Blogosphere: March 13, 2007

Pick of the week

Standing out from the crowd
Something of interest I've been pondering lately is people and their mobiles. I know many people who go and spend a good 2-3 grand on their mobiles only to use a prepaid account; seriously, what's the point? Then you get the morons that pay 50 grand for a Vertu mobile and also have prepaid accounts. It got me thinking; how can you stand out in this day and age? I have the answer: A Thuraya satellite phone. Thuraya sell satellite phones that accept normal GSM sim-cards (but no one else has to know that). I could go and get a Thuraya mobile and walk around shopping centres with this bulky phone with its giant antenna and it'd mean I am the richest person around because everyone will think I'm paying something like $10-15 per minute to use the phone; an added bonus is that I can walk around shouting things like "Ahmad! Put the falcons on the jet and bring them to the palace!"
http://onebigconstructionsite.blogspot.com/index.html 

On top of the world
A couple of days ago I was fortunate enough to be invited to go up Emaar's incredible Burj Dubai Tower, which is currently undergoing construction. We went up to the 87th floor which is as high as the hoist on the outside of the building goes. Going up in the cage along the outside of the building was in itself quite exhilarating, definitely not a trip to go on if you don't like heights! From there to the higher floors you have to cross to other hoists that run up the middle of the building. We were not allowed to go any higher sadly as they were carrying out some welding works further up and the area was restricted.
The Burj Dubai currently stands at 110 storeys, which makes it, according to Emaar's website, the tallest building in the region and only one metre shorter than the Empire State Building. The final height of the building is a closely guarded secret and despite beating our host mercilessly he still wouldn't tell us! He did however divulge that they were about two-thirds of the way up.
http://halfmanhalfbeer.blogspot.com 


Dubai in rhythm
When you were at school, did the careers advisor ever suggest fiddle player as the foundation of an international career? Probably not. And yet, there are some very well travelled players out there with more airmiles in their account than this writer is likely to see?
So it was last night. Drums of the World at the Jazz Festival. Twenty seven people, from five continents, and what a glorious noise they made! Didgeridoo, mouth harp, bodhran, tabla - the instruments were as exotic and varied as their players. Delighted to see drummers from the UAE onstage, and intrigued at how different their rhythms were from those emanating from the other side of Africa, the Moroccan section. And how completely different again from the Jembe-wielding crew on the left. Add to that the Brazilians, the Jamaicans, the Indians, the Irish and Australians?
Julie-Anne O'Dell has achieved something quite remarkable here, a disparate troop of musicians which is her own instrument, an orchestra of drummers marching to a beat all her own. She conducted the whole ragtaggle group with confidence, passion and precision, and a masterful performance it was. This was real jazz, a group of talented players inspired by each other, by turns competing with and supporting their fellow performers, swapping phrases and rhythms and sending them back considered, embellished, enhanced.
http://eyeondubai.blogspot.com/index.html 
 
The old lady in decline
I live a stone's throw from Madinat Zayed Shopping Centre. It's well handy I can tell you, having such a variety of shops and a supermarket 2 minutes walk away.
Just recently, I've noticed how this obviously once proud shopping centre (one of the first "malls" in Abu Dhabi I believe) has declined. It's as if the city has neglected the "old lady" of malls, because there are new ones - so much bigger and better.I wonder what will become of the old lady of Abu Dhabi shopping malls? Will she slip further in decline, to end up as a derelict has been or will she end up being demolished in a few years time, to make way for either a newer/bigger/better mall or several towers of upmarket apartments? I wonder.
http://jaynewithawhy.blogspot.com/index.html 
 
Human shields
Following the "Hot Winter" operation on Nablus, the Israeli occupation forces is facing new allegations about the use of human shields in it's illegal operations.
Started with AP filming the IDF soldiers using locals as human shield during offensive on Nablus, more reports were published by The Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories (B'Tselem).
Testimonies taken by B'Tselem reveal that during the army's operation in Nablus in late February, soldiers used two Palestinian children, a fifteen-year-old boy and a eleven-year-old girl, and a twenty-four-year old man as human shields. The use of human shields constitutes a flagrant breach of international humanitarian law.
Israel will try to probe human shield allegations, one should remember that this is nothing new, and I don't think anyone will ever stop them from committing such crimes.
http://sabbah.biz/mt/