Could Dubai Learn a Lesson from New Orleans?

"The broader WiFi system is an expansion of that network, using equipment from Silicon Valley-based Tropos Networks Inc. The system uses shoebox-sized devices mounted on streetlight posts to provide the wireless coverage. Some of the devices also beam the signal to existing fiber-optic trunk lines that connect the city to the Internet backbone. About 20 to 25 units are necessary to cover one square mile."

What this is all about is a system just put into place in post-Katrina New Orleans to provide free wireless connectivity to all. It's Mayor Nagin's idea of a way to boost interest in the city, business-wise and otherwise. Dubai, the city of innovation, would do well to take an idea like this and run with it!

Census: secod-rate and illtrate

Here's the census form. You may click it to see a bigger version:




Don't forget to answer all the questions correctly...




...if you can understand them, that is:

...

i am speechless. an instant sticking on the wall though.

DUBAI — Two UAE nationals — Ali S. A. (38) and Abdullah M. S. (30) — were sentenced to life imprisonment for shooting dead a Sudanese national Abdel Monaim M. Y., who claimed to be bullet proof, was shot in the stomach and the head, resulting in his death.

EDIT by secretdubai:

Helicopter Sighting

Helicopter sighted minutes ago (about 12:30 p.m.) hovering over Zayed University in Abu Dhabi. Don't know if it was trying to land, pick up someone, drop something off...? Door seemed to be open. It hovered perhaps 10 minutes then flew away. Any information, anyone? (Click on photos for larger view.)





Flying off...

lol.

In gulf news:

Abu Dhabi: The Ministry of Interior has categorically denied reports appearing in a section of the media that 26 individuals who were held at an alleged gay wedding have been subjected to hormonal or any other treatments.

"They [the arrrested individuals] have not been treated with hormones or any other medicines," the spokesman said. "What has been reported in the local and international media is wholly inaccurate."


7days, the same day:

Colonel Najm al-Sayar told Reuters the foreigners were likely to be deported while the locals, who are being held in the capital Abu Dhabi, would undergo hormonal therapy - most likely induced testosterone.

"They will be given psychological, medical and sociological treatment. Some of them will be given male hormones because some actually took female hormones," Sayar said.

Two Tales of One City

This is a must-read! S. Paradise: Does the Road to the Future End at Dubai? ~by Mike Davis (www.commondreams.org). I abbreviate the first word in the title because it gives away too much of the article's conclusion. It's better to read it and form your own opinion of which Dubai is the real Dubai. I think everyone can latch onto something in this article. Fans of Dubai will love the imagery of Dubai in 2010. Champions of the underprivaledged will applaud the stinging rebukes. I find myself nodding in agreement at nearly everything but finally feeling disappointed with the conclusions.

Instant messaging client of choice

A few weeks ago I had written about why I stopped using MSN Messenger as my instant messaging client of choice.

That does it. MSN Messenger is gone from my system and will never come back. RIP. That piece of crap has interfered enough during my chat sessions with colleagues, friend and loved ones.

I have been using Trillian now and am fairly happy with it. What instant messaging software do you use?

Another reason to prefer Emirates over Qantas

Airline Seating Policy 'Demonizes' Men -- 11/29/2005

The country is making money, but what about the laborers?

I return to this topic because of an interesting article in the Washington Post dated 02 November. No doubt, with all the attention Dubai is bringing upon itself with its building extravaganza, more and more people on the outside are finding out for the first time about the system of indentured labor here. This wider attention could mean we are at the beginning of the end of this abhorant practice. I have my own reflections on this issue, taking the perspective of the developer, builder and buyer. There are conscientious people among those who obviously benefit from the existence of cheap labor. My argument is that these people can do something without having to sacrafice their dream of building or living in palaces in the desert.

I would also add one caveat about the higher wages that I'd like to think we all believe the laborers should get. The irony is that it probably wouldn't do anything to improve their lifestyles here anyway. As can be seen in the UAE even "executive bachelors" with salaries of Dh2000-Dh3000, up to 4x what laborers earn, still choose to live in cramped, squalid accommodations, as their first priority is to repatriate as much money as possible. Well, that really is their choice, while it is still the obligation of employers to pay them a fair wage.

The latest from CNN (30-Nov-2005) and a host of other links on the topic. I believe the pressure is mounting and as the party with ultimate responsibility the UAE government will have to be more proactive on this issue.

seriously..

you know when things are going to be taken seriously by the world.
when they firstly appear on cnn.com, and when they are on the front page.




oh dear.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (Reuters) -- Men arrested at what a United Arab Emirates official said appeared to be a gay wedding are to be given hormone therapy, officials said on Tuesday

Break Over

Thanks to Samuraisam. It appears that he was correct and someone at blogger.com made a boo boo and deleted something important on my site, crashing the entire blog. Anyway, I fixed the problem (with no help from tech-support, except a bunch of frigging automated emails from them, that led nowhere) and the blog is back open to the public now...

thanx again Samurai ;)

pop up

pop up ad's. aren't they a pain?
my browser, maxthon, blocks out advertisements, and blocks pop-ups and counts how many have been blocked in the browser session.

Recently on visiting someone's blog (within uaecommunity), who will remain nameless; i was face to face with an infinite loop of pop-ups, i didn't actually see any, but take a look at my pop up counter before and after.
BEFORE:

AFTER:


i was also given several warnings about activeX plug-ins trying to take over my computer.

not everyone likes pop-ups (:, be friendly and ensure your blog doesn't infect people's computers.

Give me all your eggs and the basket

How things turn out to be the exact opposite of what you expect!

I had a "business" meeting today. The reason I put the word business in quotes is because it really was a business meeting. It would come as a shock for those who know me well. You see, I am the IT guy. I talk and breathe all things to do with computers.

But that is not the topic of this entry. The topic of this entry is what the title says. Give me all your eggs and the basket. That is exactly what the lady (she was da bomb) I met today wanted from me. 30 minutes of discussion revolving around that one sentence. It is funny how people expect us to provide everything to them and expect nothing in return. And they would talk so as-a-matter-of-fact-ly that it implies they are doing us a favor. Oh well. I guess this is how businesses work in Dubai.

US State Dept condemns U.A.E. arrest of homosexual couples

United States Condemns U.A.E. Arrest of Homosexual Couples

Is this not an example of the US imposing its cultural values on the rest of the world?

Meanwhile, 365g*y.c*m reports,

on Monday, Colonel Mohammed Ibrahim Al Hajiri, of the Public Relations Department, did not dispute the arrests and said the investigation is ongoing and that no official charges had been laid.

“The reports in local newspapers and foreign news agencies which quoted the Ministry of Interior on the issue of youths arrested in connection with a gay party is nothing but a personal analysis of the issue," said Col. Hajiri.

"It has nothing to do with the ongoing investigation of the accused. It is not necessarily the ministry’s opinion on the issue and does not represent the viewpoint of any of the authorities concerned.” Hajiri said.

Blat cat splat

Much as I greatly love cats and to a lesser extent 7Days, these headlines seem just a teensy little bit ill-juxtaposed: