'Fair Housing' coming to Dubai

Justice is coming to Dubai's pricey housing market.

USA Today:

The tower, announced Wednesday, will use the Persian Gulf's abundant sunshine to power the building's slow rotation that brings it full circle once a week, said Nick Cooper, a British engineer designing the rotation mechanism.

"This will be a fair building," said Cooper, of M.G. Bennett and Associates Ltd. of Rotherham, England. "Everybody will have the same views for the same amount of time, so you won't have certain rooms with the best view."

The 80,000-ton building with 200 apartments will sit on a giant bearing 30 yards in diameter, coated with a nearly frictionless polymer, Cooper said. Twenty small electric engines will turn the building a few degrees each hour, Cooper said.

This isn't the only rotating building to discussed for the Emirates. Here's one that would revolve 8 times a day. Here's one designed for Dubai by Koolhaas. (Koolhaas is also doing an ec-friendly design for RAK which he says is now "'at the moment just an airstrip for Russian prostitutes." Did he get the project?) Then there's the rotating bed.

There are probably other examples.

Jumeira Islamic Learning Centre

JILC invite you to attend a talk at our premises in Um Suqeim1.
Date : Thursday 30/11/06
Time : 8.00pm
Title: Social Aspects of Islam

Tel & Fax : 04 394 94 61
Mail: sara_ina@yahoo.com
SMS: 050 6326937

Off topic

I've been reading Thomas C. Wolfe's "GOVERNING SOVIET JOURNALISM" -- it's a fascinating take on the history of the press during the Stalin/post-Stalin era. Check it out if you get a chance.

Comments are welcome over at BOBO OF ARABIA

Dubai covets Airbus stake

AN investment arm of the Dubai government confirmed yesterday it may sell part of its holding in Daimler Chrysler, fuelling speculation that the Arab state is poised to buy a stake in EADS, parent company of troubled plane maker Airbus.

Would make perfect sense for Emirates,"fly'em fly'em on our own flying carpets" and hey why not. But I wonder if it would strike some anti-trust controversies

Hmm...

Kinda boring round here ain't it?

Dubai's Tunnel of Death

If you think there are some bad drivers in Dubai, take a look at what is happening inside the Dubai Airport Tunnel.


The video is is not getting embedded here for some reason. Here is the direct You Tube link.

Jumeira Islamic Learning Centre

Jumeira Islamic Learning Centre is introducing a series of new classes for Spoken Arabic and Qur'an Reading.

Qur'an class for children
Days : Wednesday and Sunday
Timings: 4:00p.m.-5:00p.m.

Qur'an and Islamic Studies club for children
Day : Saturday
Timings : 10:00a.m-12:00p.m.

LEVEL(I) Spoken Arabic for adults
Days : Wednesday and Sunday
Duration: 6th January 2007-28th February 2007
Timings : 7:00p.m.-9:00p.m.

LEVEL(II) Spoken Arabic for adults
Days : Wednesday and Sunday
Duration: 6th January 2007-28th February 2007
Timings : 5:00p.m.-7:00p.m.

Other similar

More details:
JILC
Um Suqeim 1
Tel/Fax: 04 394 94 61
Email : sara_ina@yahoo.com
SMS : 050 632 69 37

Going "One" Better

ONE TV, or rather "Dubai ONE TV" recently changed their look. They re-did their adverts, their teasers, their logo and added more style to the rapidly improving channel. I am downright proud to say that the new look is funky and very, very professional. Gone are the Ch. 33 days that concentrated more on horse-racing and 'The Bold & The Beautiful', than good entertainment.

The whole 'red comma' effect is brilliant. The 'Matrix' hit-off of using the 'comma' as bullets is, more than anything, very professionally done, and downright cool. The whole trampoline and ribbon effect with the comma's and the 3-note ONE TV tune is quite awesome too, both looks-wise and brain-wise. Don't know what I am talking about? Check out the 'One TV' fillers - "ongoing entertainment" indeed.

And the channel is not just superficially efficient. They've bought rights for 'Desperate Housewives' and air a brilliant plethora of fascinating programs. Even though the addition of 'Desperate Housewives' was done a year later here than in the rest of the world, ONE TV succeeds in giving a holistic combination of entertainment to satisfy all needs, and what's even more worthy of a mention is that, these guys at ONE seem desperate to do better, and that's always good sign, ain't it?

The reason for this post - I was highly impressed by ONE, and maybe I really enjoyed today's 'Friends' episode aired on it. But none the less, ONE TV kicks MBC 4's ass, right now at least. As for the other Middle East channels, they are pretty poor in comparison, and have a lot to catch up on. Learn from the 'one' and the only pride-earner!

P.S. I am in no way affiliated to ONE TV, and in no way is this some publicity effort for them. My appreciation is genuine. And to add, even their website is brilliant.

Road Safety

In an attempt to lighten things up a bit . . . . I just saw this link to the BBC posted on a local chatboard. I don't think we'll be seeing a road safety campaign like this JUST yet in the UAE!

The Most Glorious Sons and Daughters of a Blog

The recent intrigue and suspense worthy of a James Bond flick has lead me to post here. I wish all the best to those facing the firing line, prison, torture and other mysterious happenings as a result of writing in this blog.

UAE credit bureau opens

"The UAE’s first credit bureau was officially launched today. Emcredit - the first independent credit information company in the UAE, opened its doors to offer technology-driven, credit reporting solutions that provide accurate credit information to lenders about borrowers.

Emcredit, a project initiated by the Department of Economic Development, Government of Dubai (DED) in 2003, was incorporated earlier this year as an independent enterprise, under the direction of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice-President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai. "

Well no doubt it is a timely move, but I wonder what will be its implications in a consumer hungry economy where the bulk of revenue is from tourism and tourists.

7DAYS Editorial

From 7DAYS -- Saturday, November 25th:

We take great offence at these allegations because we have the utmost respect for the President of the UAE, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan and everything that he does and represents.

To read the editorial, go HERE

To comment, go HERE

New policy

For the foreseeable future, we would like UAE community members to avoid posting topics likely to generate heated debate here at UAE community blog. The reason for this is the current shitstorm taking place at 7Days, which is putting news and community sites in general in the spotlight.

We unfortunately don't have time to moderate all your comments, and even if we could, it creates a very patchy and incoherent experience when some have to be deleted and others approved.

So as of now, if people could keep more controversial topics to their own blogs, it would be highly appreciated. What we will allow (a reversal of our normal policy) is for people to post a link to such an entry here, and turn the comments off here. It's then your responsibility who then visits your blog and what they comment here.

As many of you know, I loathe and despise censorship in all its forms. I believe it stifles debate and progress, and is one of the greatest evils of our time. But I also feel a duty towards the safety of moderators, members and anonymous commenters here, and that is why - for now - this decision has been taken.

Thank you all in advance for your observance.

The UAE could use...

... some smog-eating cement.

Via Fark.

Toll roads, Dubai

One of the topics at UAE community blog that generates lots of comments is on the subject of toll roads. Among the concerns raised is that it would be logistical nightmare if toll booths are installed. And if some roads are tolled and others are not congestion will shift to the "free" roads (if your time has value they ain't free). Dubai has been considering tolls for the last year or so.

As it happens, lots of other cities besides Dubai are considering road pricing at this time.

Yes, there are multiple shameless links to the Emirates Economist above.