Monday, March 31, 2008
Anyone else?
Network Error (tcp_error)
A communication error occurred: "Operation timed out"
The Web Server may be down, too busy, or experiencing other problems preventing it from responding to requests. You may wish to try again at a later time.
For assistance, contact Customer Support.
Since yesterday I've been getting this with most of my googling. And Yahooing.
It's more than a little frustrating when you're trying to find information.
Is it just me or is it an Etisalat problem?
Six weeks for a death.
Last week I posted about Dubai Police saying they would appeal a lenient sentence handed down by the Traffic Court. They're saying the same about another appallingly lenient sentence today.
Having obtained his licence five months ago, a driver was travelling at 150kph on an 80kph road. He lost control and ploughed into a group of road maintenance workers, killing two and injuring fourteen others.
The court thought a sentence of three months and a six month driving ban was adequate.
Three months.
Take a life and spend six weeks in jail.
Oh, and diyyah, or 'blood money' - which is simply an emotive word for insurance.
Salah Bu Farousha, the Head of Dubai's Traffic Public Prosecution says:
"We will study the reasons of the verdict sheet thoroughly... then we will appeal the initial ruling to the higher court and ask for the implementation of the toughest punishment applicable."
Good for him, and as with last week's case I wish him luck.
We have to get these killers off the roads and locked up where they belong, but the courts aren't helping.
Gulf News has the story.
Having obtained his licence five months ago, a driver was travelling at 150kph on an 80kph road. He lost control and ploughed into a group of road maintenance workers, killing two and injuring fourteen others.
The court thought a sentence of three months and a six month driving ban was adequate.
Three months.
Take a life and spend six weeks in jail.
Oh, and diyyah, or 'blood money' - which is simply an emotive word for insurance.
Salah Bu Farousha, the Head of Dubai's Traffic Public Prosecution says:
"We will study the reasons of the verdict sheet thoroughly... then we will appeal the initial ruling to the higher court and ask for the implementation of the toughest punishment applicable."
Good for him, and as with last week's case I wish him luck.
We have to get these killers off the roads and locked up where they belong, but the courts aren't helping.
Gulf News has the story.
Good news on driving standards. Possibly.
Our beloved RTA has set up a new licensing agency.
Amongst all the guff in the press release and stories is the important bit:
"The new Licensing Agency will be responsible for licensing driving institutes as well as training instructors and inspectors of drivers.
It will also be responsible for the testing and licensing of drivers and vehicles along with endorsing conditions and guidelines governing the training of drivers.
One of the root causes of the problem has been the standard of instruction. The instructors just aren't teaching people how to drive correctly and safely.
The whole driving standards thing - I'm sure I've said this before - needs to be put on hold and looked at from start to finish. The most important item is the standard of training, so the trainers need to be trained, the training standards need to be established. We need a published Highway Code, we need road/driving education in schools - in other words, back to basics.
Maybe, just maybe, that may be on the horizon.
Read the story here.
Amongst all the guff in the press release and stories is the important bit:
"The new Licensing Agency will be responsible for licensing driving institutes as well as training instructors and inspectors of drivers.
It will also be responsible for the testing and licensing of drivers and vehicles along with endorsing conditions and guidelines governing the training of drivers.
One of the root causes of the problem has been the standard of instruction. The instructors just aren't teaching people how to drive correctly and safely.
The whole driving standards thing - I'm sure I've said this before - needs to be put on hold and looked at from start to finish. The most important item is the standard of training, so the trainers need to be trained, the training standards need to be established. We need a published Highway Code, we need road/driving education in schools - in other words, back to basics.
Maybe, just maybe, that may be on the horizon.
Read the story here.
Saturday, March 29, 2008
What's going on?
Dubai's first-in-the-world much vaunted air-conditioned bus stops, so recently installed, are now being boarded up:
Why?
Why?
The fire aftermath
Sadly, more people were killed than originally thought.
After investigation three people were listed as 'missing', and the body of one of them was reported on Thursday as having been found in the warehouse where the explosion occurred.
Now today Dubai Civil Defence say they have found 'scattered remains of human body parts' but don't yet know whether they are from one body or more.
The death toll is officially three with two missing. I guess this latest grim discovery may be the answer.
After investigation three people were listed as 'missing', and the body of one of them was reported on Thursday as having been found in the warehouse where the explosion occurred.
Now today Dubai Civil Defence say they have found 'scattered remains of human body parts' but don't yet know whether they are from one body or more.
The death toll is officially three with two missing. I guess this latest grim discovery may be the answer.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Explosion & fire in Al Quoz industrial area
At around seven this morning there was a huge explosion at a fireworks factory is Al Quoz industrial area, not far from Sheikh Zayed Road.
Civil Defence officials are saying, at 9am, that there's one fatality and one injured.
A huge plume of smoke is drifting over Dubai, firstly going out to sea but now changing direction and heading towards Sharjah.
