Dec 30---salik and resolutons

OK so there have been a few problems with the Salik road toll system in Dubai.

At the end of the day the system seems to be working! More callers and SMSers than not have said that the roads are better and that the added cost is simply good value.

Don't agree?

Listen to the JAMESCAST and send us your feedback!

Ramesh called in and spoke about doing good!
How?
Weekly Ramesh wants to sponsor an eye surgery in India, value 400 dirhams.

Want to learn how?
email RAMESH.VENKAT@EMIRATES.COM

Have a great new year!

Dec 26---MOBILE PHONES KILL!

We talked about the use of mobile phones while driving and the distraction factor!

No clear answers... but those who love their phones had all the excuses!

Check out this page!

Reason enough to turn off the hone while int he car!

Car-Accidents.com Home Page Main Picture Gallery Crash Causes Page
Cell Phone Car Accident Pictures and StoriesSeveral studies show cell phones are a leading cause of car crashes. It is estimated that cell phone distracted drivers are four times more likely to be in a car wreck. According to a Harvard University study, cell phones cause over 200 deaths and half a million injuries each year. Car-Accidents.com has collected together cell phone related crash pictures! Driving while on a cell phone does seem to be a serious problem if these photos are any indication. Please send in your Cell phone crash pictures>>

Dec 23---what we do!

We started the night by asking a simple question... wht do you do to get through the holiday season...

No simple answers.

But what did come about were stories of people missing family or how they have come together with friends to make a difference.

Farah and her friends visit people in hospitals! Not just during the holidays!

Want to join this growing band of do gooders?

Call Farah @ 050-481-3223

Then there is Abdullah and his friends who want to start a recent history journal to share the stories of Dubai.

What an idea!

Have you lived here forever? Have you sen Dubai change? Do you have a story?

Abdulla @ 050-698-9566

And what is another great way to make friends?

Off road driving in the desert and you can go even if you do not have wheels!

www.Dubai4X4.com

Give them a call!

So Dubai has a lot going on and it is not all about construction.

Happy holidays!

Dec 19---not a lot happening

Wednesday nigh on Nightline was sleepy.

I was awake, Anastasia was awake and a few other brave soles but all of our other usual suspects were very quiet!

It is the holiday season...

Happy holidays to all from Nightline!

Dec 18---are the hilidays about spending today?

As usual a great evening on Nightline.

Are the holidays about money and spending or...

Anastasia brought it all together with this post...

A great example of what those listening to Nightline have on their minds!

Keep it coming!

----------------
To: James@arnonline.com
From: Anistasia

For some reason, people seem to think that money = love. more money =
more love. he who buys the more expensive present loves the son or
daughter or spouse more. I think that's too material. and a lot of
companies make a business out of it (Hallmark for instance; they seem
to have a card for everything!) I'm not cheap mind you. There are
times i buy expensive presents for people. but physical things never
replace the non physical things. if you're miserable, buying a little
something, might keep you happy for a little while; but then you get
depressed all over again. rich people aren't necessarily the happiest
people. If you have a lot of 'stuff' does it mean you are happy? yeah
maybe, if you can afford it and if it doesn't send you further into
debt come January. for non rich folks like you and me; if we spend a
fortune on gifts, later on we're left with huge bills to pay off.
wouldn't a picnic with your family; a camping trip to Hatta; a night
out having fun somewhere, doing something different, be better than
giving eachother the latest iPod, souped up stereo, huge TV that cost
a small fortune....etc. (although these things are nice, we do live in
a material world, and people seem to judge eachother by the amount of
stuff you have. especially here. the car you drive matters, the phone
you have matters. etc etc. and dear Lord if you ever be nice to
someone, there's always the people that get suspicious about what you
are up to/what you have done wrong/what do you want/etc.

and i've said it we're a material world. he who has most stuff, wins.
or something along those lines. but we hardly ever seem to consider
the non physical 'gifts' that people can give us. one of the best
gifts i've ever received from someone was a thank you from my manager
at the library, for all the work i've done. and that's part of the
problem. we seem to have forgotten how to say 'thank you' even for the
little things people do. sometimes those two words can make a person's
day. granted, there are those that go "forget that, i want something
material" which leads back to the whole "money = love" well money
can't buy love. if you buy your kids a PlayStation, a Wii, couple of
computers, books, games, stuff... but barely spend time with them,
ultimately, is that a good thing?

this show reminded me of something I heard by a comedian some time
ago. A House is basically a place to put your stuff...and you keep
getting more stuff...then you have to move because you have no place
for your stuff.

