The Tallest Buildings in Dubai

Retweet this button on every post blogger Dubai has 54 buildings taller than 180 meters, and 47 buildings taller than 200 meters, only New
York City and Hong Kong come before Dubai in the number of buildings taller than 200 meters with
50 and 52 buildings respectively.

But, Dubai comes first in the number of buildings stand taller than 300 meters with 11 buildings,
While Hong Kong and Chicago both have 6 each.

The Tallest 10 Buildings:

1- Burj Dubai, height equals to 818 meters with 160 floors built for multipurpose usage. It’s also the tallest building in the world.

2- Almas Tower, height equals to 363 meters with 68 floors built as an office tower. It’s the 15-th tallest building in the world.

3- Emirates Office Tower, height equals to 355 meters with 54 floors used as offices. The 17-th tallest building in the world and the tallest completed building in the UAE.

4- Rose Tower, height equals to 333 meters with 72 floors used as a hotel. 22-ed tallest building in the world and the tallest building in the world that is used as a hotel.

5- The Index, height is 328 meters with 80 floors used for multipurpose.

6- Burj Al Arab, it’s a 321 meters tall tower with 60 floors used as a hotel.

7- HHHR Tower, 317 meters high with 72 floors.

8- Ocean heights, 310 meters height with 84 floors.

9- Jumeirah Emirates Towers Hotel, 309 meters height with 56 floors used as a hotel.

10- The Address Down Town Burj Dubai, 306 meters height with 63 floors.

For the complete list please visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tallest_buildings_in_Dubai

Today In History

Retweet this button on every post blogger 1781 Bank of North America, 1st US bank opens.
1857 Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa as new capital of Canada.
1879 Edison gives 1st public demonstration of his incandescent lamp.
1946 French troops leave Lebanon
1970 Paul McCartney files a lawsuit to dissolve Beatles
1973 Johan Cruyff chosen European soccer Player of year
1977 Amir Sheikh Jabir al-Ahmad al-Jabir Al Sabah becomes leader of Kuwait
1982 TV soap "Doctors" ends 19 year run
1991 USSR, last day of existence
1991 Dow Jones closes at record high 3168.83
1997 Microsoft buys Hotmail E-mail service
1999 Control of Panama Canal reverts to Panama00690901
2006 The death toll for Americans killed in the Iraq war reached 3,000

A historic night for Barcelona & Messi in Abu Dhabi

Retweet this button on every post blogger In a festive atmosphere in Abu Dhabi Barcelona won the FIFA Clubs' World Cup for the first time in their history. There were many highlights from the day; the great crowd, nice organization, the Argentine fans and Messi's genius goal.



This time we decided to move early from Dubai and avoid traffic congestion which would start an hour before the match, just like the semifinal. As we arrived we set off to the Fans' Oasis to get the colors painted on our faces, the flags and the photos in the warm up for the game.



Abu dhabi police stole our cigarettes for security reasons and then we took our place in the stands. This is my third time in a football stadium, and I have to say this was the best of them all! 43,050 fans came to see the likes of Messi, Ibra, Henry, Xavi and Veron. soon it was clear that Estudiantes fans were outnumbered, as the UAE local population was clearly siding with the Catalans. Having said that, the Argentines were not going to be intimidated by the other side! They were impressively organized, loud and never gave up! I can't say this about us as we were largely posers :). Not spaniards that is. The spaniards behind me tried in vain to create a rhythm, but our Spanish capabilities stood in the way.



An interesting incident took place. A police man approached the Saudi guy sitting below me and ordered him not to unfurl the Saudi flag! I couldn't understand why as others were waving other flags but the police man insisted. The Saudi guy expectedly ignored him and continued waving the flag for spite!



The match was exciting and we had a lot of fun, but as time passed by I was nearing the point of heart attack until Pedro looped a header past the Argentine goalie in the 89th minute. The crowd went nuts! And I personally lost my voice at that moment, and almost lost my eye to the flag being waved by the spaniard behind me! Off to extra time.



