Dubaiaiaiai..........

drawing by marguerita

E arly this month, Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum told its critics to “shut up” and also asked them to “do their homework”, while addressing an investment conference organised by Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Dubai.

Sheikh Mohammed, who is also the Prime Minister and Vice-President of the UAE, while stressing the close ties between Dubai and Abu Dhabi —

Dubai drew a $10 billion emergency loan from the UAE central bank recently — said “I just want to tell these people who nag about Dubai and Abu Dhabi to shut up.” Abu Dhabi is the capital of UAE, which includes seven emirates, including Dubai. However, it was a well known fact that the oil-rich Abu Dhabi would never tolerate a phenomenon that any other Emirates growing politically or financially powerful than it.

http://www.hindu.com/biz/2009/11/30/stories/2009113050021300.htm“

This came as a big shock,” said Fahd Iqbal, an analyst at EFG-Hermes, an investment bank focused on the Middle East. Although Mr. Iqbal said he held to the view that Dubai in the end would avoid default, he acknowledged that the measure had severely rattled confidence in Dubai. “One of the main issues now is of credibility and the potential impact on future fund-raising, which could have knock-on effects on building and infrastructure plans for Dubai and the United Arab Emirates,” he said.

Dubai in Arabic means young Desert Locust!! Why is it called that way? Well this area was full of Locust as recent as 50+ years ago. Actually Dubai area was known for Grass hopper to an extent that there is a very old Arabic Proverb (may be pre-Islamic era or early Islamic period), when some body wants to describe something as plentiful he would say "like the Locust of Dubai”. The Stem Deb/Dub in Semitic languges has lots of connections to insects and animals, it also means to crawl or walk and It is interesting for you to know that Debroha, the Biblical name, which means a bee in Ancient Caananite language (Dabbor in Arabic is also a type of bee) Ok I will digress but you might be interested to know that in Arabic language lots of Animal names come from this stem ( db ) for example Daabah: Animals in general Dubb : Bear Dhabb: Lizard Dhaby (like in Abo Dhaby, UAE capitol): Gazelle Dabbor :bee Thobab: Fly (insect) Theeb : Wolf Dhaba' : Hayena

Desert Locust The pesky insects not only disappeared from Dubai but almost from the entire Arabian Peninsula. The insects used to invade the area from Africa across the Red Sea! Why aren't they around any more! I don't know. You might be surprised to know that people used to eat em!! I asked my grand father how it tasted like. Well his answer was (No not chicken) but shrimps. I have to admit that 30 years ago during a fluke, aberrant, mini Locust invasion of the surrounding area I saw a plate full of Locust? How was it prepared? Well it was boiled and NO I did NOT eat any of it. Any way I guess in the early 20th Century and time prior to that those Locust ate nothing but clean desert vegetation and where probably a source of healthy proteins. I suppose I am not sure- that people in the deserts of Africa do still eat these Locust, Please feel free to correct me if you think that I am wrong. If you want to know more about Locust read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locust

http://cache.virtualtourist.com/1/3611453-Desert_Locust-Dubai.jpg

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/28/goodbye-dubai/

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/6016fc26-dd17-11de-ad60-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1

Obama & Stimulus

collage by marguerita
One of the two members of the class of rolling, or so-called antifriction, bearings (the other member of the class is the roller bearing). The function of a ball bearing is to connect two machine members that move relative to one another in such a manner that the frictional resistance to motion is minimal. In many applications one of the members is a rotating shaft and the other a fixed housing.
Archimedes was one of the first to think deeply about fluid physics, and while many people know the famous story about his discovery of the principle of buoyancy (he saw the water level rise as he stepped into the bath, then ran naked through the streets yelling “eureka”) few know exactly what he was looking for (“eureka” means “I found it” in ancient Greek).Guest Column: The Absurdly Artificial Divide Between Pure and Applied Research - Olivia Judson Blog - NYTimes.com

Paul Krugman:You've Come a Long Way, Baby.and Now?

drawing by marguerita“I think people are concerned about what’s in the stimulus package”....

These aren’t normal times, so normal political standards don’t apply: Mr. Obama’s victory feels more than a bit like defeat. The stimulus bill looks helpful but inadequate, especially when combined with a disappointing plan for rescuing the banks. And the politics of the stimulus fight have made nonsense of Mr. Obama’s postpartisan dreams.Op-Ed Columnist - Failure to Rise - NYTimes.com

Obama and The Enigma

drawing by marguerita
But it was not to be...
I ended Tuesday less confident about the direction of economic policy than I was in the morning.Like anyone who pays attention to business and financial news, I am in a state of high economic anxiety. Like everyone of good will, I hoped that President Obama’s Inaugural Address would offer some reassurance, that it would suggest that the new administration has this thing covered.
In response to an unprecedented economic crisis — or, more accurately, a crisis whose only real precedent is the Great Depression — Mr. Obama did what people in Washington do when they want to sound serious:
he spoke, more or less in the abstract, of the need to make hard choices and stand up to special interests. Op-Ed Columnist - Stuck in the Muddle - NYTimes.com