HNK

@tfarhat @cbonneauimages 💯 beautifully phrased

Courtney, stay the course. Ignore the critics; you are documenting history in the making. Be safe—the current climate is a dangerous one, but justice has a long memory. Lebanon has suffered since 1948, but its people are descendants of the great Amorite and Phoenician civilizations. They are as permanent as the landscape. Just as the trees and plants inevitably reclaim the mountains, valleys, and the banks of the Litani and Orontes, these people will survive, return, and prevail.

Last night was the most violent night of Israeli bombing in this same area of Chemaa, Mansouri and Al Bayyada. I have become used to it and can usually sleep through the bombing, but last night it was relentless. It continued until dawn.

@cbonneauimages Thank you Courtney for your outstanding, brave and unparalleled reporting.

@ProfSirera @docakx @drkeithsiau Fascinating anecdote on “paradigm shift” - beautiful example. Did not know. Thank you. Reminds me of the “5-fold symmetry” taboo on crystalline structure - forbidden symmetry. We know how that ended.

His discovery was rejected. His experiments were dangerous. His conclusions contradicted everything chemists believed. But, he was right. At the beginning of the 19th century, Friedrich Sertürner isolated a crystalline compound from opium that would not only become the first modern analgesic, but also overturn one of the central assumptions of medicinal chemistry… He named it Morphium, after Morpheus, the Greek god of dreams. What is critical here is not only the pharmacological activity, but the chemical nature of the compound. At that time, the prevailing paradigm in pharmacognosy and early organic chemistry held that the “active principles” of medicinal plants were acidic in nature. This belief derived from earlier successes in isolating organic acids such as tartaric and citric acid, which reinforced a reductionist but ultimately flawed framework: biological activity was assumed to correlate with acidity. Sertürner’s compound directly contradicted this dogma. Morphine was not an acid—it was a basic, nitrogen-containing molecule, inaugurating what would later be defined as the class of alkaloids. This was a profound epistemological shift: it established that plant bioactivity could reside in organic bases, thereby expanding the chemical landscape of pharmacologically active compounds. Equally transformative was the fact that Sertürner isolated morphine in a pure, crystalline form. For the first time, a drug derived from a plant could be quantified, titrated, and administered with controlled dosing. This marked a decisive transition from empirical phytotherapy—where variability in plant extracts led to unpredictable effects—to a proto-pharmacological model grounded in dose–response relationships. Sertürner himself explored these relationships experimentally, in a manner that today would raise serious ethical concerns but was methodologically revealing. He conducted self-experiments and trials on acquaintances, administering measured doses of morphine. Through these observations, he described a clear dose-dependent progression of effects: at lower doses, morphine induced euphoria and analgesia; as the dose increased, these effects transitioned into dizziness and somnolence; and with approximately doubled concentrations, profound sedation and sleep ensued. These observations constitute one of the earliest documented characterizations of a graded pharmacodynamic response, anticipating the modern concept of therapeutic windows and toxicity thresholds. Despite the robustness of his findings, Sertürner’s initial publications were met with skepticism and even rejection. His conclusions challenged entrenched chemical doctrine, and the notion that a basic compound could be the principal active agent of opium was considered implausible. The resistance he encountered reflects the inertia of scientific paradigms: evidence alone is often insufficient when it conflicts with established theoretical frameworks. Only after repeated publications, broader dissemination, and independent confirmation did the scientific community begin to accept his work. The implications were far-reaching. Morphine became the prototype for a new class of compounds, and its discovery catalyzed the isolation of other alkaloids such as quinine, strychnine, and caffeine. More importantly, it established a new principle: that specific physiological effects can be attributed to discrete, chemically defined molecules, whose activity depends on dose and molecular structure. Thus, the isolation of morphine was not simply the discovery of a powerful analgesic—it was the collapse of a chemical dogma and the birth of molecular pharmacology. It redefined how drugs were conceptualized, studied, and administered, and it introduced a quantitative, experimental approach that remains foundational in biomedical science.

@karimbitar @almodononline Dr Bitar , do you agree with his assessment ?

🇮🇱 🇱🇧 أمين عيسى: أهداف إسرائيل في لبنان ليست تلك المعلنة almodon.com/politics/2026/… "بعد عملية 7 تشرين الأول 2023 وتدخل حزب الله، لم يعد لإسرائيل خيار سوى تطبيق خططها الرامية إلى تفكيك لبنان. وفعالية صواريخ حزب الله على القرار الإسرائيلي بوقف العدوان شبه معدومة." @almodononline

@sawaya_nicolas U make a powerful point. The land is our soul and blood. As Che Guevara said in the shortest ever UN speech “homeland or death”. We prefer a peaceful solution. Reaching the Litani is not a forgone conclusion. It will be a bloodbath. Let us hope for a diplomatic solution.

