The simulation/game sets timed targets for how fast you can purchase a ticket:
Who blinked?
11 hours ago
Friday, September 18, 2009
RTA 'virtual tour' of Dubai Metro
According to Gulf News the RTA has launched a virtual-reality-portal-metro-tour-website. It is so virtual that you can actually choose your sex and race:
Thursday, September 03, 2009
xgames.weyak.ae
2 months ago I wrote about Boomtown, Etisalat's paid gaming service. Basically Etisalat had a whole bunch of servers which required payment for access which doesn't really happen anywhere else on Earth. Needless to say the servers were all empty most of the time and as no one was playing it wasn't like anyone was going to pay to join up to a bunch of empty servers.
Since then a new service has been launched by Etisalat, xgames.weyak.ae and this time the servers are completely open and free to anyone to play. It is really great to finally see some UAE gaming servers that are high quality, low ping, and pretty damn good. Hopefully a proper gaming community will build around these servers.
The games that currently have servers are Counter-Strike: Source, Counter-Strike, Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead which is a pretty decent selection. Although the servers aren't full all the time just yet some are quite popular already.
There is a decent amount of back + forth between gamers and the admins on the forums which will hopefully make the servers better in time.
According to a thread on the forum Etisalat will provide server rentals sometime in the future...
"WEYAK will be providing server rentals on the high speed ETISALAT network in the coming months - in addition to the free public services found here!"
The old Boomtown-weyak servers are still only available to paying users. I am not sure what is happening with Boomtown/xgames, I asumme they will be joined into one entity as they are both under the Etisalat name and both providing the same service.
Thanks Etisalat.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
How Du made Etisalat the same
There is an opinion piece in Gulf News that is titled "How du made etisalat great". Yeah... I'm not sure how anyone thought this article would make sense.
Firstly, Gulf News is a local newspaper that is 4/5. At times, they seem to publish almost anything though-- like when they published a holocaust denial, so it goes without saying that they'd be the only paper in the UAE to publish praise of Etisalat. As for the author, it comes as no surprise that the authors name sounds familiar.
Fact: Etisalat still has a monopoly on broadband internet in the UAE. No one really cares about telephones any more, the internet is where its at. And the internet is where UAE users get shafted time and time again. We don't have VoIP. We don't have proper competition.
Contrary to the article in Gulf News, Etisalat has not changed one bit, corporate re branding doesn't change anything. You may all remember my case with Etisalat that took 43 days, 10,000 words, an apology letter and a refund to resolve. You'd think with an example of such poor customer service Etisalat would change its ways?
Nope. Just go read Grumpy Goat's situation here. It is obvious that Etisalat still has serious customer service and technical issues that they refuse to fix. Customer service in general at Etisalat is at an extremely, extremely poor level.If they help you then great, but if you get stuck in a situation that requires management you are literally screwed.
"Today, etisalat is one of the premier telecommunications companies in the world and is well on its way to achieving its goal of becoming a top-10 provider in the world."
Are you kidding? I am sitting here in disbelief at this quote. Etisalat may have a lot of money that it is investing around the place but that certainly doesn't make it a top-10 provider or anywhere near that mark. A 'premier telecommunications company'? You know what I'd do if I was a billionaire? I'd hire out Etisalat's submarine cable division, build myself an undersea internet pipe, route it through the country and cut out Etisalat entirely.
Although I would say Etisalat has garnered a bad reputation in some cases unfairly (due to people using routers and not understanding some of the technical aspects of using a router), it has a well deserved reputation in the customer service department.
"Where etisalat fell short was never in quality but rather in price and - to a certain extent - customer service competiveness"
Etisalat falls short in everything.
As for quality, Etisalat has a long, detailed history of sucking so hard in that department. Anyone who has picked up a phone or used the internet in the UAE has probably been held hostage at some stage by the abysmal quality levels of Etisalat.
Does anyone remember http://etisalat.charges.too.much.net ?
Who remembers the cable cuts?
The YouTube privacy issues?
The other cable cuts?
The facebook blocking?
