Eid Mubarak

photo link here.

All respect, and thanks to our leaders.

Eid Mubarak.

Eid Mubarak

According to Gulf News tomorrow is the first day of Eid.

Eid Mubarak, drive safe, and have a relaxing few days off.

REWARD OFFERED

I know there are several readers who reside in the heart of Abu Dhabi city, as I do. Many know of both mine & my husbands love of our Harley Davidson bikes. We pay for underground parking at Madinat Zayed Municipal car park, as do many other residents of the area. Someone it seems, doesn't like our bikes as they caused malicious damage - by means of an intentionally inflicted scratch - on the petrol tank of my husband's Softail Custom, whilst it was parked in the above mentioned car park.

I know it doesn't look much or 'that big a deal' in the photos, but to see it on the tank is blatantly obvious that someone intended to leave their 'signature'.

I'll offer a four figure sum as a reward for anyone who can give me information that will lead to a successful prosecution.

Many thanks

Jayne

Problems with Publishing Blogs

Do you guys face a problem when trying to publish a blog? It takes a few days to get an article published sometimes and others its on the spot. The only way to check if the blog is not erased / lost is to go the Dashboard area and look for it in the edit section. How do you fix this problem?

newsflash: fish eat other fish

"More than ten percent of the sharks in Dubai Aquarium's 10 million-litre aquarium have been killed in attacks that have marred the build-up to its grand opening on Oct 30.

Sand Tiger sharks have killed at least 40 smaller reef sharks and been aggressive towards divers working on final preparations in the giant tank.

The aquarium features the world's single largest school of sharks and the world's largest viewing platform. It is the centrepiece of the new 12 million sq ft Burj Dubai Mall.

Built to showcase one of the world's most diverse and exotic collections of marine animals, the aquarium is home to more than 33,000 living specimens.

A total of 85 species is represented, with over 400 sharks and rays considered the main attraction.

But the concentration of such a large number of sharks in a relatively small space has led to what some might have considered predictable problems for the Dubai Mall's management.

General manager Yousuf Al Ali admitted the world's most feared ocean predator had caused teething problems.

"It is inevitable that aquatic species die – sometimes out of natural causes or out of injuries inflicted by bigger fish species," he said.

"Sand Tiger sharks, by nature, are fish-eating. However, all sharks and other animals in the Dubai Aquarium & Discovery Centre at The Dubai Mall are currently on a monitored feeding schedule in order to subdue their naturally opportunistic behaviour and appetite."

more here

Dubai explosion

Quite a few people seem to have heard or felt the explosion in Dubai this morning.

It was nothing to worry about, I was caught up in the traffic closures around the event - a controlled explosion to demolish the towers that are making way for Dubai Pearl by the entrance to Palm Jumeirah.

They're now lying flat on the ground.

Atlantis - the Opulent

i love how the world cant get over the glitter that is Dubai.

here's a great story from The Daily Mail, titled "Inside the £800m Dubai hotel boasting a £13,000-a-night suite and dolphins flown in from the South Pacific".

you COULD just say "inside the Atlantis", but somehow i dont think that would hold as much weight. 

the story says:

It's the latest word in Gulf excess - a sprawling £800million resort boasting a £13,000-a-night suite and dolphins flown in from the South Pacific, all atop a palm tree-shaped island...

With its own oil reserves running dry, Dubai hopes to woo those eager to make money and those who know how to spend it - even as much of the global economy sours.

For years, the emirate - one of seven semi-independent states that make up the United Arab Emirates - has been feverishly building skyscrapers and luxury hotels.

A key piece of the strategy has been to cultivate an image in the West as a sun-kissed tourist destination despite its soaring summer heat, conservative Muslim society and relative dearth of historic sites.

if nothing else, the pictures are worth taking a look at.

AS/A Level tutor

If anyone has the contact information of a private tutor based in Dubai who can teach AS/A level psychology or media studies please give me an email on sam@samurai-sam.com

Young and Arab in Land of Mosques and Bars

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — In his old life in Cairo, Rami Galal knew his place and his fate: to become a maintenance man in a hotel, just like his father. But here, in glittering, manic Dubai, he is confronting the unsettling freedom to make his own choices.

Here Mr. Galal, 24, drinks beer almost every night and considers a young Russian prostitute his girlfriend. But he also makes it to work every morning, not something he could say when he lived back in Egypt. Everything is up to him, everything: what meals he eats, whether he goes to the mosque or a bar, who his friends are.

"I was more religious in Egypt," Mr. Galal said, taking a drag from yet another of his ever-burning Marlboros. "It is moving too fast here. In Egypt there is more time, they have more control over you. It's hard here. I hope to stop drinking beer; I know it's wrong. In Egypt, people keep you in check. Here, no one keeps you in check."

In Egypt, and across much of the Arab world, there is an Islamic revival being driven by young people, where faith and ritual are increasingly the cornerstone of identity. But that is not true amid the ethnic mix that is Dubai, where 80 percent of the people are expatriates, with 200 nationalities.

This economically vital, socially freewheeling yet unmistakably Muslim state has had a transforming effect on young men. Religion has become more of a personal choice and Islam less of a common bond than national identity.

Dubai is, in some ways, a vision of what the rest of the Arab world could become — if it offered comparable economic opportunity, insistence on following the law and tolerance for cultural diversity. In this environment, religion is not something young men turn to because it fills a void or because they are bowing to a collective demand. That, in turn, creates an atmosphere that is open not only to those inclined to a less observant way of life, but also to those who are more religious. In Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Algeria, a man with a long beard is often treated as an Islamist — and sometimes denied work. Not here in Dubai.