Lebanese have lived on their ancestral lands for literally thousands of years. Throughout history, they've persevered through hundreds of wars, invasions and occupations, and have continued to live on their land, despite the enormous hardships incurred. Borders may have changed dozens of times over the course of history, but the people have remained, steadfast on their land. This is not meant to romanticize misery and suffering but to remind folks, especially non-Lebanese observers (but also some Lebanese unfortunately), that just because Israel has declared its intentions of ethnically cleansing and (permanently) occupying (or even annexing) South Lebanon doesn't mean they'll be victorious. Yes, Lebanon is facing a genocidal war machine, but people assuming Israeli success are significantly underestimating the deep-rooted connection (Southern) Lebanese have with their land, their villages, and their way of life. Israel will have a far tougher fight on their hands than many assume, and will face fierce resistance against their project as long as one Israeli boot remains on Lebanese soil. They don't get to erase thousands of years of uninterrupted life on these lands just like that.

@sawaya_nicolas @Levantinette 💯

@youssepina @Leyla_journal Because they were not targeted !! I knew someone was going to ask that question.

@Leyla_journal إسألي حالك ليش الدروز والسنّة والمسيحيين ما تركوا ضيعهم في الجنوب وبعدهم في بيوتهم صامدين.

ولو قطعتُم كلِّ الطّرْق فإنا للجنوب وإنا إليه راجعون ❤️

@Leyla_journal “ The impediment is the way” - Marcus Aurelius, who by the way visited us and left a bas relief inscription at Nahr al Kalb (Lycos River), Lebanon.

@Beirutspring This is fine graining … coarse grain and outlook is different. Inshallah !!

🇱🇧 Lebanese history: Step 1: New beginning. New hope. This time things will be different Step 2: Crazy sh*t comes out of nowhere and f*cks everything up Step 3: Go back to step 1

@Math_files Hereditary genius - to adopt a phrase from Galton !! Not sure if you mentioned Nicolas - and marginal utility !!

@AmiDar These “hate” posts are just nonsense background noise;meaningless in the scheme of things;filter out and keep your positive message/energy. Sub specie aeternetatis (under the aspect of long term, these hateful posts are blips) - a Baruch Spinoza aphorism that has helped me cope.

@sami_bey2 On a positive note … as bad as things may appear - we shall rise again, as we have done many times before.

مسكينة يا بيروت كنتي باريس الشرق الاوسط صرتي عاصمة نزوح المتوالي. #اوقفوا_مشروع_الكارينتينا

@AmiDar @SaraAfshar Nauseating. Catastrophic. Despicable !! Lost for words. What’s wrong with peace ?

@karimbitar Option 1 - I guess is best option for us. What do you think Dr Bitar ?

“Wherever this conflict goes, the Lebanese people will pay the highest price, trapped again in a geopolitical contest they didn’t start and feel powerless to stop” independent.co.uk/news/world/mid… “3 scenarios: -a limited ground operation -a war of attrition -a major war and reoccupation”

@BeirutCalling @andreas_krieg Classic Deleuze rhizomal model !!

Another good story from Reuters, describing how the IRGC reorganized Hezbollah’s military command after the 2024 conflict, including making it a more decentralized organization. With a comment by @andreas_krieg, arguing the decentralized model they've now implemented “is also a bit more like what Hezbollah looked like in ⁠the 1980s—very small cells.” reuters.com/world/middle-e…

@alon_mizrahi Alon - if you are online, what is your take on situation in South Lebanon border ??

Excellent, excellent breakdown of current Iranian missile tactic

@ejmalrai Dr Magnier, What is exactly happening in the villages at the border of S Lebanon ?

The IRGC is firing missile in open field, with no missiles anti-air protection, on Tel Aviv, while Hezbollah has also coordinated the launching of missiles on the northern parts occupied by Israeli settlers.

@karimbitar @mahamyahya Dr Bitar What do you think ? Is this plan feasible ? Tough question. Your expertise is salient now more than ever before.

“Israel's Right Pushes to Expand Borders and Settle Lebanon What was once considered a far-fetched initiative has turned into a systematic campaign supported by lawmakers and the right-wing press: expansion of Israel as far as the Litani” via @mahamyahya haaretz.com/israel-news/is…

@lindaxie So non computational/non-algorithmic !! Aha moment … ORCH OR - quantum collapse !!

The further I get in studying electromagnetism the more I realize I need to improve mentally rotating 3d visualizations in my head better. It's not something I've really trained much. Going to practice on Rubik's cube (no algo) and origami (no instructions) daily to strengthen

@sonukg4india Love these new diagrams - beautiful handwriting, authentic.

The figure of mathematics