The myspace blocking?
More cable cuts?
The GSM network drop-outs?
The SMS network problems?
Mail server issues?
Proxy issues, proxy issues, proxy issues and more proxy issues?
Port blockings?
On the subject of blocking; Etisalat has blocked literally thousands of sites unnecessarily (twitter?) that have taken YEARS for Etisalat to get around to fixing. That's 24 months to unblock a single website. That an organization can take that long to act on something is representative of how much of a failure it is. Don't try and sit there and tell me its because websites are different. In my customer service experience with Etisalat it takes at least 45 days to reach anyone in management. There is no management presence on any of Etisalat's public customer service options.
"People fondly remember the branded phones - anees, tanaf, tawash and hudhud."
You know what my fond memories of Etisalat are? waiting in the Etisalat office as a child for practically an entire day for a SIM card because the queue was so ridiculously long.
The article somehow manages to compare Etisalat and Microsoft (?). Never before did I ever expect someone would compare Microsoft (a financial and mostly critically successfuly company) to Etisalat.
"But over the years it became an arrogant monopoly that spends more of its money settling antitrust lawsuits than actually developing innovative software."
Wait.. what? Microsoft spent 6-10 billion dollars developing Windows Vista alone. The EU antitrust fine was 1.4 Billion USD. Thats a 5-7 fold difference. In any case, how is it even relevant? they don't exactly choose to pay antitrust fines, they are mandatory. It's not like it matters even if it were relevant how Microsoft spent their money because comparing Etisalat to Microsoft is irrelevant in the first place.
"[Windows Vista] was so faulty that it was decided to bypass the customary service pack ritual altogether and introduce a completely new OS: Windows 7."
Gee. Windows Vista service pack 2 must not count for much then?
"etisalat is considered a national success story gone global as well as one of the major contributors to social development in the UAE"
National success story? Unlikely. You know what happens when Etisalat goes to other countries? People literally go onto the streets, picketing and protesting at Etisalat. Nobody likes Etisalat. Etisalat is an embarrassment.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Perseus meteor shower in the UAE
I've never felt so duped before; I drove all the way out 3/4 of the way to Al Ain because everyone was ranting about some meteor shower.
So a friend and myself drive, drive some more, and drive some more, and eventually come to some small exit from the Dubai-Al Ain road. Where I had hoped to go would have been a pain given the current roadworks.
With hand painted street signs, no street lighting and almost no sign of civilization (except for the customary grocery every 1 km) I have no idea where I was. I actually looked at my GPS and none of the streets were on it at all, I was in the middle of nowhere. I may as well have been navigating through the empty quarter. Then I see a tree on the road.
Not just any tree. A tree in the middle of the road. Not knocked over. As in a tree growing in the middle of the road. The road has actually physically been built around the tree.
Following the road I come to some sort of a track... A camel race track! I drive into the sand a little and park my car, take out all the photography stuff and sit... and wait...
Click for larger copy
...and wait...
Click for larger copy
Waiting for the camera exposures is painful; an 8 minute exposure really is somewhere on the scale of time right up beside eternity.
Trying to see a shooting star (or whatever the technical term may be) is hard enough on its own, however trying to get a photograph of a meteor shower is like staring at a blank wall and expecting it to spontaneously combust. It's just not going to happen.
Even though I saw a few shooting stars it wasn't like there was some mass or continuous stream of them at all. that's what I call false advertising. I didn't even see any at the same time as my friend, leading me to believe they probably don't exist. There are barely any photos of them, and when you tell someone you've just seen a shooting star 9/10 will say "Really?" because it is really next to impossible.
Even though we were in the middle of nowhere, there was still a lot of light pollution. The light pollution isn't from any form of civilization it's from the damn moon!
The other immediate problem was from dust in the air. Visibility wasn't the greatest. I guess I got to see some shooting stars and enjoyed listening to some music while waiting around in the humid and warm (~30°C) weather. I did enjoy the drive out to the desert. I probably got to see 5-6 shooting stars in total, thats what I'd call false advertising.
