معينتش نائب ؟
3- ليه ولادك ماسكين كل حاجه فى البلد ؟
4- ليه مصر حالتها الاقتصاديه زفت و انت مبتعملش حاجه؟
5- ليه جرس الراحه رن ربع ساعه بدرى ؟
6- وبعدين فين رامى ؟؟؟؟؟؟
--------------------------------------

مبارك : عارف يا ابليس ياخويا, انا عاوز اعمل في الشعب المصري حركه تطلع من نافوخهم
أبليس : طب هات ودنك وخد الفكره دي .....وش وش وش وش
مبارك : لالا يا ابليس الفكره دي مش نافعه , عاوز حاجه أشد
أبليس : طب خد دي ...... وش وش وش وش
مبارك : لالا , برضه مش نافعه , ايه يا ابليس انت بقيت خرع كده ليه , هات بقه ودنك وانا اقولك انا نويت اعمل فيهم ايه
وش وش وش وش وش
ابليس : لا يا راجل حرام عليك

----------------------------------------
واحد اتحشر في زحمة المرور فلقى واحد بيخبطله على شباك السيارة
فتح الشباك و سأله عايز ايه
قاله : الرئيس حسنى مبارك خطفوه و الفدية 5$مليون دولار
و لو الفدية ماتدفعتش .. الخاطفين هددوا يدلقوا عليه بنزين و يولعوا فيه
و احنا بنجمع تبرعات .. تحب تشارك ؟
الرجل سأل: " و في المتوسط الناس بتتبرع بكام"
الرجل الثاني : " من 5 الى 10 لتر بنزين
------------------------------------
مرة سيادة الريس مد إيده في جيبه لقي 5 مليون جنيه!!
فزعل قوي وخاف وقال: إيه الفلوس دي الفلوس دي حرام؟
فسأل أحد مساعديه فدله على طريق الشيخ طنطاوي
رئيس الأزهر وقال له: اسأل الشيخ وهو يقول لك الحل .
ما كدبش خبر وجري على طنطاوي وحكا له القصة فرد:
5 مليون بس .. إيه النزاهة دي؟
دي بسيطة خالص يا ريس ما تزعلش نفسك؟
كل اللي هتعمله هتروح تستغفر ربنا بالطواف حوالين الكعبة، لفة لكل مليون جنيه وخلاص .
الريس راح لقي عمنا صفوت فقال له: أنت بتعمل إيه هنا؟
أنت هتلف كام لفة؟
عمنا صفوت :78 لفة .
الريس: يخرب بيتك؟ ده أنت خربت البلد !!
عمنا صفوت: أنت جاي علي انا؟ روح شوف علاء ابنك جايب
موتوسيكل وبقاله 3 أيام بيلف
-------------------------------------
كان فى سرير المرض حينما أخذ يلقى بوصاياه الأخيرة
لوزيره نظيف :
- وصيتك الحكم من بعدى يا احمد ..
- فى رقبتى يا ريس .. كله تمام والسلطة هياخدها جمال ..
(ثم راح فى غيبوبة .. أفاق منها بعد قليل )
- وصيتك الشعب من بعدى يا احمد .
- ما تخافش يا ريس .. الشعب ياكل الزلط ...
( ثم راح فى غيبوبة .. أفاق منها بعد قليل )
- احمد
- نعم يا ريس؟
- ماتنساش .. توكيل الزلط لعلاء
-----------------------------------------
كان حسني مبارك بيخطب في الشعب .. فكل شويه واحد يقوم ويقول
عاش حسني مبارك موحد الاديان ويقعد
يروح حسني مكمل كلامه وشويه ويقوم الراجل
ويقول عاش حسني مبارك موحد الاديان
فااتمسك امن دوله وطااااااااخ ويقولوله ايه الي انت
بتقوله دا ازاي موحد الاديان
دي مصر فيها مسيحين ويهود ومسلمين وطااااااخ
فرد عليهم يا باشا ماهوه اللي مكفرنا كلنا
----------------------------------
بيقولك واحد تانى لقى الفانوس السحرى ودعكه طلعله العفريت
وقاله:شبيك لبيك تطلب أيه؟
قاله الراجل: أنا عايز كوبرى بين القاهره وأسوان
العفريت قاله: دى صعبه قوى .. نقى حاجه تانيه
الراجل قاله:خلاص خلى حسنى مبارك يسيب الحكم
العفريت قاله:أنت عايز الكوبرى رايح جاى ولا رايح بس
--------------------------------
إخبرنى بصراحة يا نظيف ولا داعى للمجاملة أو النفاق .
نظيف : أمرك يا ريس
الريس : أنا الأفضل ولا عبدالناصر ؟
نظيف : انت طبعا يا ريس .. جمال مين اللى كان بيخاف من الروس !!
الريس : طيب أنا الأفضل ولا السادات ؟
نظيف : سادات مين ياريس اللى كان بيخاف من الأمريكان !!
الريس : طيب أنا الأفضل ولا عمر بن الخطاب ؟
نظيف : انت طبعا يا ريس .. عمر بن الخطاب كان بيخاف من ربنا .. انت لأ

