Back to Salik

The school holidays have come to an end; the summertime is over.

People are back in town, and the season has just started.

That means cars are back on the roads, and the routine has re-started, only that Salik is fully on the agenda.

What differences have you noted?

Only in the last few days, I see that Jumeirah Beach Road is busy at peak-hours, starting from Mercato onwards (heading towards Al Diyafah St). The "last free exits" are still as busy as ever, post-Salik.

Are the "alternative routes" getting more popular?

An Emirati Versifies His Way to Glory

Abu Dhabi: After 10 weeks of enthusiasm and live competition, Abdul Kareem Matouk, a UAE national poet, bagged the title of 'Prince of Poets' on Friday evening at Al Raha Theatre in Abu Dhabi.

Seawings is Flying !!!!!

Have a look at the New Seaplane, flying up and down the Jumeirah Coast Line....

See it at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATb3_Pd0Mlo

ART IN DUBAI

Hi

Is there anyone out there who has an interest in visual art and has an opinion on Art in Dubai?? I haven’t been here that long but have found a few of the galleries. If anyone has a recommendation or a particular favourite or even some aspect they don’t like or want improved I’d be really interested to hear. In fact any comments at all about Art in Dubai in general would be much appreciated!!

Thanks a lot
Nature Strikes Back.

Dubai community mourns tenor Pavarotti's death

"A minute's silence was held at The Music Institute in Dubai as part of residents' expression of shock and sadness at the death of Luciano Pavarotti, one of the greatest tenors of this generation early yesterday morning.
The 71-year-old died at his home in Modena (Italy) of complications following his battle against pancreatic cancer, two-and-a-half years after he visited Dubai as part of his farewell tour.
Pavarotti sang at the Madinat Arena event "Luciano Pavarotti: Ciao Dubai" on April 7, 2005 to the delight of fans." Article continues.

Registering Your Pets

I'm not sure how accurate this information is, but recently someone mentioned to me that you had to get your pets registered with the muncipality otherwise they would be picked up and put down if they didn't have tags on them. Does anyone have anymore information about this? And has anyone gotten their pets registered yet? [If you have, what was the procedure?]

My Cat has the tendency to run around in our garden and in our area. So I was getting worried.

Hmmmm....

-----Original Message-----
From: help@emirates.net.ae [mailto:help@emirates.net.ae]
Sent: 05 September 2007 XX:XX
To: XXXX XXXXX
Subject: Information about case 30XXXXX, 'Please unblock Facebook'

Dear Customer,

Thank you for contacting us, we are extremely sorry for the fact that the site you have requested ( www.facebook.com ) can not be unblocked.

Reason : Dating Website.

Once again we thank you for contacting us with your query and looking forward to serving you in the future. For any further clarification please contact Etisalat Customer Care Center.

Best regards,

Etisalat Customer Care Center
Tel: 101 (toll-free)
Email:help@eim.ae
URL:http://www.etisalat.ae

Serving you 24 hours, 7 days a week

------ End of Forwarded Message

Strangely enough, facebook is currently working this evening.

Singer Raja'a Bel Maleeh

Raja'a Bel Maleeh, a Moroccan singer with a huge UAE fan base, died last Sunday.

Raja'a, holding a UAE citizenship, was known for her popular "Khaleeji" (Gulf) hits, especially those written by the late President, H.H. Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

She was buried last Sunday after a long battle with cancer. She leaves behind a young son by the name of Omar.

She was only 45 when she died.

Courtesy Gulf News/pic Al Bayan (source)

For anti "Hijab"ies

A Part of Facebook is blocked

First of all, don't panic. :)

I emptied my browser's cache yesterday, and logged into facebook today to see that it looked like s#$t. Being a web developer, I tested the page to see what was wrong and it turned out that my browser wasn't loading the style sheets and javascript files, and other assets for facebook. But I could read everything fine, and I could post, etc.

The Reason ? http://static.ak.facebook.com is blocked. Accidentally, perhaps, I don't know. This blocked url usually serves the style sheets and script files that lays out facebook's content on your browser.

But if your browser has those files cached on your pc, then facebook should work fine for you ... for the time being. So, don't empty your browser cache ;)

Facebook Down?

Has the facebook website been down for the past few days or is it just me?
I seem to be able to access the website but most of the content does not load, thus making it inoperable.

Just wanted to see if this is etisalat dirty hands at work or just my IT illiteracy ;-)

The Migrant Professor

Back on August 20th the New York Times ran this article [ungated version here at IHT] on migrant professors in the UAE. An excerpt:

Then there is Peter Mitias, the migrant professor.