So a friend and myself drive, drive some more, and drive some more, and eventually come to some small exit from the Dubai-Al Ain road. Where I had hoped to go would have been a pain given the current roadworks.
With hand painted street signs, no street lighting and almost no sign of civilization (except for the customary grocery every 1 km) I have no idea where I was. I actually looked at my GPS and none of the streets were on it at all, I was in the middle of nowhere. I may as well have been navigating through the empty quarter. Then I see a tree on the road.
Not just any tree. A tree in the middle of the road. Not knocked over. As in a tree growing in the middle of the road. The road has actually physically been built around the tree.
Following the road I come to some sort of a track... A camel race track! I drive into the sand a little and park my car, take out all the photography stuff and sit... and wait...
Click for larger copy
Waiting for the camera exposures is painful; an 8 minute exposure really is somewhere on the scale of time right up beside eternity.
Trying to see a shooting star (or whatever the technical term may be) is hard enough on its own, however trying to get a photograph of a meteor shower is like staring at a blank wall and expecting it to spontaneously combust. It's just not going to happen.
Even though I saw a few shooting stars it wasn't like there was some mass or continuous stream of them at all. that's what I call false advertising. I didn't even see any at the same time as my friend, leading me to believe they probably don't exist. There are barely any photos of them, and when you tell someone you've just seen a shooting star 9/10 will say "Really?" because it is really next to impossible.
Even though we were in the middle of nowhere, there was still a lot of light pollution. The light pollution isn't from any form of civilization it's from the damn moon!
The other immediate problem was from dust in the air. Visibility wasn't the greatest. I guess I got to see some shooting stars and enjoyed listening to some music while waiting around in the humid and warm (~30°C) weather. I did enjoy the drive out to the desert. I probably got to see 5-6 shooting stars in total, thats what I'd call false advertising.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Indecent anti-indecency campaign
Quite a few bloggers have covered a recent article in Gulf News titled "Dubai malls join anti-indecency campaign".
Not that anyone was aware that there was an actual 'campaign'; last I checked it was a group of angry people and some signs that went up in malls at least 6 months ago.
I'll expand on the opinion I have offered on Seabee's blog (Life in Dubai);
I think that there is some difference in what people may consider a 'public' space; Dubai is not a pedestrian city and these people that wear 'inappropriate' clothing aren't exactly walking around the city half naked (in most cases).
Maybe the problem is that people congregate at malls, and people are comfortable in malls. I would like to see someone wearing hot pants on a public bus or on the metro when it finally starts.
In comparison to a mall there are no signs on the street side telling people to wear 'respectful clothing' so what are people respecting? The mall? The western shops? The American restaurants in the food court? The shops that sell the exact clothes they are wearing? Where are the people fighting those wearing inappropriate clothes in actual public spaces and not just in a mall? Isn't it a bit weird that this is being fought solely through malls?
Even though the article presents opinions that the campaign should be extended to television and media and even when people sign up for visas that will all take a long, long time.
This will be a long process that is for sure. Even the most aggressive of media campaigns would never really achieve anything in my opinion. This indecency campaign is basically a move to start telling people what they can and cannot do; this used to be governed pretty quietly because of how many different cultures there are in the UAE (i.e. avoiding rocking the boat too far in any direction).
The idea of giving someone a prison sentence for wearing revealing clothing is still something that is pretty harsh and even though a handful of people here and there have been fined or jailed for offences it’s not like a police officer in the mall goes up to people and measures how hot their hotpants are or how short their miniskirt is and gives them a fine based upon that.
A mall is hardly the epitome of Emirati culture so I can see why people would think it difficult to think they are somehow disrespecting the culture when they are in a marble floored commercial emporium that barely has Arabic signage let alone any semblance of culture within. The idea that shopping mall management is being left to do this is slightly disturbing. Maybe if they were walking through the Bastikya area wearing hotpants then it would be another issue entirely--but on the whole people don't.
