Pics from my Mobile

Sometimes you come across stupidity at it's most basic forms, and so in-your-face that it's impossible to deny, or to consider as anything else BUT stupidity!! Scrolling through my mobile phone, I found these pics from my mobile phone.....enjoy!

Lost in Translation?? Can't anyone invest in some "Introductory English" course for some of these people??

Safety first?? What if someone throws out a cigarette butt right onto the cloth wrapped gas lid?? (I was tempted!)

Safety Second...BLING first! Right in front of the Petrol station's emergency exit (Hawalli Petrol Station)

Of all the names & possibilities, this Taxi company chose this??

I found some more of these gems loitering about some of my MMC cards, ill try to post some of them in the next few days, as I find them.

Science Meets Science Fiction: Human-Animal Hybrids are possible!

Sounds something from the X-Files, doesn't it?! But it's true. Read on...

Not many people enjoy-or even want to tolerate-Science Fiction works. To each his own, I guess. I'm a big SciFi fan myself, as previously blogged. I enjoy how Scifi reflects the borderline between human imagination and scientific achievements. If you think about it, many avenues of technology we consume and use in our daily lives are either offshoots of science fiction or a result of it. Scientists like Einstein, Oppenheimer, Heisenberg,

For example, Jules Verne , H.G. Wells , and my favorite Scifi author, Isaac Asimov, have all been termed the "Fathers of Science Fiction" in one time or another. Their novels have inspired scientists and inventors to come one step closer to such Human achievements like Space Exploration, the Appolo moon landings, the Skylab project, the Hubble Space Telescope, underground dwelling concepts as a deterrent to Nuclear wars, Undersea dwellings for research, even the creation of Robotics, Bio-mechanics and Quantum Physics as new fields of science, to name a few examples.

Another example, take the Star Trek Teleportation Devices, where people are 'beamed' from the spaceship to another with the kind assistance of Scotty!! Research has shown that at some point in quantum mechanics, it had actually been created in a lab, using sub-atomic particles of light, but nevertheless, it's proved the theory!

Again, taking a Star Trek adaptation, Warp Speed. New research based on previous research has proven-in theory-that Warp speed, or FTL (faster-than-light) travel may be possible, and that it's simply a matter of enough energy generated to enact this in fact, and the invention of 'exotic matter' to build the engines...not far off, but one step closer!

Another popular SciFi literature, Buck Rogers, utilized Einsteins paper 'On the Quantum Theory of Radiation' initiated - albeit loosely - the concept of the Ray Gun, or the Laser, which is being used in different ways, even right now on our CD/DVD devices.

My point is, with imagination and creativity, science can re-create science fiction. But what this report shows is sheer imagination in practice!! Imagine humans cross-bred with animals, and you'll see what I mean. The Ethical problems alone outweigh any Religious decisions to begin with, but it's research drawn from a creative community of scientists, inspired by Creative works like Science Fiction.

Of course, the scientists discuss the research as a tool to find out how Stem Cells can be manipulated more efficiently to suite humanity. Again, drawing from Science Fiction, and more closely, Star Trek's "Eugenics Wars". (I just HAD to put that in there!!)

Dream on...maybe we can find someone that can alter the weather so it'll be a standar 23 degrees celsuis all year :)

MOI's Answer to Traffic Congestion: Screw it up!!

I read this article about MOI's plans to limit congestion on Kuwaiti roads. Basically, instead of removing all those pesty taxis & underage drivers, the MOI decided to limit the drivers to people with University Degrees, etc.

Justice REALLY IS blind, way to go MOI!!

Kuwait Airways VS Alitalia

Considering the trouble and political wrangling that has been going on for some time now about the status of Kuwait Airways, and it's inflating budget deficit vis-a-vis it's plummeting quality of service, it comes as a shock to me to read this article about Alitalia's state of affairs, and how the Italian government is willing to sell it off for "one euro to anyone willing to take it off Rome's hands or letting it go bankrupt".

The last time i took a Kuwait Airways flight was last year, coming in from Bahrain, and it was out of desperation, and not preference! Even the low cost carriers like Jazeera and Al Arabiya have much better service, and they're 'low cost" carriers! The routes are better, the destination are more varied, even the flight attendants are nicer.

My apologies to any KAC staff who may be reading this post, but like everyone else, i say it the way I see it>

Away in Dubai, Continued

WHOOPS!!!!

I realized that all the posts I wrote while on Dubai weren't published! Thanks to my limited-but-increasing-knowledge of -Mac OSX!! Anyway, here is they are. WARNING: Long Post!

Day 3 (April 18)
1-Class review: Interesting opening lecture this morning, the recap of yesterday's subject was enough to consider yesterday's lecture as a waste of time! (10 minutes' summary was all it took!). We had an interesting speaking come in from NCR to talk about banking services & technologies & how people respond to both, yadda yadda yadda..Collected more business cards from a couple of bankers from Yemen. Apparently, in that country, people actually feel safer if they see as man with an AK47 in his hands standing outside the bank!

