Blogosphere: September 18, 2006

PICK OF THE WEEK

Blame the Brits
I know, it's hot and sunny, sand is blowing in your face, but still, I feel that there is a hidden hand of a Brit around my neck. Perhaps because it is school time.

I hate it, the books, the curriculum, the sticky tack all of it is the Britishers' fault. When will we break free?

It's bad enough that we have door handles from England, wooden doors from England, and the long on wind, short on delivery National Literacy Strategies, National Numeracy Strategy- NLS and NNS respectively.

But do you need it in a land where the main activity is shopping, playing video games, and staring into space for hours on end? Do you need in it a country that has a marginally viable citizenry who can't do anything for it's country without a permission and info sheet from the US, UK or EU?
http://uaemalumat.blogspot.com/

Yes to women
Males out number females in Dubai ... you don't need to see the latest statistics released by the Municipality, to prove it either. Just walk in to any bar or club and do a head count (no pun intended), and you will find that women are hard to find.

When I go out, the ratio is usually 4 guys to 1 girl (me)...in the club its more like 5 or 6 guys to a girl. There is even a rule here (at most clubs) that males must be accompanied by a female in order to enter the establishment...it's not uncommon for girls to be asked to enter a club by a random guy, just so that he can get into the place.

Female friends are very valuable to guys as well, ‘cause they can count on them to get themselves or other guy friends into a club. The only way guys get in without girls, is if they have reserved a table for that evening, and that gets very expensive... I used to think the rule was stupid, but after a year of observation, I have come to appreciate it; if it wasn't enforced, clubs would be ... completely unbearable for females.
http://ergo-urbanite82.blogspot.com/

The African coke
Just when you thought Gaddafi was losing his sense of humour…

According to the Italian news agency Adnkronos International, Colonel Gaddafi claims Coca-Cola is African. And he wants a share of the company's profit on every can or bottle sold across the continent.

“The essential ingredients for Coca Cola come from African plants and so compensation must be paid to us,'' Gaddafi said at a meeting marking the seventh anniversary of the African Union.

The folks at Coke headquarters wouldn't comment directly on the Libyan leader's claim, but said African bottlers are already making money from company products.
http://www.black-iris.com/

Pope: For and against
It's funny how some people are wondering why Muslims are reacting the way they are toward the Pope's latest comments ... well let me tell you why; It's because the comments came from the POPE!

Those comments weren't made by some low life, fame-seeking newspaper editor. They came from the highest Christian authority on the planet.

When this whole Danish cartoon thing broke off, I was extremely against the way the Muslim masses reacted to it for many reasons. Mainly, because the perpetrators were not even worth a fragment of the attention they received.
But this case is different.
http://dubaiconsumermirror.blogspot.com/

I'm not usually one to prognosticate, but let me give it a shot here:

The Pope — all Germanic and much more hardcore than John Paul — will probably not offer a personal apology.

qually hardcore Islamists will begin screaming for a boycott of something, let's say for the sake of argument it's Italian olive oil — because as we all know — hardcore Islamists are unable to distinguish the difference between NEWSPAPER CARTOONS and CHEESE.

Even after this, the Pope will probably still not apologise.

Then someone somewhere — probably Pakistan — will start a riot and burn down a KFC. Hundreds of people will perish in the ensuing rampage and Italian olive oil (or whatever) sales will plummet.

It is at that point that the Pope will issue a clarification which will be interpreted as a complete and total victory over Crusaders and Zionists — sort of like the way having most of Southern Lebanon destroyed is defined as victory.

It sounds crazy, but it's true. Every time a bunch of religious fanatics in this part of the world gets a hair up their collective a**, a Pakistani KFC gets burned to the ground — which, by the way is usually owned by a Pakistani and not some greedy American imperialist.
http://bloodredcoast.blogspot.com/

It is with great disgust that we received the news of the unwise “quotations'' in Pope Benedict's speech in Bavaria. That was in poor taste, your eminence. Really now, let us not quote and attempt to deceive by wrapping opinions in other people's lips — dead people's lips.

After reading three books over the weekend, I can confirm that I feel slightly brighter. I wonder how many books his eminence has read about, say, Christian history or cats or automobiles or, maybe even Islam. Hmm… Quite a thought.
I just pray my Catholic friends are not disturbed by this eminent mistake, as a matter of fact; I shall call them all tonight and try to console them.
http://www.tololy.com/2006/09/16/a-thought-on-the-popes-reading-list/

A university is a place to explore ideas

I get the sense that not one of the protesting Muslims has any idea of the context in which the Pope uttered those words (indeed there were questions on the UAE Community blog as to where and when these words had come from).

Well, he was not standing on his balcony or at a pulpit. The offending words were said as part of a private lecture at a University — they were quoted from a historical source and were not intended to represent the thoughts of the Pontiff himself.

The lecture is densely theological, and I've included the full text of it below. If you can understand it, good on yer!

As I understand it, El Papa is arguing for rationality and reason in religion, as opposed to blind faith and authoritarianism. He also spends quite a lot of time slagging off the Ancient Greeks, but I'm not hearing any protests from them. I will admit that his first example was a very bad choice (he would, perhaps, have been better off citing the Spanish Inquisition — the Catholic Church has not exactly been squeaky-clean throughout the centuries).

But here's the point. If an academic cannot be free to expound, explore and explain controversial ideas in the context of an institute of learning, where can he do it? Every day, throughout the world, words are written and spoken in the name of learning that will undoubtedly cause great offence to someone, somewhere. It's that old freedom of speech thing again.
http://webmasterdubai.blogspot.com/