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Ioannis: What is the secret of Dubai’s success?

The desert.

[Sheikh Mohammed] said: “It is due to the vast desert spaces of his country, where the mind has the freedom to think, to explore and to dream.”

So those of you who guessed oil/cheap expat labour/absolute power were all wrong.

It’s sand.
Отправлено в 9:41 четверг

“What the world needs is more geniuses with humility, there are so few of us left.”

Oscar Levant (1906-1972)

I realised my blog’s been going for two years. My first blog was on 9/05/05/
Two years ago on this day I wrote about another long day at the office. And here I am now on a Friday, winding things down at the office!
Ah Fate, this is one of those “Irony” thingies you do, isn’t it?

Okay, Bush henchman and right-wing republican Wolfowitz has been forced to quit the Presidency of the World Bank. The reason? He showed favouritism to his girlfriend who was also on the World Bank payroll.

Now I’ll be the first to say I’m glad that no gooder’s gone. But surely the very reason why successful men get good-looking (and I’m making a very sound assumption here that this girl was one hot mama) girls half their age is that they are in a position to bestow or return favours??

Where’s the incentive to men to strive to be successful if they can only spend it on a high-speed internet connection for porn?? Any Joe can get that nowadays. (On a separate note I hope to get broadband pretty soon). Surely throughout the history of mankind the main drive for competition has been reproduction?

Help me out somebody, or I might just get disillusioned and step off this treadmill!!

Later: Just thought of this. I know another mate of Bush’s who’s gonna be out of a job on the 27th of June. Do you think he could step up and replace Wolfowitz? Blair for World Bank President anyone??

My first video post, it had to be this song.

dipFMJckZOM

There’s a difference between

“…putting an end to the political crises.”

and

 “…putting an and to the political crises.”

 PanArmenian.Net, this is mediocre journalism.

(Do you have one??)

Tim Harford wrote this about economics and the racial discrimination it uncovers

“Economists Marianne Bertrand and Sendhil Mullainathan recently conducted a large study along these lines in the U.S., mailing out nearly 5,000 résumés after randomly assigning them black-sounding names like Jamal or Ebony or white-sounding names like Kristen or Brendan.

Not only did the “black” résumés get fewer callbacks, but employers didn’t even seem to notice whether the résumés were any good or not. They just stopped reading at “Jamal.””

The full article is here http://www.forbes.com/2007/02/25/economics-discrimination-education-lead_achieve07_cz_th_0301discrimination.html

We are more ready to try the untried when what we do is inconsequential. Hence the fact that many inventions had their birth as toys.

-Eric Hoffer

Well apparently my sister has got herself a little 19 year-old to play with.

She was expecting me to give her some talking down about age-difference and sensibility.

But then I’d be the last person to forbid people in their late twenties from snaring themselves a 19 year-old, if they can.

I reckon that when she’s 90 she’ll still have the memory of what it was like to have a 19 year-old.

Contaminated fish and micro chips
Huge supertankers on Arabian trips
Oily propaganda from the leaders’ lips
All about the future
There’s people over here, people over there
Everybody’s looking for a little more air
Crossing all the borders just to take their share
Planning for the future

And we’re so abused, and we’re so confused
It’s easy to believe that someone’s gonna light the fuse
Can’t happen here, can’t happen here
All that you fear they’re telling you, can’t happen here

Supersonic planes for a holiday boom
Rio de Janeiro in an afternoon
People out of work but there’s people on the moon
Looking for the future
Concrete racktracks nationwide
Juggernauts carving up the countryside
Cars by the million on a one way ride
Using up the future

And we’re so abused, and we’re so confused
It’s easy to believe that someone’s gonna light the fuse
Can’t happen here, can’t happen here
All that you fear they’re telling you, can’t happen here

Satellites spying for the CIA
The KGB and the men in grey
Wonder if I’m gonna see another day
Somewhere in the future
We got everything we need for a peaceful time
Take what you want but you can’t take mine
Everybody’s living on the Siegfried line
Worried ’bout the future
And we’re so abused, and we’re so confused
It’s so easy to believe that someone’s gonna light it
Easy to believe someone’s gonna light the fuse
Can’t happen here, can’t happen here
All that you fear they’re telling you, can’t happen here can it?

-Rainbow

 

Although the lyrics are ages-old, they’re still not outdated. Except for the KGB bit, of course. Or did they ever really disband….?