Sarko, pieds a l'eau

Je trouve la saga Sarkozy-Bruni extremement divertissante. Et je ne suis pas le seul: les Italiens suivent avec la ferveur d’un feuilleton mexicain les histoires de Carla Bruni, qui, je cite, 'se tapait' un Président. Quant à moi, je leur suis reconnaissant de donner un petit coup de pouce médiatique à l’Egypte, scène de leurs vacances de Noël (et peut-etre, cours la rumeur, d’une bague de fiançailles ? Perpétuons la rumeur ! :)

Le problème, par contre, c’est que ce n’est pas une histoire classique de presse-pipole - c’est tout de meme le Président de la Republique française. Et quand ce président se fait suivre par des paparazzi qui n’ont pas eu le temps de changer leur bobine de pellicule après la photo-shoot de Lorie, il reprend les memes pages qu’elle occupait dans les magazines ados et autres tabloids. Le Pres a déjà fait la couverture du Paris Match 6 fois depuis son election.

Un président très polarisant, d’ailleurs, adulé par la moitié de son peuple, détesté par l’autre. Aujourd’hui, il embarrasse la première moitié, qui du coup devient plus critique de ses promesses électorales, tout en faisant le bonheur de la seconde, en lui offrant un beau cadeau de Noël.

Si on rajoute à ses escapades romantiques le fait que ses promesses electorales ne sont pas proche d’aboutir (croissance au dessous de la moyenne de la zone euro, deficit historique de la balance commerciale hors-energie, politique européenne distante...), on ne s’étonne pas que sa cote de popularité passe en dessous des 50%.

L’édito du Monde avait raison, en titrant « Le Roi est nu ». Et ce en plein hiver. Sarko a interet à se couvrir, et pas seulement avec Carla Bruni, on voit à travers.

Welcome to yet another African mess - I name, Kenya

When I was in Italy I bought The Economist (issue of 22 Dec 07) to read on board of all my trains (I also bought a French tabloid magazine that I hid inside it, but its articles are of less interest for this blog. Except the one on Sarkozy and Bruni, but that’s another article).

Its ‘Leaders’ section had an article titled “for all its flaws, an example to others” on the Kenyan elections, which optimistically concluded that “but if a country as complex and poor as Kenya can hold genuine elections without civil strife, then any country in Africa can. This is its chance to set an example”.

I sighed and scratched my unshaved beard. The author must be high on Christmas punch - that’s not the way it works, my friend.

Now, we have a full-blown humanitarian crisis, a health crisis ‘within days’, people burning others to death.

What happened in these elections? We’ll never know for sure - but we can give educated guesses.

On one side, Ladies and Gentlemen, in the blue shorts: outgoing president Mwai Kibaki, 76, from the largest ethnicity of the country - Kikuyu - with a tight grip on power, including, well, the media and the judiciary. Pretty.

On the other side, in red shorts: Raila Odinga, 62, from a minority tribe (the Luo), a wee bit of a populist but still apparently more appealing to the Kenyans than Kibaki.

