Compare and contrast

Source: http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/1204/1204sp.htm

The Sheikhs of South Park

Anyone seen these ads for Air Arabia? (Click the image for a bigger version).



I'm guessing from left-to-right:

1. Oman
2. Egypt
3. Dubai
4. Kuwait
5. Morocco (?)
6. Turkey? Iran? India/A Sikh?!

The blocking of Blogger photos

As many of you may know - but lucky people in the free zones may not! - all photos posted to Blogger.com are blocked. Visit photos.blogger.com to see what I mean: the entire subdomain is blocked by the proxy.

This means that if you use blogger.com photos in your post, most of us are just seeing blue ?s or red Xs, depending on the browser.

So two suggestions:

1. For posting photos here and in your journal (if you have a big Dubai viewship, which most of us probably do), use an alternative free hosting service such as Photobucket.

2. We should possibly ask Etisalat to unblock the photos. Most probably the link is blocked because of a few rogue "inappropriate" pictures - but that is true of any hosting service, including the now-unblocked Friendster. If anyone has any ideas how to go about this, please do comment below.

Etisalat does provide a Feedback form but it is unclear whether "please unblock!" is a complaint, comment or inquiry.

King of Bahrain

I was in Bahrain this week, the government there just opened a new golf course. This picture hangs at the main entrance and it's huge (8 by 6 feet). I am not good with art but isn't it awful?

Wadi Wurrayah

Photo taken 1 Sep05.

The 2001 edition of UAE Off-Road Explorer describes Wadi Wurrayah this way:

one of the most popular places on the East Coast for picnickers and wadi bashers. The main pool [3 to 4m deep] and the 2.5m high waterfall that feeds it, are full of fresh water all year round. . . . at the time of writing the area was in an appalling state with a discouraging amount of litter and graffiti covering the rocks all around the pool.

I can report that nothing has changed. The photo above reveals the graffiti. The camera is more "kind" and not nearly so revealing of the litter around the pool and the bottom of the pool.

Untouched by man, Wurrayah would be a splendid place to visit. (Irony intended.) It is a place of great natural beauty - or, rather, it could be if man had more respect for nature. What is currently a national shame could be a national treasure to show off to visitors.

UPDATE: An excellent piece on the subject of litter in the UAE in Gulf News.

JC - http://emirateseconomist.blogspot.com

Al Shamil "increased" bandwidth

As people may remember, Etisalat recently gave a free upgrade to Al Shamil broadband users.

Now I've turned my modem on and off, as instructed, and then I went to test things at:
Bandwidth Speed Test

My results on (what should now be) a 1mbps connection:

Communications 273.6 kilobits per second
Storage 33.4 kilobytes per second
1MB file download 30.7 seconds
Subjective rating Mediocre

To compare, I got a friend in Media City to take the test:

Communications 555.5 kilobits per second
Storage 67.8 kilobytes per second
1MB file download 15.1 seconds
Subjective rating Not bad

It would be interesting to see other people's results. The test is free and takes literally two-clicks and no more than 30 seconds (just remember to select that you're in the Middle East). Anyone who does it, please post your results below mentioning what speed you are supposed to have - 256/512/1mb/2mb - and whether you're in Tecom or outside.

Traffic Stats for GoodlookiN!

Just wanted to share my blog traffic details for the month of August. Country wise breakup is on the blog itself. Number of visitors from the UAE has over taken the ones from the US for the first time last month :-)

please click on the image to see a larger version of the graph.

Blogrolling back up!

And some changes: the Blogroll was getting so long and unwieldy it's now been split into two groups:

UAE blogs
Blogs specifically about the UAE:
- what life is like here for expats and locals
- news about the UAE
- UAE issues and opinions

General blogs
Blogs by UAE bloggers:
- personal content
- poetry and writing
- philosophy, world views
- community blogs (like this one!)