George Carlin on Stuff

Actually this is just a place for my stuff, ya know? That's all, a
little place for my stuff. That's all I want, that's all you need in
life, is a little place for your stuff, ya know? I can see it on your
table, everybody's got a little place for their stuff. This is my
stuff, that's your stuff, that'll be his stuff over there. That's all
you need in life, a little place for your stuff. That's all your house
is: a place to keep your stuff. If you didn't have so much stuff, you
wouldn't need a house. You could just walk around all the time.

A house is just a pile of stuff with a cover on it. You can see that
when you're taking off in an airplane. You look down, you see
everybody's got a little pile of stuff. All the little piles of stuff.
And when you leave your house, you gotta lock it up. Wouldn't want
somebody to come by and take some of your stuff. They always take the
good stuff. They never bother with that crap you're saving. All they
want is the shiny stuff. That's what your house is, a place to keep
your stuff while you go out and get...more stuff!

Sometimes you gotta move, gotta get a bigger house. Why? No room for
your stuff anymore. Did you ever notice when you go to somebody else's
house, you never quite feel a hundred percent at home? You know why?
No room for your stuff. Somebody else's stuff is all over the goddamn
place! And if you stay overnight, unexpectedly, they give you a little
bedroom to sleep in. Bedroom they haven't used in about eleven years.
Someone died in it, eleven years ago. And they haven't moved any of
his stuff! Right next to the bed there's usually a dresser or a bureau
of some kind, and there's NO ROOM for your stuff on it. Somebody
else's shit is on the dresser.

Have you noticed that their stuff is shit and your shit is stuff? God!
And you say, "Get that shit offa there and let me put my stuff down!"

Sometimes you leave your house to go on vacation. And you gotta take
some of your stuff with you. Gotta take about two big suitcases full
of stuff, when you go on vacation. You gotta take a smaller version of
your house. It's the second version of your stuff. And you're gonna
fly all the way to Honolulu. Gonna go across the continent, across
half an ocean to Honolulu. You get down to the hotel room in Honolulu
and you open up your suitcase and you put away all your stuff. "Here's
a place here, put a little bit of stuff there, put some stuff here,
put some stuff--you put your stuff there, I'll put some stuff--here's
another place for stuff, look at this, I'll put some stuff here..."
And even though you're far away from home, you start to get used to
it, you start to feel okay, because after all, you do have some of
your stuff with you. That's when your friend calls up from Maui, and
says, "Hey, why don'tchya come over to Maui for the weekend and spend
a couple of nights over here."

Oh, no! Now what do I pack? Right, you've gotta pack an even SMALLER
version of your stuff. The third version of your house. Just enough
stuff to take to Maui for a coupla days. You get over to Maui--I mean
you're really getting extended now, when you think about it. You got
stuff ALL the way back on the mainland, you got stuff on another
island, you got stuff on this island. I mean, supply lines are getting
longer and harder to maintain. You get over to your friend's house on
Maui and he gives you a little place to sleep, a little bed right next
to his windowsill or something. You put some of your stuff up there.
You put your stuff up there. You got your Visine, you got your nail
clippers, and you put everything up. It takes about an hour and a
half, but after a while you finally feel okay, say, "All right, I got
my nail clippers, I must be okay." That's when your friend says,
"Aaaaay, I think tonight we'll go over the other side of the island,
visit a pal of mine and maybe stay over."

Aww, no. NOW what do you pack? Right--you gotta pack an even SMALLER
version of your stuff. The fourth version of your house. Only the
stuff you know you're gonna need. Money, keys, comb, wallet, lighter,
hanky, pen, smokes, rubber and change. Well, only the stuff you HOPE
you're gonna need.

--

Yup, we're a material world...

As for the children living with parents. when is enough, enough? when
the kid can support himself/herself. that might be after they finish
their education, it might be before. it might be when they get
married...it's on a case by case basis i guess. although....my
brother is 30 years old, recently married; he still lives with us.
he's fully capable of supporting himself, but he just doesn't want to
it seems. Dad suggested he move out, they get their own place and so
on; my brother doesnt want to yet. Maybe because he's not ready to do
so. Me? I'm moving out soon as i get a steady job and get on my own
two feet, so to speak. whether it's here in UAE or out of the
country. I think it's the parents' responsibility to teach their
children to be responsible and not to feed off of the parents. so if
all your kid is doing is sitting at home and playing games at 30,
instead of going out and getting a job, by all means, kick 'em out of
the house, because that sort of behavior is just.... rude. of course
to parents, the children will always be their little babies, and maybe
that's why a lot of the parents dont want to kick their kids out at
any age. you gotta be pretty tough a parent (or just heartless?) to
kick your kid out once they reach a certain age or finish their
studies "all right you got your degree, get outta the house!" no,
that's a bit...sudden. but the other side of things, is parents
aren't going to be around forever, the kids have to be aware of that
and be ready to support themselves.