Kibaki is declared the winner. Anything else would’ve surprised me. A few fiery political speeches afterwards, with each candidate declaring they won, it’s time for violence, yippee! And it’s not just political - it’s also ethnic. And that’s more scary.

The world is not very proactive, but well, as proactive as they can be for an African country (RIP, Rwanda...). the US sends their Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs (do we remember how useful the person was in Rwanda? Hmm? Well, he was pointless.) the UN Sec Gen digs up the dialing code of the Kenya and speaks to both leaders.

Kouchner, in an expression of how wrong he is for the post of French minister of foreign affairs, bluntly states that the elections are rigged, then goes back to jerking off. (they may be rigged, but a MoFA shouldn’t shout it like a fat kid at the sight of a cupcake…)

Now that we have 180.000 displaced people, people burning in their houses, spreading violence - hellooo, humanitarian crisis.

Gosh I hope this isn’t the model for Africa we’ve been hoping for.

Why do I feel that a country this ethnically heterogeneous is bound to be a political mess?

My Kosovo Politics - Meeting the President, and other random tales

I realise I’ve been blogging about my latest trips in disorder, with some Italy posts taking precedence on Kosova stories despite the inverse time sequence. Oh well.

My last day in Kosova was really surprising - and a fantastic closing to my trip there.

My friend Tony - who will someday be Kosova’s President, remember you read it here first - is quite a political rising star (you can see his campaign website here) and he was invited to a political reception to Prishtina. And he secured an extra invitation for his humble guest - yours truly.

And I found myself dressing into a suit of Tony’s - and Tony is larger than me so I was kinda floating in his clothes - and shipped to the Nation's capital (Prishtina), where I was ushered the celebration of the 18th anniversary of the Democratic League of Kosovo, the country’s ruling party (and that of former iconic president Ibrahim Rugova (in the poster to the right), to whose grave I paid respects the day before).
And I got to meet a bunch of fantastically brilliant young politicians, theoretically peers of mine but light-years ahead of me in terms of experience and political maturity, with whom I made some small talk, and discussed the recent events (mainly the round of negotiations on the Status of Kosovo held at the UN in NYC, which have failed in the narrow sense - no outcome or agreement - but have succeeded in cementing international support for the cause of Kosovo’s independence) as well as other world events.

And I got to meet the President, Fatmir Sejdiu who is indeed a charming person and who took the time to ask me (in flawless English) about my impressions about Kosovo. And we took a photo.
Pretty cool, huh??

The event was rather smallish and throughout the whole thing my job has just been to not look too stupid whenever Tony introduced me to this or that political figure (almost all - or rather all of whom - I didn’t know, of course), reply gracefully, comment nicely on their beautiful country, make 3 sentences of small talk and give an intelligent and short answer when asked a direct question by Minister X or Parliamentarian Z.

I felt that I was a fairly singular case of “Sois belle (beau!) et tais toi” - “be pretty and shut up”, which is essentially the job of any good political wife!!
It doesn’t help that I helped Tony choose his shirt and tie before the event...

After the event - which ended with an electricity shortage, typical Kosova... we went to a nearby café with some of this young political A-team of Kosovo.

And me, who was coming for some family holidays and some unique sightseeing, had found myself joining these guys around a Schweppes in discussing the development of the Party in light of the recent elections (where the LDK suffered a serious setback). Seriously, it was PHENOMENAL.
I was connecting with these young politicians, who considered me as a friend and listened carefully to my humble (and sometimes misplaced) opinions, and who are shaping the present and the future of a country in the making, setting the bases for its political identity - and doing so fantastically well.

The kind of things that really made me want to move back to Cairo and jump head first into politics. I know I could - I have the brains for it and I love my country. As I recall these events now to write this post, I twitch my hands a little as I relive this rush of political stamina.

I was wishing I was a Kosovar, involved in shaping the future of my country. I guess we'll get around this in Egypt someday soon.
I guess I should start planning my campaign sometime soon! If anyone out there has a moment to help.. :)