jan 28---amazing man changing the world! Samar Jodha talks change.

Samar Jodha is a rare person.

70% of his time is spent taking the fruits of his day job, money and time, and bringing a voice to marginalized communities around the world!

A story to share!

Jan 26---what is innovation?

Dr. Joseph Packard of the RIT joined us for a talk about thinking in an innovative manner in the current economic climate.

Interesting his take on books an innovation, might be best used as a prop for a table!

Give it a listen and pass along.

Jan 25----Pathology and adulthood (2 topics)

Hour 1 Dr. Mishal Al Nawab of CPS joined us to talk with Paul Stennett of the Clinical Pathology Accreditation to discuss why accreditation of labs is something to look for.

Hour 2 we spoke about the cost of youth putting off becoming adults.

Jan 20---all about Obama

We in Dubai had a chance to listen to the inaugural speech, http://jamescast.podomatic.com/entry/2009-01-20T20_16_49-08_00, of the 44th president of the United States.

Simply great radio from the UAE!

Jan 19---barter economy

Barter is alive and well and in some ways making business succeed.

Bob Bagga can attest to that with BizXchange.

What about you on a personal level?

Can barter work?

Jan 18----housing in the UAE

Are prices out of control?
Are we now in a renters market?
It was a mixed bag of responses on Nightline.
There was a lot of response to the CEO of Avanti Holding.
The general response is that Dubai seems set to ride out this storm, maybe becasue of the extent of government involvement.

jan 14---stress at work healing...

Margaret Kean an energy healer and corporate stress relief trainer at the Synergy Integrated Medical Centre (04-348-5452) joined us to talk about dealing with those problem people in the office.

It was all about workplace stress and what we need to do.

1. think of you
2. care about you
3. have a salt bath
4. it is in our heads
5 talk!

Jan 13---Imran Raja and the fear of video games!

We spoke about video games with the real issue being are we thinking enough about the contextual effect!

Jan 12---part time work.

We had a chat about working part-time int he UAE.

As we all know there are many shades of pale involved here.

But, as the law stands, working part-time can be a violation of your labour employment contract and there is no provision for hiring casual labour legally in the UAE.

All this may be changing with UAE nationals being offered a trial balloon for one year where the part time concept will be floated in the government sector.

http://dubaiforvisitors.com/2009/01/12/dubai-may-include-expats-in-part-time-job-scheme/

Others are also talking!

Dubai May Include Expats in Part-time Job Scheme

Mon, Jan 12, 2009

Working in Dubai

The Government of Dubai is open to expanding the new part-time work system which could include expatriates at a later stage, according to a top official on Sunday.

Director of Strategic Government HR of the Government of Dubai, Dr Ahmed Waarie said, the move approved by the Dubai Executive Council on Saturday would be adopted by all government departments in Dubai to invest in national human resources and boost their production and productivity.

However Waarie said it could be extended to expatriates after meeting the requirements of the government and tracking the needs of the nationals.

“The new system would be on a oneyear experiment, following which it may be extended to expatriates in line with the government’s needs and levels of Emiratisation in all the sectors. A federal law streamlining a similar work system was issued last week and will take effect four months later,” he said.

“The new system is meant to develop and make maximum use of the nationals’ skills and experience. It is an advantage for the employees who are unable to work full time. They might be bound to look after their children or sick parents,” he added.

Housewives may work following the approval of the department they want to work in. A full-time employee may even turn into a part-time employee with the department’s approval.

Ahmad Bin Bayat, Secretary General of the Dubai Executive Council said the system is part of the Dubai government’s plans to develop work at the governmental sector in line with the Dubai Strategic plan 2015.

“Though part-time employees would receive wages on an hourly-basis, they would be granted a 20 per cent increment in compensation to the allowances they are not eligible for such as annual incentives, air tickets and paid leave. However, they still can maintain health insurance and pension benefits given to UAE nationals,” he explained.

Part-timers are bound to fulfil the same role of the full-timers. They are also eligible to receive training in the UAE and abroad with equal allowances.

Mona Al Moalla, Executive Director of the Corporate Support Centre, the General Secretariat of Dubai Economic Council (DEC), said the new system would give a boost to Emiratisation in the emirate. “The new system will increase localisation as some sectors still lack Emiratisation due to the nature of work in these sectors,” she said.

Matching the best practices worldwide, Al Moalla said the new system is expected to have positive impacts on the different parties of the labour market. “It is a flexible and low stress system, whether for nationals who look for an attractive business environment that goes with their preferences and skills, or for those seeking an additional job to improve their standard of living,” she maintained. She said the new system is timely with the current financial turmoil.

January 11---astrology is it just a wishful idea?

Dr. Pranay Joshi (050-574-4632) joined us to try and untangle the ideas behind astrology. Dr. Pranay told us astrology is a science... yet all astrologers do not see things the same...

Call me a skeptic if you may, I am not sure we ended any further ahead than when we started.

What we do have are a lot more questions and place to start looking for answers.

Give the program a listen and you be the judge!

Jan 7---marriage

Divorce, infidelity, dating...

Whether or not we need the institution of marriage today was the broad theme of our conversation.

We had no winners here just a lot of interesting opinion.

The show is worth a listen.

Jamuary 5--- a fat food tax?

The Governor of New York State wants to put in place an 18% tax on "fat" drinks, those high in sugar.

Could this be a way for Dubai to tackle the fat problem?

January 4---tipping and gaza

We had a good talk about when and when not to tip, maybe even the politics of tipping.

In hour 2 we spoke about Gaza and what that is all about, Israel, what is going on...