So farewell then - pretty flamingo

I know we are assured that all the studies have been done and that they won't be harmed.

But frankly I don't fancy their chances.

I mean would you hang around while all aound people were building islands and multi storey blocks. I mean seriously, those island building ships were loud when they were 3 miles out to sea.

Good to see the Toady staying on company message though.

Sama Dubai, the newly-created real estate arm of Dubai Holding, yesterday announced the launch of The Lagoons, a waterfront project comprising seven islands on the Dubai Creek to be developed at a cost of Dh65 billion.

Spread over 70 million square feet near the Ras Al Khor end of the Creek, The Lagoons will be one of the largest property developments in the emirate, said Dubai Holding Executive Chairman Mohammad Al Gergawi, who is also the UAE Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs.

Comprising seven landscaped islands linked with bridges, the project plan includes residential units, shopping centres, office towers and marinas.

Sama Dubai Chief Executive Officer Farhan Faraidooni told Emirates Today that the seven islands will be interlinked and linked with the mainland by 40 bridges, which are about to begin construction.

Phase one of the development, which was the land development, is over, he said, and the infrastructure for the bridges will be completed by the end of this month.

Dubai Holding’s real estate ventures – including Dubai Properties and Dubai International Properties (DIP) – were merged under the Sama Dubai umbrella last week. DIP has large projects in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. But this is by far the biggest we’ve done so far, added Faraidooni.

Other elements include parks, a boardwalk, resorts, marinas, five-star hotels, bicycle and jogging tracks, and waterfront malls and souqs, the company said.

The finalisation by the Dubai Roads and Transport Authority of a new bridge linking Bur Dubai and Deira is close to The Lagoons, Faraidooni said, which will ensure smooth traffic to and from the development.

So farewell then - the Sunny Cyclone

Along with the Al Nasar Bollywood cinema and the Lodge a third Dubai institution is to suffer a rude bulldozing.

In a move that has shocked fat, balding, middle-aged men everywhere, it appears that the Cyclone is no more.

It always was packed and to be honest must have made millions, so I wonder where the trade will be transported to next.

Or is it possible that with the closure of Premier rooms and a couple of other bars in Bur Dubai, this is the start of a Dubai cleanup?

The Weasel sincerely hopes not, a city with no sleaze is a very boring town indeed and it seemed that the Cyclone always served a purpose without being too in your face.

Supearb car ad from the eighties

Awful, crap car but fantastic stunts and mostly done for real rather than against a blue screen.
Thte canal jump in particular is incredible, can't wait to see the local cowboys trying this across the Marina...

Scary stuff

The Weasel is starting to like the New Yorker magazine more every day, I was shown this article by a good friend on mine now living here for a stint, (read his blog) .

Apart from the nonsense of the regime change scenario (haven't you tried this before folks?) the scary thing about this is the admission that "tactical" nukes would have to be used to reach the production bunkers.

Whatever they say this could well result in a very nasty cloud of iradiated dust, rock and earth (fallout to you and I) drifting over the Gulf - we are both in the market for a complete set of NBC kit.

These guys seems to have pretty much everything you could need, now all the Weasel has to do is work out where to tuck his tail in one of these suits.

Skywards makes it into the New Yorker

This is truly hilarious.

original link

or go here and try for yourself

FRIENDLY SKIES DEPT.

PEANUTS, MADAM?

Issue of 2006-04-10

Posted 2006-04-03

When you sign up online for Skywards, which is the frequent-flier program of Emirates, the international airline of the United Arab Emirates, you enter your name, address, passport number, and other information, and you select an honorific for yourself from a drop-down list.

A few of the choices, in addition to the standard Mr, Mrs, Ms, Miss, and Dr, are: Admiral, Air Comm, Air Marshal, Al-Haj (denoting a Muslim who has made a pilgrimage to Mecca), Archbishop, Archdeacon, Baron, Baroness, Colonel, Commander, Corporal, Count, Countess, Dame, Deacon, Deaconess, Deshamanya (a title conferred on eminent Sri Lankans), Dowager (for a British widow whose social status derives from that of her late husband, properly used in combination with a second honorific, such as Duchess), Duchess, Duke, Earl, Father, Frau, General, Governor, HRH, Hon, Hon Lady, Hon Professor, JP (justice of the peace?), Judge, Khun (the Thai all-purpose honorific, used for both men and women), L Cpl, Lt, Lt Cmdr, Lt Col, Lt Gen, Midshipman, Mlle, Monsieur, Monsignor, Mother, Pastor, Petty Officer, Professor, Senor, Senora, Senorita, Sgt, Sgt Mjr, Shaikha (for a female shaikh, or sheikh), Sheikh, Shriman (an Indian honorific, for one blessed by Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth, wisdom, luck, and other good things), Sister, Sqdn Ldr, Sqn Ldr, Sub Lt, Sultan, Swami, The Countess, The Dowager, The Duchess, The Marquis, The Matron, The Rev Canon, the Reverend, The Rt Hon, The Ven, The Very Revd, Ven, Ven Dr, Very Revd, Vice Admiral, Viscount, and Viscountess.

Anyone who chooses King obviously goes in first class, Private in economy, Wing Cmdr in an exit row. But what about Cardinal? Does he belong in first class (by virtue of his position in the ecclesiastical hierarchy), economy (for doctrinal seemliness), or business (a possible compromise)? Are Prince and Princess the business-class versions of The Prince and The Princess, or do all royals automatically belong in first? If you accumulate enough miles for a cabin upgrade, do you get a title upgrade, too? And if you’re just a Representative (or a Member of Parliament), rather than a Senator (or a Lord), what are you supposed to do? Fly Delta?

One thing is clear: the list must have been compiled by a retired British military man now employed by a peer or peeress who has strong ties to the Church of England. About sixty per cent of the available titles are British military ranks, or flavors of British aristocrat, gentleman, or Protestant clergyman—that is, unless Hon is meant as the traditional title of respect bestowed on members of both sexes by waitresses in the Midwest. Surprisingly few Islamic or Arabic honorifics are available, given the provenance of the airline. Rabbi is offered, but not Imam—although if you select Rabbi you do so at your peril, since people whose passports bear Israeli stamps may be denied entry to the U.A.E.

A lesson to be learned from the Skywards form is that attempts at exhaustiveness are inherently self-defeating: the longer a list, the more conspicuous its lacunae. Queen is not offered (although Mayoress is), and you can be His (but not Her) Highness, His (but not Her) Honour, Marquis but not Marquise—omissions that suggest retribution for past affronts, or, conceivably, punishment for unacceptable behavior on previous flights.

The corporate headquarters of Emirates is in Dubai, which is also the home of Dubai Ports World, the company whose British subsidiary, Congress has decided, should no longer be allowed to manage six major American ports. Those who similarly feel disinclined to earn travel premiums from foreign powers with Arabic-speaking rulers will be relieved, perhaps, to know that Guest Rewards, which is the frequent-traveller program of Amtrak, also has an online application form with an extensive drop-down list of honorifics. The Amtrak list isn’t as long as the one offered by Emirates, but it does include several titles that the latter doesn’t, among them Chief Petty Officer, Chief Warrant Officer 4, Master Chief, and Senior Chief. It also has an appealing feature that Skywards lacks: a drop-down list of suffixes. If you do a lot of domestic travelling by train and happen, for example, to be the great-great-great-grandson of the character on “Gilligan’s Island” who was portrayed by the late Jim Backus, you can enroll yourself in Guest Rewards, and very possibly nowhere else, as Thurston Howell VIII.

Ranches access roadkill

Yet another road post, I will make a sad prediction here:

Someone is going to die on the access road to the Gazelle ghetto at Arabian ranches and probably before too long.

While every other Emarr slum in waiting is serviced with dual carriageways for some reason the 1000 plus homes at Gazelle have a single-lane twisting access to the main road. Emarr's response to the danger of speeders is to put in speed humps, the Weasel now has to negotiate 16 speed humps to reach the main road.

And is it safer? What do you think..

The speed bumps concentrate the traffic leaving drivers frustrated as they crawl along behind slow trucks, busses or cars. This changes the risk-reward ratio in that frustrated drivers take risks to overtake very slow vehicles whereas people will happily sit behind vehicles moving at 50 or 60kmh

The Weasel has now met drivers on the wrong side of the road overtaking 3 times. Twice he managed to stop, the third time he was forced from the road into the sand.

Now the Weasel mobile is low and probably cannot be seen behind bushes around the blind bend you overtake on, but guess what, that is why you have to wait until you can properly see the road ahead BEFORE you overtake.

It isn't even a race thing, of the 3, one was an Indian worker, one a local woman and one a stupid western bitch with Baby on board stickers on her rear window (not one but two), who never-the-less pulled out around a buss and two cars on a blind bend, very clever.

The Weasel has now taken to driving with lights on in the ranches but even this didn't help against the last stunning example of attempted suicide/baby murder.

We drive in fear.

Unmarked cars in town.

Well were they listening I wonder. The cops have in an amazing u-turn put unmarked cars on the road with the explicit task of stopping and fining motorists.

In their first day of operation they claim to have stopped over 350 vehicles and doled out almost 70 grand in fines, wonders will never cease.

Will this make a difference? In the long run providing it is fairly applied - yes.

Slight problem for the Weasel though, having called for this move several times it really would not be clever to be stopped since it is a couple of years since the Weasel mobile was registered and this seems to be one of the main stopping reasons.

Time to head to the rego shop.