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"Assuming the energy cost is 10 cents per kilowatt-hour" why the bloody hell would you think UAE would be paying 10c/kw-hr for energy? That's 5x more than /solar/ costs in the area, and they have oil to spare. https://gulfnews.com/news/uae/...

The government got a ship for 4.4 billion and we are supposed to be glad?

Sure, we can sell it to the Saudis with a small markup. *Ain't war hell?*

Err no he's a traitor because he gave a oath to serve the NSA.. no matter how you cut it he wasn't just a random dude off the street who happened upon a bag of goodies and is now handing them out... he took a oath to protect the bag.. besides it's all pointless banter.. snowden is a CIA Triple Agent http://www.salon.com/2013/06/1... 'leaking' public knowledge to enable the CIA to keep Bashar al-Assad in power http://gulfnews.com/opinions/c... and prepare for war against China by building invade points in north Australia http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11... ...

As for "conventional" supercars: http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/emergencies/driver-killed-as-speeding-ferrari-hits-tree-in-dubai-1.1208954

Wait, Dubai has trees?

(Yes, that was a joke. I'm sure Dubai has many trees. All carefully planted and plumbed with irrigation hoses, but... )

Either way from the 3 incidents it seems like Tesla cars are safer than average.

Most conventional cars don't do well hitting trees at high speeds. As for "conventional" supercars: http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/emergencies/driver-killed-as-speeding-ferrari-hits-tree-in-dubai-1.1208954

Some don't even need to hit a tree to fall apart and burn:
https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/lamborghini-splits-brooklyn-collision-article-1.1465610
http://www.autoevolution.com/news/lamborghini-aventador-crash-in-brooklin-splits-car-in-half-67419.html

Too bad I'm not in a position to buy Tesla stock.

Israel's justification for starting the 1967 war is the Eygptian blockade of the Straits of Tiran.

So, Israel's justification for attack was an act of war by Egypt? Brilliant!!

Except that means that any and all attacks from Hamas or Hezbollah in response to Israel's total blockade of Gaza are completely justified, according to Israeli rules.

Wrong again. First, it isn't a total blockade. If it was, the Palestinian Arabs in Gaza would not have been able to build a new shopping center, would they? But weapons are being stopped, like the many Iranian rockets being smuggled into Gaza.

Biggest mall in Gaza Strip opens its doors

Second, Gaza is not a nation state, but a territory. It shouldn't be attacking anyone. Any attacks coming from there are either direct aggression by the Hamas government, or terrorism

Third, it doesn't have an army, navy, or air force.

Just as Israel's possession of a couple hundred nuclear weapons means that they should be threatened with economy-destroying sanctions and military strikes, if Iran is threatened with the same in case they someday decide they want a nuclear weapon.

Israel is not a member of the Non Proliferation Treaty, it has no obligations under the treaty, and its possession of nuclear weapons is unproven. Iran is a member, has obligations, and they seem to be in breach of treaty on top of being rebuked by the UN Secretary General for repeatedly threatening Israel's existence. Note that the issue between Israel and Iran is totally Iran's fault. Israel and Iran were allies when the Shah governed Iran. It was only after the Islamic revolution that the new Iranian government declared Israel an enemy to be destroyed. Israel did nothing to warrant that.

So, you continue to side with would-be genocidal aggressors and repeatedly condemn the only liberal democracy in the Middle East, often on specious grounds. For some reason this comes to mind:

Queers for Palestine

No single group better exemplifies the cognitive dissonance on display at these rallies than Queers for Palestine, also known as QUIT -- Queers Undermining Israeli Terror. What is left to say about the fundamental self-contradicting nature of such a group?

In Israel, gays live openly and happily in a free and liberal society. There is a thriving gay scene, just as there is in the United States and many other Western democracies.

But in Palestine -- as in most Islamic countries -- being gay is not only frowned upon, it is a crime often punishable by death. Tales of what life is like for gays in Palestinian society are horrifying in the extreme. In fact, gay youth in Palestine frequently flee to Israel if they can get a chance.
So why in the world would gay activists in the most gay-friendly city on Earth protest against one of the other centers of gay liberation (Israel) and for one of the planet's most violently oppressive homophobic societies?

This is the essence of cognitive dissonance -- the condition of holding two differing beliefs that are so incompatible and contradictory that the only way to internally reconcile them is to, well, go insane (to use the layman's term). Because, try as I might, I can't comprehend any other justification for being a member of QUIT other than insanity. ...more

--------

Which, for some reason, also entitled them to seize a great deal of sur

Reality doesn't seem to be a strong suite of at least some Britons. Like the Prime Minister.

That's hardly limited to Brits.

Being able to filter reality in favor of your own beliefs seems to be required to be a politician of any stripe.

