Home for the holidays

It's the weekend again (last one for November?!) after another terribly busy week of conference going and putting out fires at work.  We had U.S. Thanksgiving Day dinner with friends followed by playing Wii's Guitar Hero game.  Lots of fun!  Unfortunately my hockey team continues to lose.  Maybe it was from listening to the game online at work for the first time this season. 

Next week will be a short 1-2 day work week.  We have our ID card appt on Dec. 1 but it could take less than 30 minutes or hours.  It depends on the competence of the ID card people.  We gave up with the Post Office mailing back our barcodes since it's been over a month now.  I've not posted any stories this time about the continued ID card snafu.  It's redundant to point out the incredible mess that the media has reported and not reported.  There are some interesting blogs about people's experiences with trying to register.  All you can do is shake your head at the whole affair. 

Then we will relax at home for the UAE's National Day and EID breaks.  We're looking forward to catching up on reading, watching dvds and trying to play our dumbeks.  A lot of street and building holiday decorations were turned on today so it looks quite festive outside.  Hopefully it will dry out a little bit more so that we can leave our apartment windows open for more than just a few hours... 



Beware, snakes on our beaches

Atlantis opening sparks party fever


Abu Dhabi University aims high

Alcohol stores get stricter on licences

"I love the Emirates" campaign promotes identity and culture

Hummer driver gets ten years for murder

Hotels told pollution is excessive


QE2 arrives in Dubai to start new life

Property firms cut 600 jobs


Khalifa identifies UAE's key concerns

no end to UAE ID card registration mess

The weather continues to cool off and dry out so night walking is more enjoyable now.  We have a hunch that either our apartment or the entire building's electrical outlets are defective.  We've had to buy a second portable vacuum cleaner, a third coffee grinder, and a second floor lamp because of electrical problems.  The motors and lamp simply shorted out and now our upright vacuum's motor was found to be defective.  Hopefully ADNOC's housing people can diagnose the problem.  Luckily our computers and stereo systems haven't been affected.  They've been plugged in using power bars although we've had those short out too. 

As usual the national ID card registration fiasco has continued with the media reporting more critical stories of the bureaucratic mess.  We're 99.99% sure that the first time that the new registration deadline for skilled expat workers was reported to the public in Arabic and English was in mid October.  The government says that it was July.  If the authorities follow through with their plans to suspend government services to over 300,000 people that logistically can't register before Dec. 31 then the UAE will be (to put it mildly) in big trouble.  See the first article below. 

So it's now been three weeks since we submitted our forms for phase one of the registration process.  We were assured that this no hassle process was to take less than one week - hence the 40 AED fee.  The good news is that the holidays are fast approaching so some of our time off from work, can be spent looking for a Plan B and Plan C. 

Otherwise life is okay - routine but never boring.  Work is hectic as usual due to juggling multiple projects because of continued staff shortages.  I will attend a two day conference in Sharjah next weekend.  We both hope to catch up more on reading our backlog of books and watching dvds during the long December break.  It's been fun downloading free iPod Touch apps including one for IMing.  We also downloaded Google's new VOIP chat and it surprisingly works for Macs (unlike Yahoo Messenger). 

At current rate, 350,000 will miss deadline

Telling it like it is.....or not

Over 75,000 ID forms distributed by UAE post offices in four weeks

Abu Dhabi to counter downturn with Western tourist

UAE takes stock of major projects

Ballooning US debt threat to Gulf economies

Price fall in prestigious developments

Surf the internet for free while you smell the roses in Abu Dhabi 


Parking free for all to be eliminated

Canadian supplier to import high end halal bison and elk

Dubai car park baffles drivers

the never ending national ID card registration saga....