If anyone feels their blog is on the wrong list, do comment below - the whole thing was so confusing and time-consuming that there are very likely to be errors/omissions/duplications.

And largely thanks to pixel8 we have half a dozen new blogs on the list!

Blogrolling problems

For some very odd reason, the UAE Community Blogroll has stopped working - it was how all the links to other people's blogs were displayed in the right hand column.

I have logged in to Blogrolling.com but get weird Fatal Errors there and can't add links. All the existing links seem to have vanished. Even registering a new account got the same errors. Until it gets sorted out - an email has been sent to Blogrolling about the problem - a list of some of the links has been pasted into the sidebar. It doesn't yet have every single UAE blog on it, but you can access the full list at Bloglines.

Do let us know if anyone's UAE blog isn't on that Bloglines list, and also if there are any new UAE blogs around that should be added.

Black Eyed Peas and a radio funk up

If anyone out there is knocking around with the Black Eyed Peas while they are in town this week, could you let us know their reaction when they take time off from their busy schedule to listen to Emirates Radio 1?

The station seems to take offence to the word 'funk'. Sorry [twists baseball cap sideways], 'phunk'.

So we have the lovely Fergie (who looks a lot better since she divorced Prince Andy and went to Fat Fighers) crooning: "No, no, no, no; don't [blank] with my heart."

Needless bit of censorship? Don't let the phunkers get you down.

Saudi women blamed for 50% of Kingdom's traffic accidents :: GN

link

As always, the comments section is open.

UPDATE: Arab News has more.

Try not to use the F-word after reading this

Khaleej times:

Government to introduce liberal oil price regime
By a staff reporter

4 September 2005



ABU DHABI — The government is considering introducing a liberal oil prices regime within the next six months. According to local newspaper Al Khaleej report, oil-marketing companies approached the government, demanding 100 per cent increase in the oil prices in one shot, though the government approved only a 50 per cent rise in two phases.


Last week, a 31.5 per cent hike was announced. The remaining increase would be made in the second phase, beginning early next year.

The objective behind the increase in oil prices is to bail out the loss-incurring oil marketing companies, who have long been complaining on the price-widening differential of their cost of purchase and the retail price.

[Checks date - not April 1st. Hmmm]

"A monthly magazine celebrating the lives of famous dead celebrities is to be launched across the region by Corporate Publishing International, Campaign Middle East can reveal. Called Goodbye, the “niche” publication is expected to hit the streets from the start of next month, priced around AED10 (US$2.70).

More here.

Try not to faint with delight...

...but Etisalat, recently much-reviled for their abysmal handling of the cable outage and refusal to compensate users for severely impaired service, are offering what must be the least spectacular FREE OFFER! ever made:

Free Password Resetting
In addition, you may also reset your lost/forgotten Internet password for free by clicking on the Account Management button shown above on the menu bar.

Wow. Resetting a password for free.

We are so, so lucky to have the privilege of being customers of such an amazing telco as Etisalat. The thought of their monopoly ever being cracked makes me literally weep.

Hornet's nest of UAE consumer reaction :: Khaleej Times

link

I find it interesting what causes a stir among UAE consumers:

Moza Muhairi, a UAE national woman, said that although she considers herself fashionable, she felt out of style when she first travelled to Europe and came across some of the famous brands that she had never heard of in Dubai.

“Flipping through some fashion magazines there like Vogue and others, I found several pages featuring advertisements for products from designers such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Christian Dior and others. When I returned, I asked my friends if they knew where I could find Louis Vuitton bags in Dubai and it took us some time to locate the outlets where the designer products are being sold,” she said, adding that she just wanted to make a comparison of the prices of bags.“I was really surprised to find that the brand, although international, is hardly heard of here."

Your No. 1 favourite newspaper says its "piece in which many consumers blamed the distributors and agents of these brands for failing to turn customers into loyal followers of the products they market, has evoked a strong reaction from readers, mostly women aspiring for that touch of class and style."