Madonna visits Queen Rania in Jordan

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Apparently, Madonna has crossed over the dead sea on her trip to Israel to go visit Jordan. And who was there to receive her? None other than Queen Rania herself. This would be Madonna’s second reported visit to the Arab world. Back in the early 80s’ she went to Morocco to shoot something for a French TV channel and absolutely hated it. That is documented in Christopher Ciccone’s tell-all. That’s more than a quarter of a century ago.

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I got to my 50th country

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If you know me, you know that one of my foremost hobbies is travel. Many kinds, really. It’s up there with music and having an all-out good time. And if the three happen at the same time, it’s the epitome of grandness for me.

A couple of years back I was dancing the night away in London and I happened to bump into someone whom I didn’t know at the time but we shared the same love to a website that we both were members of. That website is Virtual Tourist, a no-jokes online review for the serious tourist. His name was Umer (who would later become a dear friend to me). We both have an unabashed passion for travel and escapism. At the time, he had just passed his 50-country mark and was very proud of it (currently, he is working on getting to a 100.) We were both the same age and I was very intrigued to reach that number. I used to travel as much as I do, but with not as much fervor to visit new and unexplored places.

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Mexico: Swine flu takes over, followed by earthquake

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mexicopork5As the world stays wide alert about this epidemic that is responsible for killing 50 a century ago and hopes it will not turn into a pandemic, the non-sensical conservatives are at it again. On one side the American conservatives are touting stricter border control regulations and a crackdown on immigration to curb this epidemic which has allegedly spread from Mexico. One the other, the islamist fundamentalists, beardists, fanatics or whatever you want to call them these days, are glorifying it as some sign from the heavens that pork is all kinds of evil.

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