Of course about 345 people have already pointed out that the malls themselves are selling the clothes. Which is a repeat of the problem that has always existed (where people could get in trouble for wearing t-shirts/clothing sold locally); no one wants to or will enforce rules on shops. But change is desired. It could be like in Sharjah where the faces of female models are covered on all store fronts but that would be too excessive, so maybe they could just be slightly pixelated in Dubai or replaced with a smiling Modhesh so that everyone is happy and cheerful. Somehow I don't think all the high-end fashion retailers would be so pleased with any enforcement of anything, nor would the people that stamp down platinum credit cards to buy a new dress every day; whichever way you tilt it someone won't be very happy. Best of luck.
Not that anyone was aware that there was an actual 'campaign'; last I checked it was a group of angry people and some signs that went up in malls at least 6 months ago.
I'll expand on the opinion I have offered on Seabee's blog (Life in Dubai);
I think that there is some difference in what people may consider a 'public' space; Dubai is not a pedestrian city and these people that wear 'inappropriate' clothing aren't exactly walking around the city half naked (in most cases).
Maybe the problem is that people congregate at malls, and people are comfortable in malls. I would like to see someone wearing hot pants on a public bus or on the metro when it finally starts.
In comparison to a mall there are no signs on the street side telling people to wear 'respectful clothing' so what are people respecting? The mall? The western shops? The American restaurants in the food court? The shops that sell the exact clothes they are wearing? Where are the people fighting those wearing inappropriate clothes in actual public spaces and not just in a mall? Isn't it a bit weird that this is being fought solely through malls?
Even though the article presents opinions that the campaign should be extended to television and media and even when people sign up for visas that will all take a long, long time.
This will be a long process that is for sure. Even the most aggressive of media campaigns would never really achieve anything in my opinion. This indecency campaign is basically a move to start telling people what they can and cannot do; this used to be governed pretty quietly because of how many different cultures there are in the UAE (i.e. avoiding rocking the boat too far in any direction).
The idea of giving someone a prison sentence for wearing revealing clothing is still something that is pretty harsh and even though a handful of people here and there have been fined or jailed for offences it’s not like a police officer in the mall goes up to people and measures how hot their hotpants are or how short their miniskirt is and gives them a fine based upon that.
A mall is hardly the epitome of Emirati culture so I can see why people would think it difficult to think they are somehow disrespecting the culture when they are in a marble floored commercial emporium that barely has Arabic signage let alone any semblance of culture within. The idea that shopping mall management is being left to do this is slightly disturbing. Maybe if they were walking through the Bastikya area wearing hotpants then it would be another issue entirely--but on the whole people don't.
Of course about 345 people have already pointed out that the malls themselves are selling the clothes. Which is a repeat of the problem that has always existed (where people could get in trouble for wearing t-shirts/clothing sold locally); no one wants to or will enforce rules on shops. But change is desired. It could be like in Sharjah where the faces of female models are covered on all store fronts but that would be too excessive, so maybe they could just be slightly pixelated in Dubai or replaced with a smiling Modhesh so that everyone is happy and cheerful. Somehow I don't think all the high-end fashion retailers would be so pleased with any enforcement of anything, nor would the people that stamp down platinum credit cards to buy a new dress every day; whichever way you tilt it someone won't be very happy. Best of luck.
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
Twink (ey)
Before internet censorship used to be easy; sites were categorized and the TRA would decide which categories were bad or good and we'd complain and they'd sit around (or Etisalat would) and not do much about it.
Nowadays it has all gone high tech. You can actually be blocked from typing something into Google--sounds stupid doesn't it? Well, that's because it is stupid.
I have always wondered how effective blocking words is on the internet; does it actually stop people finding what they want? Sometimes it seems that by searching for something completely innocent the TRA's censorship attempts lead me to something entirely different...
I'm sure we're all aware of what a 'twinkie' is--some kind of confectionary item sold in the US and not here.
I was trying to write a review about a movie (Richie Rich) for my other blog and I wanted to find out how many times the word 'twinkie' was mentioned in the script; usually copies of movie scripts are somewhere on the internet and it is easy enough to count how many times a word appears in a script.