Schools in the area around the fire are reported to have been evacuated, roads are closed - and SZR has heavy congestion thanks to the brainless rubbernecks whose main concern is to slow down to gawp at the smoke.
From Knowledge Village an hour ago the smoke was clearly visible...
The factory is near Interchange 3, apparently somewhere near the big cement factory. Reports from eye witnesses are saying that in spite of efforts by the firefighters the fire keeps re-igniting, presumably as more of the fireworks are set off.
I'll try to update this posting as more information becomes available and the situation becomes clearer.
Fingers crossed that no-one else has been hurt.
UPDATE
Civil Defence has confirmed one death and one serious injury.
Many neighbouring warehouses have been destroyed or badly damaged - estimates are varying wildly between 20 and 80. Already figures on the damage are being bandied about, but they can't be given any credibility while the fires are still raging.
Civil Defence units are arriving from Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Ajman to help control the fires.
Al Khail Road is chaotic, SZR not much better. And of course the morons are still with us, with eye-witness reports of them chasing emergency vehicles in an attempt to gain a few metres.
FURTHER UPDATE
Civil defence say that two people have died and one is seriously injured.
Met Office say that a sea breeze is pushing the smoke - and chemicals - inland and medical advice is to stay indoors.
Reports of up to 100 neighbouring warehouses/buildings on fire or damaged and others destroyed.
Losses are obviously going to be huge, probably hundreds of millions of dirhams. I wonder what happens to the staff of these businesses - are they kept on the payroll? That might be difficult if the company isn't able to trade. Or do they simply lose their employment? That would be disastrous for very many people.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
I noticed a visitor with a search engine enquiry "dubai explosion" from the UK. Followed it and I found that the international media is starting to cover the story.
ANOTHER UPDATE
I was in Mall of the Emirates at lunchtime and the fire was still burning well, so it certainly wasn't a small one.
Here's a photo from the car park at 1pm:
Civil Defence officials are saying, at 9am, that there's one fatality and one injured.
A huge plume of smoke is drifting over Dubai, firstly going out to sea but now changing direction and heading towards Sharjah.
Schools in the area around the fire are reported to have been evacuated, roads are closed - and SZR has heavy congestion thanks to the brainless rubbernecks whose main concern is to slow down to gawp at the smoke.
From Knowledge Village an hour ago the smoke was clearly visible...
The factory is near Interchange 3, apparently somewhere near the big cement factory. Reports from eye witnesses are saying that in spite of efforts by the firefighters the fire keeps re-igniting, presumably as more of the fireworks are set off.
I'll try to update this posting as more information becomes available and the situation becomes clearer.
Fingers crossed that no-one else has been hurt.
UPDATE
Civil Defence has confirmed one death and one serious injury.
Many neighbouring warehouses have been destroyed or badly damaged - estimates are varying wildly between 20 and 80. Already figures on the damage are being bandied about, but they can't be given any credibility while the fires are still raging.
Civil Defence units are arriving from Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Ajman to help control the fires.
Al Khail Road is chaotic, SZR not much better. And of course the morons are still with us, with eye-witness reports of them chasing emergency vehicles in an attempt to gain a few metres.
FURTHER UPDATE
Civil defence say that two people have died and one is seriously injured.
Met Office say that a sea breeze is pushing the smoke - and chemicals - inland and medical advice is to stay indoors.
Reports of up to 100 neighbouring warehouses/buildings on fire or damaged and others destroyed.
Losses are obviously going to be huge, probably hundreds of millions of dirhams. I wonder what happens to the staff of these businesses - are they kept on the payroll? That might be difficult if the company isn't able to trade. Or do they simply lose their employment? That would be disastrous for very many people.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
I noticed a visitor with a search engine enquiry "dubai explosion" from the UK. Followed it and I found that the international media is starting to cover the story.
ANOTHER UPDATE
I was in Mall of the Emirates at lunchtime and the fire was still burning well, so it certainly wasn't a small one.
Here's a photo from the car park at 1pm:
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
A Secret Dubai mystery
As we all know, SD is blocked in the UAE.
My visitors this morning include this one:
Domain Name (Unknown)
IP Address 194.170.24.# (Abu Dhabi Investment Authority)
ISP Emirates Telecommunications Corporation
Location Continent : Asia
Country : United Arab Emirates (Facts)
State/Region : Abu Zaby
City : Abu Dhabi
Lat/Long : 24.4667, 54.3667 (Map)
Language English (U.S.) en-us
Operating System Microsoft Win2000
Browser Internet Explorer 6.0
Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; InfoPath.1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727)
Javascript version 1.3
Monitor Resolution : 1024 x 768
Color Depth : 32 bits
Time of Visit Mar 25 2008 1:57:33 pm
Last Page View Mar 25 2008 1:57:33 pm
Visit Length 0 seconds
Page Views 1
Referring URL http://www.secretdubai.blogspot.com
Visit Entry Page http://dubaithoughts.blogspot.com/
Visit Exit Page http://dubaithoughts.blogspot.com/
Out Click
Time Zone UTC+4:00
Visitor's Time Mar 25 2008 2:57:33 pm
Visit Number 64,237
So someone in ADIA is coming in to me from a blocked site.