Another month flew by and we're now into November.  The month got off to a good start with the election of Barack Obama.  I'm cautiously optimistic that he can make headway with issues in the Middle East.  Unfortunately the UAE's major snafu with national ID cards has worsened.  We naively thought that using the Post Office would save us time.  It did not.  Two weeks later and the bureaucrats don't know where are forms are. Hurry up and wait we've been told.  The media has become very critical of the registration process as it affects about half a million skilled expats here.  The Dec. 31 deadline looms....I've posted some stories about it below.  So we decided to cancel plans to travel to Morocco as it's too risky to be gone for half the month of December. 

My work has rearranged its bus routes so despite the pick up time being the same (6:45 am) my stop is now the first.  The good thing is I can get my own seat.  The bad news is that the ride to work takes almost one hour.  We cover about half of the city now with picking up people.  But I sleep most of the way to work.   I prefer working later in the day so I'm able to take the 8:15 am bus three times a week.  It doesn't take as long to get to work which is good.  So between working later and working out twice a week I get home every day at 6:15 pm.

We're going back to our usual spot on the Corniche public beach on Saturday as it's been three weeks since we were last there.  We'd both like to take Christmas Day off and spend the day there.  We can bring our new portable iPod speaker and play Christmas music on the beach!  The weather has cooled off and I've walked a few times outside at night.  Unfortunately it's still too humid to open the windows.


One voice to cut through confusion

Bank access could depend on ID card
 
Identity card chaos makes deadline an impossibility
 
ID card registration strain
 
UAE tops league of wasteful countries
 
Measuring the family footprint
 
Mega-mall opens with high hopes
 
Taxi call centre opens in Abu Dhabi

Ban on old cars to improve air quality significantly

Increasing number converting to Islam

Date changed for Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

The frustration of being a bidoon

Registering for the new UAE identity card

The weather has definitely cooled and dried out over the last week.  So I've done a few walks along the Corniche at night.   The big news event this past week was the sudden announcement by the government to change the deadline for skilled expatriate workers to register for the new national smart card from 2010 to Dec. 31 of this year.  UAE nationals had until the end of 2008 to register for the card.  We had known about the new card for over a year.  The two year deadline in conjunction with employers *likely* being responsible for getting the cards for its employees were somewhat reassuring.  But this new development has resulted in a mad panic for hundreds of thousands of people to register.  A few articles below discuss the ordeal plus there is the usual assortment of fun articles.

One identity card, multiple uses

ID card deadline brought forward

Why the rush?

Crowds overwhelm ID card registration centres

Six New Parks Planned in Abu Dhabi - wow!

Outside and online: capital to offer free internet in parks - wow again!

Through child's eyes, director shows UAE's dizzying transformation

Warning on gap in climate research

Water price should go up says scientist

Experts invited to guide capital city's green plan

Cheetahs to roam free on island

Second annual camel festival aims to preserve UAE's rich cultural heritage - a related story says that a pure bred camel featured in a beauty contest was purchased for almost 3 million US dollars!

Comedians explore the Muslim experience

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

Yesterday we bought a Bose portable speaker system for my iPod Touch.  The Bose store also gave us a free carrying bag.  The sound is great and it's so neat now to have all our music on our iPod (backed up of course!) and hear it on such a small system! It was not cheap but it's definitely worth the price.

Today we went with friends to visit the annual ADIHEX show.  There was still the heritage area but it seemed to be overshadowed by the massive gun exhibits.  It wasn't like that last year.  It was weird to be holding a Kalashnikov rifle.  Can you buy those at gun shows in the U.S.?  I don't see the connection that gun has with hunting - unless it's people and not animals! One neat area was the pimped out dune buggies.

Monday is Thanksgiving Day in Canada so we're celebrating it on Sunday at a hotel.  The Abu Dhabi Canadian Business Council is helping organize it.  Below is the usual assortment of stories from our neck of the woods. 


Abu Dhabi to host final GP of 2009

Khoury launches NYU cultural season - I attended this and although I hadn't ready the book I found the lecture quite interesting.  Turnout was about 50...


Thanks but no tanks, Sammy says - this is unbelievable....


Dubai's new dream hotel has a nightmare opening week - serves them right - see above story

Last Arabian leopard may have left the UAE - how sad - makes me think of the BBC produced Planet Earth
series and the fragility of nature and animals. See the story below too

Conservation is an endangered activity 

Cartoon star is face of Dubai - what?!  why not Freej or Ajaaj?

Genetic disorders afflict Arab world - this is still a somewhat taboo topic here.

Masdar to harness electricity from exercise

Dubai's new terminal 3 unveiled - the world's largest airport terminal building - yet another milestone for Dubai!

Palm Deira blueprint unveiled

Cityscape: Nakheel aims for the sky -  buildings over 2 km high?!!!!

Adventurers head for Abu Dhabi

Authority to tackle culture differences

Doctor calls for open play spaces - the last sentence is so true....

Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce urges rent caps due to shortages

Enjoying the EID break....

Not much exciting to talk about. We're into the second day of our EID break and it's been nice to sleep in, browse the web, watch movies and read.  We've made no plans for the week so we don't have to rush to do anything - very therapeutic!  We'd like to visit the new public beach on the corniche but we'll have to wait until EID officially begins (Oct 1 hopefully). Then we can have a picnic outside during the day.  Back to reading my books and playing games on my iPod!  
 
Emirati Iftar Experience for Expatriates in the UAE

Economy Needs More Graduates

Ease Yourself Into EID Feasting, health experts advise 

Challenge Lies Ahead, says rights report

Accounts Differ on Human Rights

High Rate of Divorce Costing Dh807m


Counsellor Treating More Cases of Business Burnout


Abdullah Addresses the United Nations

New Signs Baffle Dubai Drivers - It would be more logical to also publish new maps with the sign changes and have a huge marketing campaign.  Is Abu Dhabi next?

Store prepare for EID shopping spree - now read the next article!

Holy Month straying from tradition - interesting contrast to the previous article

No Tension with UAE says Iranian President

Cultural Tourists Key to Economy

Socked in by dust and sand from Saudi Arabia

It's the end of another hectic work week.  Darcy has been unwell for most of the week by a stomach bug.  I've not been 100% either but hopefully she will be well enough to relax for two nights at the Bab Al Shams Desert Resort Hotel this weekend.  We leave on Friday and the dust and sand storms are supposed to subside by then.  I've been able to work slightly shorter hours during Ramadan and Darcy has been working six hour days.  She'll get one week off for Eid while my work hasn't posted its schedule yet.  Hopefully we'll get time off from work to take a two week trip to Morocco during the first two weeks in December!

Below are stories from what's been going on in our neck of the woods.....

Police to enforce key-cutting permits Just what we need - more bureaucracy!  I've gone to the store that's mentioned in this article.  There is a tiny key cutting store in a run down walk apartment that is across our street.  I wonder how this law will affect them.

New logo for 2030 plan

Gulf real estate a stable investment unless crisis hits, says official - hmmm....there's no real estate market bubble in the GCC?

Isolated students enjoy free flights

Ramadan violators penalised Dh1,000 - I'm tired of tourists complaining about not knowing what the basic laws are here.  Reading a Lonely Planet book will explain the important dos and donts when visiting or living in the UAE.  A no brainer is don't eat, drink or smoke in public during the day during Ramadan whether you're Muslim or not!

Love of homeland grew overseas
More tremors felt in Emirates

Keeping it oud school

Trying to relax during Ramadan

Luckily I've been able to work a couple of normal 6 hour work days during Ramadan.  Unfortunately I also caught a cold.  There are a lot of sick people as fasting all day and a lack of sleep for a month can wreak havoc on your body.  Not much exciting news has happened here besides finding out where I can get our vacuum cleaner serviced.  It's always an adventure to find a store here because there are no street addresses. We did not feel the earthquake or its aftershocks.  That's a good thing. 

We have gone out three times for Iftar now.  Twice to a friend's place and last night at the Emirates Palace.  All were very enjoyable and we had way too much to eat!  I just learned that the new iPod Touch has been unveiled.   Darcy says she wants one for Christmas.  We're looking forward to our two night weekend getaway next week at the Bab Al Shams Desert Resort.  They have a Ramadan special until the end of September.  We also need to start planning our proposed trip to Morocco in December. 

Below is the usual list of selected stories that we've found on our RSS feeds....

Who speaks for Islam: Part II

The changing face of tradition

Vimto's appeal is undiluted - I love this drink!

Text messaging spikes 84% first day of Ramadan

Malls cater with late hours for Ramadan

University warns of overexpansion

Festival draws region’s talent to capital

Building a city from the sands

Author laments architect’s departure

Survey recognises Abu Dhabi’s environmental credentials

Buildings cleared as tremors hit UAE - fortunately we didn't feel anything but we have noticed a few hairline cracks in our walls....

Increased seismic activity in Iran could affect fault zones in UAE

Selling the Abu Dhabi dream

Emiratisation and the curse of entitlement

Abu Dhabi TV takes tribes series off air

Bidoon offered chance of citizenship
 
Registration plan for stateless

Khalifa urges promotion of moderate Islam
 
Crisis looms in Sharjah
 
Adnec green move fruitful
 
Ringtone menace upsets worshippers in UAE mosques
 
Abu Dhabi residents getting an earful from construction
 

approaching Ramadan...

Getting back into my daily morning stretching routine and having a few TCM and chiro treatments have helped my back and left leg in the last two weeks. I have to drive to Sharjah on Sunday - ugh! It's about a two hour drive but the traffic is horrendous. I hope that I make the right turn off to take the shortcut. Otherwise I will be very late.


We were invited to a brunch at a hotel here. Most Western hotels have Friday brunches with all you can eat buffets and some, including ours, offer bottomless champaigne. But they charge for water! So Ramadan is expected to start on Sept. 1. Business hours are reduced as Muslims fast during the day and also pray and read the Koran. So Darcy and I will work 9 to 3 which will be nice.

We didn't get our $600 USD economic stimulus package cheque from the IRS. I didn't expect to get one but I guess it was because I still file tax returns. Let's hope that the IRS receives my request to send another cheque. They said that it would take 6 weeks.

Below is the weekly roundup of interesting news stories......


Imams meet authorities to set holy month objectives

Job training for Emiratis ‘fails in key subjects’

Iran blames ‘big powers’ for island dispute

Forgotten cemeteries lie in disrepair

Cemetery is a mystery

Mark of faith sparks debate

Tall, blonde and ‘evil’: Barbie bedevils Iran
 
Paid parking waiting for green light - uh oh - we're going to have to start paying to park our car on the street

How to register for UAE national ID cards - guess we'll have to get our new cards soon

President defends relevancy of foreign universities - interesting stories about the tremendous growth of higher ed and the challenges that it faces

Universities warned against chasing student ‘gold rush’

At branch campuses, whose roots?

Brand UAE: only the best will do

UAE wants end to red tape in all govt depts - good luck!

With no will there is no easy way - hmmm....see the above article about simplifying bureaucratic procedures...

Struggling to get back into the routine

I hate IE! It crashed as I was writing my latest blog post and I forgot to draft it in Word. So I have to start from scratch again. Of course Word is prone to crashing too so I have to remember to save every couple of minutes.

Anyway we’ve been home for almost one week now and we’re catching up on our sleep. It’s been easier waking up for work as I’ve been up before 5:30 am. But I get dozy in mid afternoon. My sciatica really bothered me upon returning home. Spending 19 hours in planes on our way home was not good for my wonky back and left leg. But having an accupuncture, cupping and massage at my neighborhood Chinese place did wonders. Plus resuming my daily morning yoga stretches have helped.

Adjusting to work was difficult and I had to teach a class on my first day. The humidity has been surprisingly low and it’s been overcast too. I figured out that our wifi router can only support two devices at any one time – weird. That’s why I couldn’t sync my iPod Touch along with our two laptops. Although my Toshiba laptop was turned off the router still had its profile in its memory. So I had to turn off the wifi connection on the laptop to allow my iPod to access the wifi.

I’ve got all our music and many photos on the iPod now. I’ve subscribed to podcasts from my hockey team and EDUCAUSE. So I’m down to having 9 GB of space left. Luckily Darcy bought the top of the line 32 GB model!

Below is the weekly round-up of selected news stories from our corner of the globe.

After labour, it is right back to work

Middle East weighs Obama after emotional glow fades

Hummer driver 'killed expat in fit of road rage'

Prisoners expected to be pardoned over Ramadan
 
An island clings to its simple life
 
‘Breakthrough’ desalination system could benefit UAE
 
Oil spill strategy on hold until 2009
 
Ramadan offers real taste of UAE
 
‘Easy-living culture’ hobbles UAE sport
 
Meagre pay rise angers academics
 
UAE students justify cheating, research reveals
 
New Dubai residents gain up to 12kg during first year

One with nature

Oman’s oasis

You Still Can't Write About Muhammad

One week to Go!

We'll be Canada in one week from today.  The temperature and humidity have started to climb so we're lucky that it was temperate for this long.  We moved into our apartment two years ago today - sure doesn't seem like it.  I just realized that this is my last full weekend of being in my thirties - yikes! Poor Darcy is struggling at work with doing original cataloging of Arabic material.  I'm trying to finish some projects before my last work day on the 23rd.

Below is the weekend wrap up of stories from our part of the world:

GCC Cruises into New Naval Age


Swirling Standstorms Blind Pride of Fleet

Small Emirate Shares Giant Plans

Abu Dhabi Grows

Pricey Oil Helps Abu Dhabi This is interesting but one sided video news story of our fair city.   A majority of the unskilled laborers are from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh and heir living and working conditions are atrocious.

Temperature Shoots Up to 52 Degrees Celcius


Registering for New National UAE ID Cards

Etihad Boosts Emirate's Future with 41 billion dollar deal
that's a big gamble to take!

I am fed up with this congestion!

Dubai vows to eradicate lewd beach behavior

Face scan system launched at Abu Dhabi airport 
Another historic first for the UAE...


Ninety years ago the Arabs gave their opinion and were ignored

The Last Supper
We've not visited this restaurant yet despite it being not too far from us.

40 Arrested in Malls for Cross Dressing


Fast Rate of Construction and Increasing Vehicles Add to Heat in UAE

Date are More Important than Oil

Using Ancient Skills to Craft Modern Designs

North Braces for Labour Surge

Library 2.0 and PDA in the UAE

I've spent much of this weekend with making my library more Web/Library 2.0 friendly.  I've been tweaking our public online catalog and creating my library's profile in Facebook.  It's kind of fun work but I really wanted to finish these projects before I go on vacation.  Speaking of which the countdown is now two weeks and counting!  The weather is getting more humid but it's still not as bad as two summers ago when we arrived.  We've been cat sitting for a friend for one month now and the short ten minute walk to their apartment is still doable.

Below is the weekly news wrap up of interesting stories from our neck of the woods.

Mild Weather Lengthens Gulf's Tourist Season

Abu Dhabi Plans a new TV Channel

Buses Bulge with Passengers

Keeping Abu Dhabi on the Move

Tradition and History


Capital Plans Network of Exercise Paths 
there are some interesting comments by women near the end of the article.

Inside Abu Dhabi's Shisha Cafes (video)

Public Kissing Can Lead to Deportation
the government needs to make their obscenity laws publicly available.