So I put the following into Google:
You might ask yourself "what on earth did you put twink in there for?"; that's because I wanted to account for any spelling of the word twinkie (twinky, twinkie etc)
Damn. Imagine all the technology that went into producing that page when I typed the wrong few words in. A few million dollars worth of servers and probably just as much in software licensing, expertise, staff etc
Now in this situation I'm thinking the TRA either has a hard on for Richie Rich or "twink";
After further research it turns out that Etisalat/the TRA block the word 'twink' from being searched for on Google for whatever reason.
So I take 3 seconds to type "t+wink" into Google to bypass the stupid block and discover what twink actually means....
Mission success TRA. Mission success.
Dead serious: You can defy the entire keyword censorship system by pressing a single key on your keyboard.
Not only does it take an entire 3 seconds to circumvent such elaborate keyword censorship; it also doesn't really stop anyone looking for what they're looking for.
Nowadays it has all gone high tech. You can actually be blocked from typing something into Google--sounds stupid doesn't it? Well, that's because it is stupid.
I have always wondered how effective blocking words is on the internet; does it actually stop people finding what they want? Sometimes it seems that by searching for something completely innocent the TRA's censorship attempts lead me to something entirely different...
I'm sure we're all aware of what a 'twinkie' is--some kind of confectionary item sold in the US and not here.
I was trying to write a review about a movie (Richie Rich) for my other blog and I wanted to find out how many times the word 'twinkie' was mentioned in the script; usually copies of movie scripts are somewhere on the internet and it is easy enough to count how many times a word appears in a script.
So I put the following into Google:
Richie Rich script twink
You might ask yourself "what on earth did you put twink in there for?"; that's because I wanted to account for any spelling of the word twinkie (twinky, twinkie etc)
Damn. Imagine all the technology that went into producing that page when I typed the wrong few words in. A few million dollars worth of servers and probably just as much in software licensing, expertise, staff etc
Now in this situation I'm thinking the TRA either has a hard on for Richie Rich or "twink";
After further research it turns out that Etisalat/the TRA block the word 'twink' from being searched for on Google for whatever reason.
So I take 3 seconds to type "t+wink" into Google to bypass the stupid block and discover what twink actually means....
"Twink or twinkie is a gay slang term describing a young or young-looking gay man (usually in his late teens or early twenties) with a slender build, little or no body hair, and no facial hair" (from wikipedia
Mission success TRA. Mission success.
Dead serious: You can defy the entire keyword censorship system by pressing a single key on your keyboard.
Not only does it take an entire 3 seconds to circumvent such elaborate keyword censorship; it also doesn't really stop anyone looking for what they're looking for.
Sunday, August 02, 2009
Middle Finger
Time and time again...
"I got month's jail for flicking my middle finger"
Jail in Dubai for one-finger salute
Middle Finger Crime
Flash your middle finger in the face of someone in public in Dubai and get deported
...people have placed themselves in trouble by giving others the middle finger.
Most, if not all incidents seem to relate to the offensive manner of driving in the UAE; however that doesn't ever seem to go away. The bad drivers are out there every single day. Some days you can ignore them and just get on with your day, but other times they endanger your life, needlessly and dangerously tailgate you, try to change into your lane when you're turning at an intersection, cut you off, change lanes repeatedly without an indicator, drive inbetween lanes, attempt to reverse on Sheikh Zayed Road... I could go on, but everyone already knows about these problems, and has known about them for the past decade and not done anything about them.
Sure, you're angry. You give the middle finger. If you're a pedestrian, you have little other choice; however what about people who are in cars. I've been driving for a few months now and I've already had literally a thousand or so situations in which the middle finger could work, but it is ineffective. It's really ineffective. Not only that, it carries a possible prison sentence and deportation.
I just don't understand it.
As an angry driver you have two choices;
Use some puney muscle in your hand to raise your middle finger.