Dec 16---Bali and do we care?

The short and simple from last night is we really don't care.

Marcus has suggested we don't care about that which we cannot get involved in!

So we need a voice.

Blogging as the voice? Maybe.

Do you have a blog?

Do you use your voice via technology?

My experience is that people o not use their voice and don't want to.

Why? we care about our immediate environment and that is 5 feet around us, all else is bonus.

DEC 12--- M.A.C. INSPIRE.

Vimi Joshi spoke yo us about the growing number of men using cosmetics today to get a leg up in the workplace and even with selfsame!

We ended the evening talking about common sense only to discover that common sense is not so common!

DEC 11-=--fines for smoking and the EEG

We had a nice hat with the people t the Emirates Environmental Group about UAE clean up 2007!

And we then spoke about the 500 dirham fines for smoking in forbidden places!

The best part?

If you smoke in mall and they don't stop you, they get a fine as well.

Love that! Now lets do the same with traffic rules.

Dec 10 RTA

And there will be, we are told, by an anonymous source 10 toll roads by 2009 in Dubai.

Great!

Your take on tolls?

Dubai International Film Festival

Curious about my take on DIFF?

I am spending the mornings at DIFF all through the festival!

I am blogging my experience at http://think2extremes.blogspot.com.

The good, the bad and the ugly all unplugged in the unofficial Dubai Film Festival Blog!

Dec 10----when is it ok to cut the purse strings for our children?

When do we force our children to leave the nest?

Dec 9---anti american

Do we give America, the government a fair shake?

Or should we be giving America a roughter ride for its foreign policy?

No shortage of views!

December 5-We Are What We Do!

Imagine setting out to change the world one person, one small tiny gesture/action/idea at a time?

CHECK IT OUT

...and welcome to We Are What We do, a new movement inspiring people to use their everyday actions to change the world. We're not talking moving big mountains. More of a gentle nudge from the corner desk. A little prod from the sofa. A gentle push from the PE room.

So go on then! Track an action, share, connect.


Picture of the week

Manchester's Little Green Bag From: Manchester City Council is yet another supporter of Plastic Ain’t My Bag!It launched its little green bag to inspire shoppers to remember 'Action 01: Decline Plastic Bags' and held an event where it r... Submitted: 2007-10-10

Dec 5 part 1---The secret society of dragon protectors

www.thesecretsocietyofdragonprotectors.com

THE SECRET SOCIETY OF DRAGON

PROTECTORS

If you have not seen these books, there are 3 now, you need to take a look.

In one word, AMAZING!

Last night on Nightline we discussed Workplace Safety.

We had a HUGE response, the phone was ringing all night and text messages were coming in fast.

Workplace Safety is a big issue here in UAE with stories of so many workers suffering injuries or dying at work. One of the calls we received was from a worker from a Crushing Plant that described the dangerous and terrible conditions he and his workmates had to endure.

We hope that the government will take action to improve the safety standards and regulations in the many different industries that desperately need them but in the mean time it is ESSENTIAL that everyone at work has the WORKSAFE mentality.

Think about SAFETY at work, your safety and your work mates safety.

DEC 4----workplace safety

Do we care enough about the safety of the environments we work in?

Not likely!

Listen to the JAMESCAST it says it all.

Dec 3---START Dubai

If you are like me you had no clue before yesterday what START was or that it existed in DUBAI!

www.startworld.org

or contact Sonia brewin the director at sonia@startworld.org



START was launched by the Al Madad Foundation, The Prince's Drawing School and Art Dubai (formerly the DIFC/Gulf Art Fair).

START uses art as a means to heal, educate and empower the younger generation in disadvantaged areas in the Middle East and elsewhere by giving them a voice through the universal expression of art, by engaging them with their communities and their peers, and by teaching them a sense of self-worth.

Dec 2 UAE national day

UAE national day is a very special day in the life of this young country!

On the Jamescast you can listen to a UAE national talk about seeing the flag rise for the first time when he was 14, wow.