The Argentine fans started losing their drive as they began to realize that they had a glorious advantage which they threw away in the last minute. The tension continued until the little diavello, that is Lionel Messi "chested" a cross by Alves to the far side of the goal! The crow went "Loco" and Messi ran half the pitch in celebration! What a nerve! Not with his foot, not with his head but with his chest! Oh so casually. Now I can boast that I saw Messi scoring two goals live! I just admire this player, and I couldn't have asked for a more rewarding end of the day.



The crowd spent the remaining 8 minutes or so shouting and singing adding salts to the Argentine fans wounds!... Then comes the final whistle to announce Barcelona World Champions, and the Cherry on the top was Messi being named the Player of the Tournament! Nobody other than him deserved it. Veron took the Silver ball, and Xavi collected the bronze.



After the Ceremony we headed back to Dubai. On the way back, 160 km's everyone we saw was wearing the Barcelona Jersey with the Blugrana colors covering their happy faces. We stopped by a gas station to have a late night snack and you could swear this was a gas station in Barcelona! It was just a fantastic atmosphere.



We took a lot of pictures. Unfortunately, I'm too tired to try and download them from my Camera at this late hour. But we promise you'll have them posted soon enough :)



Viva Barca, and Viva Messi.

Christmas is early in Dubai

Retweet this button on every post blogger "I never think of the future - it comes soon enough.", Albert Einstein.

It's already Christmas in Dubai! After a couple of weeks of uncertainty, Dubai woke up today to a gift. 10 Billion Dollars is the amount that Abu Dhabi splashed to make sure that Dubai's troubled government-owned companies are safe.

In simple terms, this means that companies like Nakheel will be able to fulfill their commitment and pay back the banks. Is this a good news? Well, it depends on how you look at it. See, the alternative for Dubai would've been risking the City's reputation as a safe and reliable investment destination. Companies and individual investors would have been reluctant to come here and spend millions of dollars on investments.

So we established that this will help Dubai protect it's image. The question is; are there any strings attached to it?

Well, let's agree that no one gives free money. Definitely not 10 Billion dollars. It is highly probable that Abu Dhabi would like to have some stake in Dubai's thriving businesses; like Emirates Airlines or Dubai Ports, etc. It's also possible that Abu Dhabi wants to get a chunk of the Cherry that is Dubai's global image. Is it that bad? Absolutely not.

UAE is made of 7 small emirates, and it's certainly not bad that you have one Emirate helping the other. That's what a union is all about after all. Besides, if one city goes down it will drag the other one with it, and if one thrive it will pull the other up with it. So, if there were any strings, it will only make the bond between the two cities stronger and the residents whether locals or expats will definitely benefit from it.

This scenario becomes all the more favorable when you consider that other sources of funds/ strings can come from abroad. It was never a positive thing to have an external influence on your domestic policies or decisions. Whether help comes from USA, EU, Russia, China, KSA or any other source, that is an influence and a potential risk that UAE doesn't need.

So, Happy Eid and Merry Christmas to Dubai.

Dada egh!

Retweet this button on every post blogger I can proudly boost that the last time I intentionally tuned to an Arabic music channel was 8 years ago. The reason is that I got disgusted and ashamed by the extravagant amount of bullshit they play. And although I commend Melody for the great job their marketing team is doing promoting the channel with themed sketches like "Melody Tunes, all engelish all za time", "Melody tatahadda al malal", and "Melody aflam, aflam arabi... Om el agnabi", I can safely assume that they also have outclassed everyone else with their outrageous and shameless clips!

Today, and while I was vegging with a friend of mine doing absolutely nothing, we ended up throwing away the remote with Melody on. Suddenly, appeared on TV what initially looked like a joke, or maybe a new sketch. Much to our surprise it was actually a song by a girl called Pamela Quwaiq! The song was titled "Dada egh!". Still not knowing what is it that is just about to be thrown at us we kept watching! If I want to best describe her I'd say she looked like a cheap prostitute. With a dress barely covering her butt, she appeared to be acting in the opening scene of some porn movie! Things got better with her first two lines:

Dada dada egh.. Ngegh ngegh!!...

Now, I can't claim that the girl is not pretty. She probably qualifies as a candidate for Hareega's Mikro-blogging eye candy, but letting her sing on satellite TV is an insult to everyone! The point is, if I wanted to see flesh or a naked girl I would've simply got me a porno and cut straight to the chase! My question is, what purpose does this video serve??