Or
Your horn. It's right in front of you. Nothing is more satisfying than that horn sound. I must profess my love for my car horn; It pierces through the thickest, blackest of car windows and even manages to sit above the loudest music any person would be listening to. It also gets that asshole who is on the phone having the worlds most important discussion (so important because he is risking his life and your life by not using a hands-free) who is weaving from lane to lane without using his indicator to look back in his rear vision mirror.
The horn travels in all directions. The middle finger does not.
The horn can be heard by everyone. The middle finger can not.
The horn is -110dB. The middle finger is not.
The horn doesn't get you deported. The middle finger does.
"I got month's jail for flicking my middle finger"
Jail in Dubai for one-finger salute
Middle Finger Crime
Flash your middle finger in the face of someone in public in Dubai and get deported
...people have placed themselves in trouble by giving others the middle finger.
Most, if not all incidents seem to relate to the offensive manner of driving in the UAE; however that doesn't ever seem to go away. The bad drivers are out there every single day. Some days you can ignore them and just get on with your day, but other times they endanger your life, needlessly and dangerously tailgate you, try to change into your lane when you're turning at an intersection, cut you off, change lanes repeatedly without an indicator, drive inbetween lanes, attempt to reverse on Sheikh Zayed Road... I could go on, but everyone already knows about these problems, and has known about them for the past decade and not done anything about them.
Sure, you're angry. You give the middle finger. If you're a pedestrian, you have little other choice; however what about people who are in cars. I've been driving for a few months now and I've already had literally a thousand or so situations in which the middle finger could work, but it is ineffective. It's really ineffective. Not only that, it carries a possible prison sentence and deportation.
I just don't understand it.
As an angry driver you have two choices;
Use some puney muscle in your hand to raise your middle finger.
Or
Your horn. It's right in front of you. Nothing is more satisfying than that horn sound. I must profess my love for my car horn; It pierces through the thickest, blackest of car windows and even manages to sit above the loudest music any person would be listening to. It also gets that asshole who is on the phone having the worlds most important discussion (so important because he is risking his life and your life by not using a hands-free) who is weaving from lane to lane without using his indicator to look back in his rear vision mirror.
The horn travels in all directions. The middle finger does not.
The horn can be heard by everyone. The middle finger can not.
The horn is -110dB. The middle finger is not.
The horn doesn't get you deported. The middle finger does.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Dubai Mall parking
My mobile phone is filled with text message drafts. You see, every time I find a parking space at a shopping mall in Dubai I have to write down as much information as possible. This is what my typical Dubai Mall parking location notation looks like:
Sounds simple enough doesn't it? Not really.
The epitome of bad mall parking design is probably Dubai Mall, in my opinion it has the worst parking system in the world--it has 3 parking areas (P1-P3) spread across a whole bunch of floors (Lower Ground, Ground, 1st and 2nd), so basically you have 12 possibilities, and if you go to the wrong one you are screwed. If you go to P1 instead of say P3 it involves walking around the entire mall, you might think that is no big deal until you actually look at the map for the mall. It is absolutely ridiculous in size (12,100,000 square feet according to wiki) and impractical to navigate (yes, I use the term navigate as it is that much of a pain)
Whilst I am familiar with Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) malls such as Deira City Centre of Mall of the Emirates, Dubai Mall doesn't seem to have the simple and easy to grasp navigation that MAF malls typically have.
You can collect a reciept upon parking that notates a very generalized area of where you have parked (I think it only mentions the floor (i.e. LGm) and parking area (i.e. P1) but what's the use? There are probably at least several thousand parking spaces in each 'specific' area, it is even an insult to 'specific' to use that term in this case.
I think in a few years time, we'll start seeing dust covered cars in Dubai Mall's parking area. These dust covered cars will no longer be a result of the recession but as a result of people being unable to find their cars ever again.
Ice rink car park P2 Lg 53
Sounds simple enough doesn't it? Not really.