Public Decency in the UAE

hazy but not lazy days

Summer is almost upon us and yet it doesn't quite feel like it. The skies have been very hazy for over one week and the humidity has been very low. But that's resulted in a lot of dust and sand in the air. So I've been battling a cold for ten days but I should be able to resume exercising on Sunday. Luckily Darcy's strong immune system has kept her from getting sick like me.
Many faculty at my work have left town for summer vacation so the library will be a bit quieter. Most of our friends have left town too. But I still have a lot of projects to work on including creating a Facebook profile for the library. Two new librarians start work on Sunday so that will ease everyone's workload a bit.
Darcy and I went to the Emirates Palace on Friday to see the Picasso Exhibit. It is the second exhibit that has been sponsored by Arts Abu Dhabi. The venue is terrific, world class exhibits and (for the moment) they're free of charge. I don't think this could be duplicated in many places around the world. We spent about 2.54 hours looking at the interesting art. Some of his workds were obviously pretty far out. The bronze goat statue had a bit too much detail from a certain are for my taste! We bought the official exhibit catalogue to add to our home library.
Below is the weekend update of what's going on in our neck of the woods. As always some stories underline the lack of infrastructure and regulations here. Shamal will be replaced by summer
UAE residents say system needed to locate places in emirates
This is a fun story.Emirati superhero goes globalThe superhero's website is here.
Rats nibble at UAE history
District cooling strains supply
Waste water to provide workers’ comfort at home
Rural and suburban census begins
Chat between drunk men sparked terror warning
The Captain's Cafe that is mentioned in this article is very close to us.The shisha brotherhood
We enjoyed reading this story about how people end up living where they do. Our careers have taken us to far away places!Why 'Where' Is More Important than 'Who' or 'What'
Our weekend routine continues with going to Marina Mall to relax at Caribou Coffee and then grocery shop at Carrefour. Ila aliqa!

a week of surprises

My workplace held its annual end of year dinner party for its employees. They had a multitude of prizes to give away and last year I won an espresso coffee maker. Guess what? They pulled my name again and I won a Sony Ericsson mobile phone/walkman! It's a beautiful phone and it's loaded with bells and whistles but I decided to give it to Darcy. Her phone was getting close to 3.5 years old and I liked my Motorola.
We agreed that if the Apple's iPhone ever goes on sale in the UAE then she can buy one and give me the Sony. Plus I'd like to get Apple's 32 GB iPod Touch. But the price has to come down as it's now more expensive than the new generation 3G iPhone. I'd also like it have bluetooth and a few other options so I'll wait for the next version t oome out.
My Arabic class at work wrapped up and it was fun. The class began with 25 people and finished with about 6. Naturally I didn't practice speaking, writing and reading. I'd like to take classes in the fall, if they're offered. But I know that work will be extremely busy. Speaking of work, I've got the first draft of my library's online video tour. It took a while to do and I'm now working on a video for the women's library.
The weather has been surprisingly less humid compared to past years. I actually went for a walk outside after dinner tonight! My glasses have only fogged up twice this spring. But the humidity peaks in early fall so the weather will eventually deteriorate. Below is the local news roundup... Architecture in Abu Dhabi
UAE ID card coming soon for expats
Abu Dhabi is a city to watch
New luxury Ras Al Khaimah Island planned
Proposed UAE VAT would be unpopular
SUV sales booming in the UAE
Abu Dhabi's Parking Woes
Killer Whales Spotted near Abu Dhabi
And lastly there's this article: Middle East Media Coverage criticized. I'm currently reading Fisk's book titled The Great War For Civilisation.
So that's all for now. We're going to bed now and enjoy the beginning of the weekend...Ila aliqa

Gearing up for a new semester

I resume my primary job of teaching library information literacy classes on January 27. I taught 67 in the fall to 943 students so I predict I'll teach about 70 this term. I begin the week with teaching library resources to the new Islamic Studies class so that will be interesting.