Modern political discourse is about deciding you are in possession of infallible truth, and then never listening to opposing view points again, and generally acting like a douchebag towards anybody who disagrees with you -- so much so that it devolves into screeching monkeys flinging feces at one another.

Yeah, why don't you read his actual words (instead of 2 tiny quotes twisted into something he did not say)? Here:

http://gulfnews.com/opinions/columnists/eye-for-an-eye-will-not-solve-anything-1.1094629

As I said before, he is a do-gooder opportunist. He speaks of secularism to the Pakistani middle class and pro-Taliban views to the mullahs, and it is the same with many other policy areas. He used to be famous in the 80s as a playboy, now he presents himself as a sober Muslim, similar to how you will find no reference to Jinnah, the first Governor-General's, drinking of alcohol as it is un-Islamic. To some he is a man of contradictions, to others he is a hypocrite. I agree with his stance on drones and the damage to the local economy in the borderlands. What I don't agree with is his flip flopping and choosing to speak of out both sides of his mouth.

Personally I was impressed - anyway, whether you disagree or agree with him you can't deny that he does not justify violent and criminal actions of Taliban. Oh, wait... I take it back, I'm sure someone can deny that - I've seen more astonishing blindness. ...and then it might be a bit complex for some people just wishing for simplified view on world and people to judge them :)

And get your head out of your ass, there is no need for such arrogant pomposity, it does you no favours.

Yeah, why don't you read his actual words (instead of 2 tiny quotes twisted into something he did not say)? Here:

http://gulfnews.com/opinions/columnists/eye-for-an-eye-will-not-solve-anything-1.1094629

Personally I was impressed - anyway, whether you disagree or agree with him you can't deny that he does not justify violent and criminal actions of Taliban.
Oh, wait... I take it back, I'm sure someone can deny that - I've seen more astonishing blindness. ...and then it might be a bit complex for some people just wishing for simplified view on world and people to judge them :)

His position on it is quite nuanced and he is no radical Taliban supporter:

http://gulfnews.com/opinions/columnists/eye-for-an-eye-will-not-solve-anything-1.1094629

Thanks, this quote was awesome and brought some light to my day by showing that there are still intelligent and good people among leaderships of world :)
Also, I agreed with you already on your previous post (it pretty much said what I had thought about the link to supposedly "extremist views" just myself), but if I had any doubt about it this certainly must have wiped it all away :)

Regardless of what his opinions are on the military situation in Pakistan, I don't think it's appropriate for border guards to harass prominent foreign politicians at the US border, particularly not those who are relatively moderate, *even if they disagree with US foreign policy*.

Indeed, it's bad behavior and won't do anyone any good. I wonder who choose to pick him for questioning, as it seems apparent that it was done because of the drone opinions - not a randomly chosen check IMHO clearly.

Not attempting to twist things, but I felt that particular article was somewhat sensationalist and simplistic. I don't agree with everything he says, and feel he should be stronger in condemning the Taliban, but do agree with his opposition to drone strikes, and his insistence that a *military* solution is simply not going to work, and is in fact counterproductive. His hesitancy in condemning the Taliban outright is explained by him saying that it would be somewhat cowardly for him to do this (though profitable politically), and then leave the badlands for Islamabad and let his agency workers be killed by the Taliban for his words. That doesn't convince me personally, but it is not supportive of the Taliban in the Swat area, it's hinting that they're murderous thugs.

I suspect personally that the Taliban timed the hit on Malala (a cruel attack on an admirable girl, which khan condemned) in order to try to undermine moderates like him and polarise the debate - the Taliban (if we can talk about them as one group) would much rather deal with a military which is funded by the Americans and condones drone strikes (which work for them when they kill civilians) than deal with civilian politicians who attempt to negotiate with tribal leaders, end violence, and ultimately isolate the remaining Taliban as a criminal element (which is what his proposals seem to amount to). His position on it is quite nuanced and he is no radical Taliban supporter:

http://gulfnews.com/opinions/columnists/eye-for-an-eye-will-not-solve-anything-1.1094629

Here is an example:

Unless we address these very different groups [of terrorists] and understand their motivation, senseless military operations will push all of them together, create yet more collateral damage and increase terrorism in Pakistan. We will be looking at a never-ending war. So what is the solution?

Regardless of what his opinions are on the military situation in Pakistan, I don't think it's appropriate for border guards to harass prominent foreign politicians at the US border, particularly not those who are relatively moderate, *even if they disagree with US foreign policy*.

