Of Cocks & Chickens

Once upon a time in a coop there lived some chickens and cocks. There were more chickens than cocks.The cocks used to talk among themselves, which the chickens were not sooo fond off. So the chickens got together and decided to take on the most smartest cocks.

Now everyone knows the only way to get get rid of the chicken or a cock is to grill it. So they decided to grill the cock, but the cocks stood their ground and escaped from the coop when they found the chickens getting ready to kill them.

The cocks lived to see another day, and the chickens did not lay any eggs.

The farmer lost…

For whom the bells toll….

                                       

Dubai has implemented a toll system, SALIK to collect tolls from cars travelling on the Sh. Zayed road and Garhoud Bridge. The systems utilizes state of the art RFID technology. The RFID tag on the car, which is in the form of a prepaid sticker to be affixed on the windsheild, is recognized by the scanner on the toll gates and deducts 4 AED each time a vehicle passes. The government aims to collect around 600 Million Dirhams a year from this source alone.

This has to probably be the most high profile deployment of RFID technology in the Middle East yet.

Considering the steep rents, this toll which is one more burden on the ornery resident is bound to make the driver think twice about filling up his guzzler and riding around town.

So lets see..

• more revenue to the government
• more expense to the public
• less emissions
• less traffic
• usage of public transportation – METRO coming up in 200x

I kinda like this!! (as long as I dont have to pay)

The hole being burned in the pocket will directly affect the hole being burned into the ozone layer from all those pollutants.

http://dubaiworld.wordpress.com/2007/06/10/salikdubai-toll-road/

www.salik.ae

Let the teacher go!

5 years later when you look back and think, will it really be worth it to have a teacher held back in Kuwait against her own wishes for disciplining a child.

Would it have been worth it to have Kuwait’s name dragged through all the muck for this reason….

Teachers deserve some respect, for it is they who mould your childs character. It is with them that the kids spend most of their hours in a day.

This is the link to the advisory from International Schools review and the letter from the teacher Katherine Phillips who is held back in Kuwait against her wishes by a travel ban.

http://www.internationalschoolsreview.com/nonmembers/emergency.htm

Update: https://mentabolism.wordpress.com/2007/07/03/travel-ban-on-teacher-lifted/

Arab Biofuel

                                                          

An Omani entrepreneur has successfully produced ethanol for biofuel from date palms. Reportedly, he has been using it for quite some time. Blessed with a climate and landscape that is conducive to the growth of date palms, the Middle East should consider mass cultivation of Date palms and setting up bio-refineries for the sole purpose of producing ethanol which can be used as a biofuel.

The strategy then would be to produce and refine fossil fuels only for industrial purposes, whereas bio fuels could be utilized for consumer purposes like cars etc; thereby cutting emmissions by a good level and at the same time commanding a decent price for their crude.

Big B

 was released in Kuwait yesterday. We got tickets for the last show of the night.

The story is based in Kochi and shows streaks of underworld goondas and the like who are supposedly ruling the streets.  

Barring the violence, it was a watchable movie. Mammootty’s understated portrayal of Bilal Kurusinkal, a Mumbai based body guard for hire out to find and avenge the killers of his adopted mother, displays another facet of his acting skills.

There are quite a few newcomers like Bala who dons the role of Murugan, and Sumit Naval as Bijo, both characters, younger brothers of Bilal, who have carried the roles effortlessly. Tamil actor Pasupathi in the role of Balaji, the IPS officer investigating the murder and eventually gets murdered, has definitely had both audiences and directors sit up and take notice of his skills.

“Perfect to be cast in a Jesus movie”, Hindi actor Sherveer Vakil, is the villain of the piece along with his motley crue of goondas.

Nafisa Ali, was the one refreshing face, who has proved once again that age is just a number, and beauty is timeless.

The background music was excellent and was not out of place.

Old warhorses like Manoj K Jain and Vijayaraghavan have also managed to put up a good show, except for a word of advice to Manoj….that laugh in the end….it worked great in some films, but dont use it everywhere.

All in all it was a watchable movie, worth the 2 bucks you spend on a seat. You leave the theatre with shots of the rain falling, the background score and many other features of the film, but not the story.  A weekend watcher.

I keep wondering why the movie was called BIG B – obviously a reference to Mammootty’s character Bilal but…..  Oh and before I forget the stunts for the movie were done by Anal Arasu…time to change your name man!!