Abu Dhabi has begun building a green city called Masdar City. There will also be a new post secondary institution aligned with this development called the Masdar Institute. For me these initatives are fare more interesting and vital to the region and the world than most of Dubai's engineering marvels (biggest mall, tallest building, etc.).

Our fair city continues, I think, to quietly upstage Dubai by hosting an Islamic Arts exhibition at the Emirates Palace. It should be an educating experience too. It's too bad that we couldn't have also built a new Museum of Islamic Art like Doha did.

I won't say too much about Bush's trip to the UAE. I think it was a short vacation for him to see the area for the first time. It's unfortunate that Bush had to be the first sitting President to visit the UAE. His only speech during his week long trip was at the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi. The next day Bush traveled (by car?) to Dubai. All residents of Dubai were told to stay home or at least not drive so that Bush's convoy would not get stuck in traffic. It was strange to see photos of Dubai's empty streets - imagine shutting down a city of over 1 million people for 1 day!

Brrrr......

It's been refreshingly cool here for the last couple of days. Last night (for the first time ever) we turned off all the air conditioners in our place! This story talks about the bone chilling weather. Another story mentions near freezing temperatures. It would be cold for many people here because, like in Florida, houses here have poor insulation. Many buildings have tiles for floors which make it really cool.

The Abu Dhabi Urban Planning Council recently published a book called Plan Abu Dhabi 2030: Urban Structure Framework Plan. It talks about about how our fair city will be transformed within 25 years. It's an interesting document to read and it rivals Duabi in terms of wholescale change for an entire city. It's available online but the contents have been split into several downloadable sections.

January 10 is the Islamic New Year so we're enjoying another holiday! But there will be no more breaks until the Prophet's Birthday in late March. We will start planning our April vacation to Istanbul this weekend. And we'll also try and book tentative flights to Canada this summer. We've asked to have July 27 to August 18th off. It won't be as long a break as last summer because we'd like to plan other trips. We'd like to go somewhere this fall and maybe winter too.

Welcome to November!

Where the heck did October go? I guess I was busy teaching classes, revising my library's website, working out at the gym and sleeping on weekends. Darcy was only working three jobs and squeezing in her weekly yoga class. The weather continues to dry out and I took my first evening walk outside in six months. It's so nice to be outside! It's major news here when its overcast and rainy. It was refreshingly cloudy today because of the tropical depression that's heading towards southern Oman.

I just read a disturing article about the Canadian Government's lack of transparency in reporting arms exports. I guess I was naive to think that this could not happen to a nice country like Canada!

I just discovered that our Gulf News newspaper has a neat PDF version that includes what they call a Smart ePaper edition. You can read the paper in a PDF like format or listen to articles that have VOIP (voice over internet protocol). Simply choose an article in the box on the right and then click on the interactive radio button on the left. Pretty neat and it's free! So we'll let our newspaper subscription run out and then listen to the news online.

This and That....

For those of you who are interested in news from this part of the world, there's another article about Freej, the UAE's first animated series. There's also another article about the new Warner Bros. theme park and hotel deal. For us the only positive thing about this is the last sentence in the article. Apparently the UAE has the world's highest saturation rate of cell phones or mobiles (as they're called here). There are about 7 million subscriptions and the country's population is approximately 4.4 million. We've never calculated the price of gasoline here but this article says that it's $1.56 USD a gallon (3.78 litres). That's more than I thought! Staying on the topic of money, the Canadian dollar (loonie) traded above the U.S. dollar for the first time since 1974. The loonie has risen 17% this year against the U.S. dollar which is the most of any nation in the world.

The next article talks about the Global Talent Index ranking countries Middle East low in attracting and producing talented workers. Yet another survey, this time by Transparency International, ranked Middle Eastern nations low on weeding corruption. The UAE is tied for 34th out of 179 nations. Not surprising to see Scandinavian countries dominating the top. Canada placed a strong 9th place.

On a more sombre note, there is an excellent op ed piece about Iran's President Ahmandinejad's visit to Columbia University.