This is definitely not a song for adults, cause dada egh is barely the line you'd use to address your lover, and if it's directed to kids then the amount of prostitution on display makes it inappropriate for humans well into their 40's! It's worth mentioning that the clip was directed by the "artist" herself.

Just as it ended we were treated to a song by Rami Ayyash - who is still convinced that he is sexy- and Ahmad Adawyya! Bullshi again. Less amount of prostitution though. Finally, a guy called Nabil Ajram caused my a Diarrhea with his " Bet'azzebni leh" clip. Prisoners sporting gayish unifroms being persecuted by wanton girls.

We decided the best thing to do is to go to sleep.

When I have my own kids I'll do the same thing our neighbor in Jordan did and will delete Melody, Mazzika, Rotana and the rest from my channel list.

Finally, I've predicted in an earlier post that we will start exporting porn to the rest of the world in 50 years. I'll revise that. It's going to happen in 20.

2010 World Cup Calculator

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Dear Readers and Football Fans,

We present to you The World Cup Calculator, where you can simply plug in the results and the file will automatically calculate the points and identifies the qualifying teams from the groups' stage.

Afterwards the qualified teams will be plugged into the knock-out stage, and similarly when you plug in the results of the match the winning team advances to the next stage. We took into consideration that teams might tie up in points, and further in goals' difference and that was automatically resolved by the algorithm. Again, games that end up in a draw in the knock-out stages can be sorted out with Penalty Kicks and that as well has been considered in the algorithm.

All you need to do is to fill the green fields with the scores and the file will do the rest :).

Use it for your predictions, bets or simply to track the world cup results as they go.

To download, click on the below link, and click download

The World Cup Calculator

If the above link is not working, copy and paste the link below.


http://www.zshare.net/download/697494464d0738c9/




We promise you, this is a virus-free excel sheet :)
 
Enjoy!

A world of dreamers and pragmatists

Retweet this button on every post blogger The world is a tragedy to those who feel, and a comedy to those who think.

Perspectives is what makes life interesting. It's what actually makes people different, not race or color.

people are born identical. With goodness instilled in them. They all believe in truth and happiness. They all believe in justice and the power of the human soul. But then, we grow up. We are taught different versions of history and God. We are made to believe that we own the truth, and that we are somehow better than the rest. It sure helps us advance in certain aspects of life, but the trade off is that we lose some part of our humanity as life goes by, and we see it happening with pride, thinking that we are somehow growing stronger and better.

If you are lucky, you go on with your life failing to notice this, as your reality doesn't challenge your ideas. If you're not that lucky, you meet someone who unintentionally strikes a truth that you will never be comfortable with. The greater the divide, the more difficult it is for you to accept the new facts. You might change, but there is only so much you can change without being denounced for relinquishing your superiority and your version of the truth. Suddenly, what you know, or thought you knew, becomes the greatest wall separating you from reality and your humanity.

Ignorance is a bless.

Being naive is often what makes you happy. That's why children have the most genuine smiles. You might think It is inevitable, but there are those who are blessed with a humane reservoir that decades of life won't consume. As for the rest of us, we grow older and we lose our humanity to nothing.

Those who are prepared to cross barriers are the unsung heroes of this race. Sadly, quite often they are the ones who pay the price. Blessed are those who believe in abstracts and non-existing values, for without them the earth will be inhabited by Swiss watches and robots dressed in human skin working relentlessly and obliviously on terminating this race.

It's your choice whether you die of a great Tsunami, an ice age, an Ozone hole, or a sudden non-existence of dreamers!

Dreamers give losers life, and lovers give everyone a home.

Jumping off the shoulder of a Giant!! A story of two men who dified gravity

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This short movie show the story of a Frenchman and An Englishman who jumped off from the top of the highest buidling in the world!

Enjoy!

Dubai... A Middle Eastern Dream

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As I grew up people dreamt about going to the US, the land of opportunities. Some wanted the UK, others wanted anything out of this stagnating region!