"Here, I can practice my religion in a natural and free way because it is a Muslim country and I can also achieve my ambition at work," said Ahmed Kassab, 30, an electrical engineer from Zagazig Egypt, who wears a long dark beard and has a prayer mark on his forehead. "People here judge the person based on productivity more than what he looks like. It's different in Egypt, of course."

To read the rest of the story, a blog on the subject and to view a slide show, go to:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/22/world/middleeast/22dubai.html?hp

What happens in Vegas

"What happens in Vegas" was quite an entertaining movie. But there's something equally entertaining as the movie and that is, what REALLY is happening in Vegas. This subject has already been talked about in this blog last year.
In the last 3 days, various international media such as Forbes, CNNmoney, Bloomberg and various Casino News-sites have posted updates on the Dubai investments in Vegas.

...sourced from onlinecasinoadvisory.com
Dubai has said that, in addition to their investment in MGM Mirage directly, they will also own 50 percent of the CityCenter condo/hotel casino and resort complex currently under construction.

Dubai World was given permission to raise its stake in MGM Mirage by various state gambling regulators, allowing the financial arm of the Dubai government to purchase up to 14.75 percent of the casino giant. Dubai World currently owns 9.4 percent of MGM.
New Jersey state regulators approved the possible transaction this week, following previous acceptance of the deal by officials in Michigan and Nevada. MGM Mirage stock rose almost 20 percent in response to the news, going from a price of $33.25 a share to $38.77.
Dubai may eventually increase its ownership of MGM to 20 percent, depending on further approval by Michigan regulators, who had ok'ed the move up to 14.75 percent in April.

..from AP
Steel work has been completed for the Aria Resort & Casino, the anchor property of its massive Citycenter development on the Las Vegas Strip. With 4,000 rooms in two 61-story towers, Aria is the largest of six towers that will hold the bulk of the 19 million-sf mini-city between the Bellagio and Monte Carlo resorts, which is set to open all at once in late 2009 at a cost of more than $11 billion.
Citycenter is a 50-50 joint venture of MGM Mirage and Dubai World, a Dubai government conglomerate whose companies include Nakheel, developer of the man-made Palm and World islands off the coast of Dubai. The project’s opening is now less than 16 months away. When it was 20 months out, about half of the 2,700 residential units had been sold and the mix of buyers has been about one-third Nevada, one-third from Southern California and one third international. About 10% of sales have come from the Middle East, a percentage MGM Mirage and Dubai World hopes will grow this year now that a sales center in Dubai is up and running.

..Ok then, I guess next will be the addition of direct flights from Dubai to Las Vegas on Emirates Airlines. And after that, we should soon see the announcement of the glamorous Dubai "Double Standard"-Awards which, because of popular demand, will be awarded twice yearly. The award will also see the creation of a special quality evalutation committee which will monitor and award new benchmarks for the industry, similar to the ISO.

Kalima Invites Americans to Nominate Literature for Translation into Arabic

Kalima has a great idea to "help build mutual understanding between the United States and the Arab World". It wants Americans to suggest "novels, poetry, and short stories" that "best capture American dreams, opportunities and challenges".

A similar question would be what Arabic novels, poetry and short stories should an American read?

Kalima is an initiative by the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture & Heritage that funds the translation of foreign writing into Arabic. The goal is to translate 100 titles per year.

The nomination form is here. Via Althouse.

Beggar caught trying to con top officer

Dubai: When a man approached Major General Khamis Mattar Al Mazeina, Dubai Police Deputy Commandant General, in a parking lot and showed him an ultrasound scan saying that he was very ill and needed money, the top officer got suspicious.

"When I read the medical reports, I found it was an ultrasound scan of a pregnancy," Al Mazeina said in a radio report. He called a patrol car and got the man arrested.

"Such people take advantage of the public's lack of knowledge," said Al Mazeina, adding that police arrested 65 beggars during the first 10 days of Ramadan.

taken from article here

Are forum operators responsible for content?

Muscati writes:

Without knowing the details of Oman's laws, I knew that keeping the topic on the forum would probably expose me personally, as OmanForum's administrator, to responsibility for publishing the article since similar to the case of Ali Al Rasdhi a few years ago, people who were attacked on the Sabla complained to the Public Prosecutor and the PA held the site's owner responsible. I took a quick decision and deleted the article in full. By the morning of the 20th of July, the article had been copied on other forums, most importantly Sablat Oman (www.omania2.net).

Last night I read on the Sabla that the public prosecutor's office had called in Ali Al Zuwaidi (known online as Bin Daris), the moderator of the Sabla's politics and economy forum, for investigation charging him with responsibility under Article 61 of the Telecommunication law (قانون الاتصالات) which makes website owners as well as moderators and administrators of forums responsible for the content published by their users.

Are there the same concerns for forum administrators in the UAE? What about, um, group blogs?

Facebook down?

Is Facebook down for anyone else today?

I checked at work, and it wasn't working. I thought they had blocked it at work again. But then I checked at home, and it's not working either. Anyone else having trouble?

Too Close for Comfort

The latest fire to make the news was in my building! This time in Abu Dhabi.

I arrived after the scene and describe what I witnessed, but full coverage is provided both in Gulf News and The National. The National's coverage, including video footage is quite amazing.

What is also amazing is how the emergency crews went into action--as the picture shows.

This probably would have been another tragedy with a body count had the emergency crews not been so well prepared.

Kudos to Abu Dhabi's emergency services.