An economist with a Louisiana doctorate and a Mississippi drawl, he shocked his friends when he left a tenured job in Virginia for the American University of Sharjah, a school conjured from nothing by a sheik in the suburbs of Dubai. But when he lists the benefits of working abroad, Mr. Mitias crows.

He has free housing and utilities. (''Sweet!'') He has international experience on his résumé. (''Huge!'') He has cheap household help, good schools for his children and a BMW and a Mercedes he was able to buy by paying no income tax. Not to mention plenty of American fast food.

''Papa John's delivers to my house,'' he said. ''It's all here!''

This is migrant work, Ph.D.-style -- a lesson about labor, a comment on class, a window onto globalization and a phenomenon on the rise.
...
Mr. Mitias, a football-loving, squirrel-hunting, anything-but-alienated graduate of Louisiana State, has found himself the accidental internationalist, thrilling to possibilities he had not previously glimpsed.

He describes life abroad as a successive discovery of freedoms: freedom from taxes, freedom from mortgages, freedom from crime, freedom from the sex and violence his daughters would see on American television. He and his wife have taken them to places as different as London and Vietnam, and to Thailand three times. ''The world's at your fingertips,'' he said.
...
Mr. Mitias's favorite metaphor is a spinning globe. ''I could go to Europe. I could go to Asia. I could go to South America,'' he said.

Economists would say it's a truism. You may gripe about this or that about the place, but the reason you are here is that the UAE is best for you at this time. Otherwise you'd chosen somewhere else to be. Enjoy.

20 reasons against Dubai

This American lady, Kelly Barker, supposedly a UAE resident, has put together a list of 20 reasons why not to move to Dubai.
...oh yeah, she's got some good points!

DFM, DIFX, Borse Dubai - Who's Who ?!?

DFM is known to everyone and so is DIFX. But recently the media started talking about Borse Dubai. Some searches on the net pointed out Borse Dubai to be DIFX, until I found the website for Borse Dubai itself. According to the website of Borse Dubai is:

"Borse Dubai is the holding company for Dubai Financial Market (DFM) and Dubai International Financial Exchange (DIFX). Borse Dubai was created 6 August, 2007 to consolidate the Government of Dubai’s two stock exchanges as well as current investments in other exchanges, expanding Dubai’s position as a global capital market hub."

The site goes on to explain Dubai Financial Market as:

"The Dubai Financial Market (DFM) was established in March 2000 as a public institution having its own independent corporate body. It has recently turned itself into a public shareholding company and lists its shares on its own platform; a first in the region. Its goal is to create a fair, efficient, liquid and transparent marketplace that provides choices through the best utilization of available resources in order to serve all stakeholders. DFM is operating as a secondary market for trading of securities issued by public joint-stock companies, bonds issued by the Federal Government or any of the Local Governments and public institutions in the country, units of investment funds and any other financial instruments, local or foreign, which are accepted by the Market."

Dubai International Financial Exchange is introduced as:

" Launched in September 2005, the Dubai International Financial Exchange (DIFX) is the region’s first international exchange. A liquid and transparent electronic market with equities, Sukuk, conventional bonds and structured products, with standards comparable to those of leading international exchanges in New York, London and Hong Kong, the DIFX enables regional and international investors and issuers to share in the rapidly growing wealth of its region."

The most Interesting thing I noticed was the tag line on Borse Dubai's website

"Bridging Global Financial Markets- Connecting Liquidity" very interesting ain't it.

Comments welcome

Free Food Offer.....

Well last night as I walked to a restaurant to get dinner for my family I was offered food [lunch more like] by an Arab man. He seemed to be in his 30's, was driving a Toyota Land Cruiser[2005 model I think] with an Abu Dhabi number plate and had a female passenger with him. I was so surprised by this that I blurted out a hasty 'no' and walked off. This happened in the inner roads behind Renaissance hotel in Deira.

Later on I gave it a thought and could not conclude why this certain Arab behaved in such a manner. Maybe he thought I was a poor labourer without enough food to eat [I'm quite skinny] or maybe he saw hunger in my eyes when I glared at him while he took a U-turn while almost hitting the pavement I was walking on or he just wanted a good laugh. What ever the reason might be, it was weird. Maybe Dubai has indeed changed more than I thought.

Has something like this ever happened to anyone else??? or have I been the only fortunate one who has got such an offering. Hmmm...maybe I do look malnutritioned, time to hit that gym I've been planning for years... ;)