Actually, it's the second time today they've done it:
Domain Name (Unknown)
IP Address 194.170.24.# (Abu Dhabi Investment Authority)
ISPEmirates Telecommunications Corporation
Location Continent: Asia
Country: United Arab Emirates (Facts)
State/Region: Abu Zaby
City: Abu Dhabi
Lat/Long: 24.4667, 54.3667 (Map)
Language English (U.S.)en-us
Operating System Microsoft Win2000
Browser Internet Explorer 6.0Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; InfoPath.1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727)
Javascript version 1.3
Monitor Resolution: 1024 x 768
Color Depth: 32 bits
Time of Visit Mar 25 2008 8:42:20 am
Last Page View Mar 25 2008 8:42:35 am
Visit Length 15 seconds
Page Views 1
Referring URL http://www.secretdubai.blogspot.com
Visit Entry Page http://dubaithoughts.blogspot.com/
Visit Exit Page http://dubaithoughts.blogspot.com/
Out Click 8 commentshttp://www.blogger.c...D=765942449095148285
Time Zone UTC+4:00
Visitor's Time Mar 25 2008 9:42:20 am
Visit Number 64,177
Should I be hiding under the bed?
PS
Later in the day - they're still visiting via SD's blocked blog:
hct.ac.ae ? (United Arab Emirates)
IP Address 194.170.32.# (Higher Colleges of Technology)
ISP Emirates Telecommunications Corporation
Location Continent:Asia
Country: United Arab Emirates (Facts)
State/Region: Abu Zaby
City: Abu Dhabi
Referring URL http://secretdubai.blogspot.com/
Visit Entry Page http://dubaithoughts.blogspot.com/
Time Zone
Visitor's Time Mar 25 2008 5:11:32 pm
Visit Number 64,270
My visitors this morning include this one:
Domain Name (Unknown)
IP Address 194.170.24.# (Abu Dhabi Investment Authority)
ISP Emirates Telecommunications Corporation
Location Continent : Asia
Country : United Arab Emirates (Facts)
State/Region : Abu Zaby
City : Abu Dhabi
Lat/Long : 24.4667, 54.3667 (Map)
Language English (U.S.) en-us
Operating System Microsoft Win2000
Browser Internet Explorer 6.0
Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; InfoPath.1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727)
Javascript version 1.3
Monitor Resolution : 1024 x 768
Color Depth : 32 bits
Time of Visit Mar 25 2008 1:57:33 pm
Last Page View Mar 25 2008 1:57:33 pm
Visit Length 0 seconds
Page Views 1
Referring URL http://www.secretdubai.blogspot.com
Visit Entry Page http://dubaithoughts.blogspot.com/
Visit Exit Page http://dubaithoughts.blogspot.com/
Out Click
Time Zone UTC+4:00
Visitor's Time Mar 25 2008 2:57:33 pm
Visit Number 64,237
So someone in ADIA is coming in to me from a blocked site.
Actually, it's the second time today they've done it:
Domain Name (Unknown)
IP Address 194.170.24.# (Abu Dhabi Investment Authority)
ISPEmirates Telecommunications Corporation
Location Continent: Asia
Country: United Arab Emirates (Facts)
State/Region: Abu Zaby
City: Abu Dhabi
Lat/Long: 24.4667, 54.3667 (Map)
Language English (U.S.)en-us
Operating System Microsoft Win2000
Browser Internet Explorer 6.0Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; InfoPath.1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727)
Javascript version 1.3
Monitor Resolution: 1024 x 768
Color Depth: 32 bits
Time of Visit Mar 25 2008 8:42:20 am
Last Page View Mar 25 2008 8:42:35 am
Visit Length 15 seconds
Page Views 1
Referring URL http://www.secretdubai.blogspot.com
Visit Entry Page http://dubaithoughts.blogspot.com/
Visit Exit Page http://dubaithoughts.blogspot.com/
Out Click 8 commentshttp://www.blogger.c...D=765942449095148285
Time Zone UTC+4:00
Visitor's Time Mar 25 2008 9:42:20 am
Visit Number 64,177
Should I be hiding under the bed?
PS
Later in the day - they're still visiting via SD's blocked blog:
hct.ac.ae ? (United Arab Emirates)
IP Address 194.170.32.# (Higher Colleges of Technology)
ISP Emirates Telecommunications Corporation
Location Continent:Asia
Country: United Arab Emirates (Facts)
State/Region: Abu Zaby
City: Abu Dhabi
Referring URL http://secretdubai.blogspot.com/
Visit Entry Page http://dubaithoughts.blogspot.com/
Time Zone
Visitor's Time Mar 25 2008 5:11:32 pm
Visit Number 64,270
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