The epitome of bad mall parking design is probably Dubai Mall, in my opinion it has the worst parking system in the world--it has 3 parking areas (P1-P3) spread across a whole bunch of floors (Lower Ground, Ground, 1st and 2nd), so basically you have 12 possibilities, and if you go to the wrong one you are screwed. If you go to P1 instead of say P3 it involves walking around the entire mall, you might think that is no big deal until you actually look at the map for the mall. It is absolutely ridiculous in size (12,100,000 square feet according to wiki) and impractical to navigate (yes, I use the term navigate as it is that much of a pain)
Whilst I am familiar with Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) malls such as Deira City Centre of Mall of the Emirates, Dubai Mall doesn't seem to have the simple and easy to grasp navigation that MAF malls typically have.
You can collect a reciept upon parking that notates a very generalized area of where you have parked (I think it only mentions the floor (i.e. LGm) and parking area (i.e. P1) but what's the use? There are probably at least several thousand parking spaces in each 'specific' area, it is even an insult to 'specific' to use that term in this case.
I think in a few years time, we'll start seeing dust covered cars in Dubai Mall's parking area. These dust covered cars will no longer be a result of the recession but as a result of people being unable to find their cars ever again.
Friday, July 17, 2009
Harvey Nichols tshirt
According to the internets and several newspapers, people are roaring about a tshirt sold by Harvey Nichols.
I have already pointed out via comments the similarity to a situation that errupted 3 years ago when Bershka produced an 'offensive' label and attached it to some items. The problem is similar, the reaction is similar and the outcome will most likely be similar.
Here are my predictions regarding the situation:
I have already pointed out via comments the similarity to a situation that errupted 3 years ago when Bershka produced an 'offensive' label and attached it to some items. The problem is similar, the reaction is similar and the outcome will most likely be similar.
Here are my predictions regarding the situation:
- Harvey Nichols license will not be stripped
- No one will actually boycott Harvey Nichols
- Everyone will continue to buy clothing and products sourced from foreign companies and somehow act amazed when it appears that they have been offended
- It will be okay to break the boycott when you want to buy that new Louis Vuitton handbag you've been waiting so patiently for
- A t-shirt with similar sentiment that features an American flag will most likely sell in record numbers in the near future despite all the people claiming how inappropriate desecrating any national flag is
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Apples and Oranges Index
I always love the optimistic titles that some newspapers have in Dubai;
for instance, this morning on the Gulf News website:
When you click on the link it's revealed that it's ranked 123 out of 143 countries. Does that even result in the country being qualified as 'happy'? I think not; technically speaking, the UAE is the 20th unhappiest country on Earth out of those ranked, obviously a more accurate title would have been "UAE ranked 20th unhappiest place".
As it turns out the index/report has little to do with happiness and more to do with pollution etc. In fact, after reading about the report itself, I'm not entirely sure what it is even about.
The happy planet index is stupid in that it is called 'happy planet', at first glance it could be thought that it is solely a ranking the countries environmental impact. Instead the index apparently rates the human well-being and environmental impact of the country and also asks such questions as (according to GN):
Half of the GN article goes on about life expectancy and things like per capita carbon dioxide emissions and then they launch into a question like that. "Happy Planet Index" is a wholly inappropriate name, I think it should be called the "Apples and Oranges Index".
for instance, this morning on the Gulf News website:
"UAE ranked 123rd happiest place"
When you click on the link it's revealed that it's ranked 123 out of 143 countries. Does that even result in the country being qualified as 'happy'? I think not; technically speaking, the UAE is the 20th unhappiest country on Earth out of those ranked, obviously a more accurate title would have been "UAE ranked 20th unhappiest place".
As it turns out the index/report has little to do with happiness and more to do with pollution etc. In fact, after reading about the report itself, I'm not entirely sure what it is even about.
The happy planet index is stupid in that it is called 'happy planet', at first glance it could be thought that it is solely a ranking the countries environmental impact. Instead the index apparently rates the human well-being and environmental impact of the country and also asks such questions as (according to GN):
“All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole?”
Half of the GN article goes on about life expectancy and things like per capita carbon dioxide emissions and then they launch into a question like that. "Happy Planet Index" is a wholly inappropriate name, I think it should be called the "Apples and Oranges Index".
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