2-Movie review: Didn't go to the movies today, decided to stay in the room & catch up on my reading. Watched continuous coverage of the Virginia Tech shooting on CNN & BBC. Thank God they've started to ease off on the coverage. I suppose someone decided that CNN International doesn't have the same Demographics as CNN America!

3-Food Review: Burger King!!! It still rocks!

4-Reflections of the Day: To quote one of my one-liners: The difference between a dumb person and an idiot: An idiot doesn't realize that he's stupid!

Day 4 (April 18)
1-Class Review: Was physically in class, and that was it!! The afternoon session was OK, just can't remember what happened to the guy next to me, simply disappeared.

2-Movie review: I bumped into on of my cousins at the Mall, and we decided to go watch Christian Slater's The Deal. I'm always amazed at how Hollywood seems to re-invent stuff!!

3-Food review: Had McDonald's for lunch today. I've become attached to the fast-food chain, it seems, because I've become impartial to a double-cheeseburger (or a couple of them) with fries! During the evening, i went out withe a friend of mine & had a quiet shisha at the Business Bay, not more than 10 minutes away.

4-Reflections of the Day: People tend to check you out from head to toe, to size you up & see whether you fit a pre-set profile they've encapsulated within their minds from past experiences. In short, a person stands out simply from the way he dresses himself while outside his country. Proof: The next time you see some Middle-Easterners wearing Designer brand t-shirts over designer brand jeans, 9 times out of 10 they're tourists from another GCC country, and if they're wearing a baseball cap, they're almost always Kuwaiti! Try it out for yourselves the next time you're in Bahrain or Dubai.

Day 5 (April 19)
1-Class review: After a bit of arguing with the reception over my check-out time, I walked into class a 1/2 hour late. Wasn't a total loss, as there was a breing argument over the usefulness of the course and people's perceptions of it's contents upon signing up. (About time!) Towards the end of the day, we all said our goodbyes, made sure we had each others' business cards & set off on our own separate paths.

2-Movie Review: Spend a couple of hours at the closest Starbuck's at the mall, waiting for my friend to pick me up & drive to the airport. I decided to check in at the airport earlier than usual, since I had some last-minute shopping to do.

3-Food Review: Didn't have time to do much more than pack & check out. Didn't even have any meal on-board the flight. Just wasn't hungry all day. I was anticipating the home-made club sandwiches that my family's cook makes. They contain three slices of white bread, filled with cream cheese, fried eggs, chicken strips and lettuce. Simple but effective!

4-Travel review: Emirates is THE BEST! A hostess & bellboy welcomed me while I was still in the car, separate check-in lounge, smoothe-as-silk check in procedures, a couple of security checkpoints and I'm on my way shopping at the Dubai Duty-Free, all within 20 minutes of getting out of the car, and that's with other travellers in various queues before me!

5-Reflections of the Day: Nice to be back home. Ever notice that the color palates used at Kuwait Airport suspiciously include Pink?? Who else, but a complete poof would regard Pink as a viable corporate color?? Thankfully, I noticed that the logo on Kuwait Airport's Control Tower is now colored Blue...WAY much better!!

Away in Dubai, Part 1

I've had the opportunity to get sent to Dubai on a 5-day, 2-part course. Of course, Emirates Air are excellent, as usual, even though i had a nap on on the plane, I knew they served excellent food because my neighbor's stomach growled loudly at one point right before we landed, which is always a good culinary indicator.

I arrived at the Kempinski-Mall of the Emirates around 45 minutes after i touched down!! I was lucky enough to grab a free "limousine' ride from the airport to the Hotel, courtesy of Emirates Air's Business & First Class services. The driver-i imagine-must have some little pics of Michael Schumacher in his pocket because we were doing between 140 to 160KPH! I didn't, mind, i was eager to get a shower & unwind, especially after the slight turbulence we came across along the way!

I liked my hotel straight away! The Reception's ambiance was bright, modern, fresh, square motifs all over the place. I walked into my room and it was the same...square motifs, excellent layout, nice view, terrific bathroom...I had a shower almost immediately, ordered some dinner, watched TV on my 40-inch Plasma Widescreen LG TV.....but....

I tossed & turned all night! The pillows were so squashy & collapsible that my posture was never quire comfortable for sleep. Eventually all I could muster was 4 hours' sleep.

Woke up at 8am, reported to the classroom at 8:30 sharp..struggled to stay awake until the end of the fist day. Went back to my room to try & sleep some more, didn't amount to much.

Got up, dressed, walked down to the Mall, got some starbuck's to wake me up, did some window-shopping, & eventually decided to watch "Shooter" which is nothing more than crappy copy attempts from Commando, Sniper, Assassins, all wrapped together into one American-propagandized waste of time.

Point of Observation: Everywhere I look around I see non-locals as the majority, and they're all strutting to & fro, lugging sophisticated PDA's, talking to their friends, business associates or customers, or managers, always working or playing...in other words, living their lives. The locals, when they're around, are to some extent walking around, hunting for women, or sitting at coffee shops AND hunting around for women. I guess certain habits are across-the-board in the Gulf!