Rulers of emirates send National Day messages
posted on 02/12/2007

Their Highnesses the Supreme Council Members and Rulers of Emirates greeted the UAE leader, citizens and residents on the occasion of the 36th National Day of UAE.

In their respective messages given through the Defence magazine 'Dir Al Watan', the Rulers of emirates hailed the progress achieved by the country during the past years and asked the citizens to be more determined to continue to work for more prosperity.

In his message, H.H. Dr Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, reiterated that the UAE federation is gaining more strength and power as the years pass by. The continuing growth and development of the country has also brought pride and prosperity for its people.

He said that the unity of the country gave it a glorious history promising more prosperity in the future under the prudent leadership of H.H President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Sheikh Sultan called upon the citizens to continue strive for knowledge and sincere work which constitute the basis of the development of any society.

He expressed his hope that the citizens will rise up to the expectations of the founders of the federation. He also asked them to strive for realizing the ambitions of their nation through hard work, unity and adherence to the Islamic values and their Arab identity.

The Ruler said that the real wealth lies inherent in the citizen who is conscious about his duties and work with dedication making the best use of his potentials.

H.H. Sheikh Saqr bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Ras al-Khaimah said in his message: 'We are celebrating the 36th anniversary of the National Day of our young country. Thirty-six years ago our seven emirates became one single entity unifying our potentials under the prudent leadership of my lost brother Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

'During these years we have made great achievements in domestic and international levels bringing us to the levels of advanced countries in the world. The federal institutions have played significant role in strengthening the march of the federation into progress.

'When we stand at the threshold of a new year in our history, we have great ambitions which we will achieve with the help from Allah the Almighty.

'On this occasion I express my sincere greetings to brother H.H. President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Their highnesses the Supreme council members and Rulers of emirates and the entire people of the UAE.

'I also pray to the Almighty to shower His blessings upon us all to achieve more prosperity in the future'.

H.H. Sheikh Hamad bin Mohammed Al Sharqi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Fujairah said in his message: 'On December 2nd the people of United Arab Emirates made a tryst with destiny to write the history with the light of great achievements. The founding father of the nation the Late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan spared no efforts to unify the people of various emirates into a federation, and it gave our country prosperity and progress.

'Sheikh Zayed always reminded us the rulers about our duty to work hand in hand to realize prosperity for our people.

'His footprints are sincerely followed by H.H. President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan who enhanced the process of democracy and consultation based on the true teaching of Islam and its eternal values.

Al Sharqi expressed his sincere greetings to Sheikh Khalifa and Their Highnesses the Supreme Council members and Rulers of emirates.

He said that the country's achievements in educational, economic, social, healthcare and agriculture have converted the land which was a barren desert into a green oasis.

More over the UAE also played a very important role on international level supporting justice, peace and security around the world.

Sharqi also said that the neutral foreign policy of UAE has always been lauded as it always supported international legitimacy and sovereignty of countries.

He reminded the armed forces of their duty to safeguard the integrity of their motherland and protect its achievements.

Sharqi also prayed to God Almighty to bestow His divine mercy upon the lost founder of the federation Late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan and admit him into the eternal paradise.

In his message H.H. Sheikh Rashid bin Ahmed Al Mualla, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Umm al-Qaiwain said: 'When we celebrate the 36th anniversary of our National Day we are cherishing the memories of the day when we achieved a single joint identity unifying us into a single nation.

'During our journey we could make a lot of achievements in various fields ensuring prosperity to our people and for the future generations.

'Our federation has become a faith and a distinguished model for unity among nations.

'Our policies always gave enough attention to the human factor and the empowerment of them through education and ensuring them good living standards.

'During last year H.H. President Sheikh Khalifa enhanced the role of Federal National Council by way of electing half of the members through voting, as well as giving women an equal footing in the political process.

Sheikh Rashid fondly remembered the great vision of the founding father of UAE Late Sheikh Zayed.

H.H. Sheikh Humaid bin Rashid Al Nuaimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Ajman said in his message: 'On the occasion of the 36th anniversary of the National Day of our country, I express my sincere greetings to H.H. President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, their Highnesses the Supreme Council Members and Rulers of emirates and the citizens.

'We also remember on this occasion the great leader and the founding father of the federation Late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan who could give a birth certificate to our Ummah.

'This march into progress and prosperity will continue with the will of God under the prudent leadership of H.H. President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
'On this blessed day we reiterate our promise to stand together hand in hand with sincere intentions for the success of our nation.