Reuse
I took this picture of Gulf News’ Good Living coupon books that I received last year. I’ve converted the package into a remote control holder. In most homes, remote controls are the worst thing to have, especially when you have children as they tend to lose them. There is no proper place to keep them all in one place. We have a television, DVD player, satellite receiver and gaming consoles, and they all have remote controls. My family wanted to throw away last year’s Good Living package as we received 2012’s books, but I thought it would be a good idea to use it as a remote control holder. This is practical recycling that might encourage other environmentally-friendly Gulf News readers.
From Mr Imran O. Kazmi
Dubai

Whistle-blowing
With the latest revealing of confidential diplomatic cables, Julian Assange of WikiLeaks is again in the headlines (‘WikiLeaks exposes shady world of private intelligence firms’, Gulf News, February 28). Even though the actual content of the so-called cables has not been disclosed yet, the repeated action shows that the US cannot do much to prevent the exposure of confidential information happening between high-level contacts. In the past, the revealings pointed to the fact that some of the recent happenings in the world were due to intelligence’s failures. Meanwhile, the true intentions of whistle-blowing websites are debatable. Although it is termed as spying and an intrusion of privacy, it again questions the danger of handling data that is of a sensitive nature. As far as ordinary people are concerned, such information does not carry much weight, but do help groups that act against nature and humanity.
From Mr Ramachandran Nair
Oman

Going the extra mile
I wish to extend my heartiest congratulations to the five women and Abdul Aziz for their commendable work (‘Activists honoured for charity work’, Gulf News, March 1). I always read with great interest the work Saher Shaikh is doing for charity. I would also like to commend Aisha Kelaif for her marvellous work with animals. I came to know Aisha personally in 2009 when I was diagnosed with cancer and on my doctor’s advice had to give up my beloved cat for adoption.

I was looking for a good home and learnt about her from a report published in Gulf News and through them I contacted her. She was kind and invited my husband and son to first go and see her place and if they found it suitable to take the cat in, which they did. Later after my recovery I visited her a few times and saw first-hand the remarkable work she was doing with animals. At that time all the animals were in her house in Al Barsha and looked after by her and her staff in an exceptionally well kept and clean environment. Being an animal lover I admire the wonderful work that she is doing for the welfare of animals and wish her and the others continued success.
From Ms Umbereen Rahman
Dubai

Waste of time
Seven and half hours on Facebook (‘Google+ users spending less time on site ‘, Gulf News, February 29)? Somehow I am finding it very difficult to digest. This is ridiculous. This doesn’t mean that I am against Facebook but my point is that it is not worth spending that much time on it. I am not denying the fact that Facebook helps in connecting people, as without it keeping in touch with schoolmates, college mates, childhood friends and relatives would be impossible.

A lot of information can also be shared through social networking sites but having said that, how many people are using their social network accounts wisely? It is debatable as I see many children online all the time — this is actually a distraction. By doing so they are playing with their valuable time and by the time they realise it, it will be too late. My only worry about the younger generation is that they don’t care about killing time or getting hooked on to these social networking sites. As it is, there is no time for them to study or do something creative as television and video games are taking a major portion of their precious time. So we can imagine that with the influence of social networking sites our children will have no time for their studies.
From Mr Shivshankar K. T.
Dubai
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Silence
Prayers and thoughts go out to the brave people of Syria who are witnessing nasty atrocities on a daily basis while the world keeps silent (‘UN urges world action to end Syrian atrocities’, Gulf News, February 29).
From Mr Sami
Dubai
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