As I graduated there was a new destination. One that is unusually close, and easier to fit in. An Arab country. Somewhere we don't worry about being descriminated against or punished for who we are or what we believe in. People came from all corners of the world to experience it and live it. To be part of the boom and part of the phenomenon. This place is Dubai.

Unfortunately, the world is not fair. And while we always demand the best from governments and coutnries, we tend to crucify those who dream. Even if there dream worked for awhile. We rush and compete in bringing those who dream down. We point the fingers of blame and we open our mouths and we say: I KNEW IT!

I don't blame Europeans or North Americans. It just amazes me how middle easterners and specifically arabs feel so vendicated by what's going on now! What was it that you wanted? One more mundane place? Inorganized, flat, dirty, dull, Oil-dependant, aid-dependant & grey City? 

Dubai offered people an alternative for our corrupted countries and cities. A place to work and live in security and peace. A multi-cultural environment. A platform to meet people from other cultures in an unbiased condition. Prejudice free. Tax free. 

Everyone is allowed to dream, and everybody is encouraged to. nevertheless, we jump into the forefront and race to step on the the shoulders of a giant that fell down to accelerate its demise.

One question for, Egptians, Lebanese, Jordanians, Palestinians, Iranians, Indians, Filipinos, Australians and others; What is your alternative? What is your plan B?

Was Dubai perfect? Definitely not. Was everyone here happy and living the perfect life, absolutely not! But for many of us it was the perfect solution and the perfect alternative? Thousands of families lived on remittances from this country. Thousands of other families were built because of careers and expereicnes which would have been otherwise impossible. 

I still believe that it is not over. Maybe it will never be the same booming city it was before. There were mistakes and they will definitely need to be fixed, but that doesn't mean that the dream is dead.

It better still be alive. For everyone's sake! 

Status Update

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The past few weeks were a little different from what preceeded them. A change is always welcome. The question is; was it a good change?

Last time I scored 7.4!

Social: 8

Life is pretty rewarding sometimes, and after some dry spells you get reminded that you're not socially dead :).

Financial 8:

Hard work ocassionally pays off! It looks like it's going to be a good year. A new method in handling my finances is apparently paying off, even during Holidays.

Professional 9:

I'm having a great time :) ... If I manage to avoid the scramble of the year-end I will be bursting with fruits flavors.

Weather 9:

As I wished, I Felt a little cold in Jordan, and then came back to the wonderful winter of Dubai. It's a great time for outdoor activities.

Health 6:

You can't win it all!! I hate Flu.

Overall 8:

Looks like it was a good change :) .. I hope it goes on... Targeting 9.5 by March!

Analyze your relationships

Retweet this button on every post blogger Touchgraph is a great tool that you can use through Facebook. The tool is usually used for more professional purposes in business and science. However, you can also use it for fun!

Simply run the application on your Facebook account and you will get a graph analyzing your relationships, and those connecting your friends. Your friends will be clustered based on the relationships connecting them, and your friends will be scientifcally ranked based on their importance in your network!

For exmaple, if you look at the graph which is created from my account, you will find that Loui's circle is overlapping with mine! This simply means that this idiot is a very important part of my life whether I like it or not. This also goes for those showing up in the pyramid. This insight will make me think twice before I miss with any of those guys on the top... They'll pop up everywhere, and they'll disturb my network :)

I also went the extra mile and took a look at how diversified my network is, and I have to say that I felt proud of what I found out!

19% of my friends are Non-Arabs, 32% are of a different religion, 39% are not compatriots & 28% are females.
The colors represent clusters. These clusters put together people who are connected to each other, and by taking a closer look you will see who is the leading character in that group/cluster!

Try it, it's really interesting :)

All Hail El Messias

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After two years of coming second, Messi has finally and rightfully won the Ballon d'Or! Messi won all the titles that came his way along with Barcelona in 2008/2009 scoring many goals and assisting many others.

Messi scored 38 Goals and Amassed 16 Assist, many of those will go down as some of the best in history.

This year so far, Messi added 9 Goals and 5 Assists. Although a little more subtle than last year, I still believe he is going to be wonderful this year.

I just hope Maradona doesn't screw it up foor Argentina and him next year in South Africa!

I leave you with a clip of all his goals with Barcelona in the 2008/2009 season.