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Another thought: I don't know if these plant have boric acid for emergencies. For water-cooled reactors (e.g. PWR) it is a requirement to have a load of boric acid that can be dumped into the primary coolant to ensure permanent shutdown in the case of an emergency. Boric acid dissolves in the water and the boron absorbs all the neutrons. shutting down the nuclear reactions. It's a permanent shutdown though :-)

They have already announced that they are pumping sea water and boric acid into reactor #1. I think they are still trying to save #2 and #3, but they obviously have the ability to permanently kill them too if necessary.

http://gulfnews.com/news/world/other-world/japan-tries-sea-water-boric-acid-to-cool-down-nuclear-reactors-1.775701

http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/traffic-transport/fatality-rates-on-dubai-roads-drop-considerably-1.531042

Google is your friend, as it usually goes.

Also - original poster wrote so long a post, one can only hope he spent third of that time on Google.

The new shift is from a foreign currency reserve of US dollars to Euros.

Actually a lot of organized crime funds terrorism. I'm sure on your travels in SE Asia, you didn't see any so obviously it doesn't exist. If it seems absurd to you, then we're sorry and will try to let reality intrude less next time.

I'll see your article and raise you this one... http://www.gulfnews.com/nation/Police_and_The_Courts/10282898.html

• Palm Island: Delayed. Some apartments were released and the outside walls started cracking due to foundation issues. Who would have thought building on wet sand would be tough. :)
• World shaped Island: Delayed.. no one talks about it anymore around here. Full media blackout. Official statement is "Everything has been sold, we are on track". On track for what? when? no one knows. I doubt anyone ever bought any of those island. For half the price you'd get your own real island in SE Asia where the weather is nicer and the repression is much gentler.
• Burj Dubai, biggest tower in the world. Well according the the view by my window... Delayed
• Dubai Mall (biggest mall in the world, or so it says): Was supposed to open two weeks back in August but when I passes by it yesterday they were still busy pouring concrete.

I could go on and on with my rant. I just want to add that we live behind a filtering proxy that bars any website that dares commenting against the UAE and it is very well possible that slashdot will go bye bye for a few days because of this comment. Just as it already did last year.

Forget about mega-projects announced by Dubai Gov or related entities. It's nothing but an attention whoring press release from a city that would love to play in the big league.

If you care to come around to verify that by yourself you're welcome but be careful what you pack though: http://thetruthaboutdubai.com/?p=4

So what. In Iraq, the MAJORITY of the insurgents (terrorists) are foreigners.

"General Taluto said "99.9 per cent" of those captured fighting the US were Iraqis, but was also adamant most people in Iraq wanted a free, democratic and independent country."

http://archive.gulfnews.com/articles/06/06/07/10045272.html

two dubai students created a computer model that said brasil would beat italy on the finals to win it's sixth title.

unfortunately, the model was unable to predict the humiliating defeat we sufered to the french (we played francec three times on world cups. lost all three, including a final) and italy's victory on the penalty shoot-out over france.

if the model correctly placed italy on the finals, that was more a lucky guess than a correct prediction.

football (not the america kind, mind you. the regular kind) is by definition unpredictable.

"but you are relying on unscientific methods..."

Really? Are you sure it's just unscientific speculation?

(apologise for including a fox news link, I think my point stands nonetheless)

"to conduct your 'survey' and concluding based on these biased methods (that you created) that your results are the only results possible"

My survey? Biased methods? That I created? All those articles aren't quoting me you know! I wasn't even alive for the 1958 study!

"Btw something which has 'exceptions' doesn't make 'fact' status"

Did I say 'fact' or did I say 'trend'? (problems with vocabulary recall?) I think you'll find it was the latter (and here's the link to my post if you're in doubt)... although, it is a fact that there is a trend, as the numerous research projects have shown. The fact that there are exceptions is what makes it a trend, not a law.

I'm sorry, but the planet you're from, what is it called? The US labor unions have been almost eviscerated in the last 20 years this link your tax dollars paid for. Actually, it's more likely the janitor cleaning an office building is not unionized in the US. Dubai has no real unions. Most unions outside of Western Europe and the US are actually powerless. In many countries even things like health and safety regulations are a weakly enforced or even non-existant.

I get tired of adding this reference to where I showed you wrong

No, I'm pretty sure OP meant that the Pirates of the Indian Ocean also do copyright infringement...

... rotating an 80,000 tonne tower through 360 degrees over a seven day period ... state of the art bearing systems at several points in the tower will allow a power plant to rotate the base of the tower at 5mm per second using only 21 electic kettles' worth of solar power.

Cooper said state of the art bearing systems at several points in the tower will allow a power plant to rotate the base of the tower at 5mm per second using only 21 electic kettles' worth of solar power.

Has anybody noticed how the top part of the rotating building:

http://archive.gulfnews.com/images/06/11/29/30_bs_ tower_4.jpg

has the same shape as the top part of Sauron's tower, Barad-dur?

http://uk.games-workshop.com/mordor/mordorhome/ima ges/mordor-sideimage.jpg

Something fishy's going on here...

Dubai's Kulkarni QS will manage the project, while the task of rotating an 80,000 tonne tower through 360 degrees over a seven day period has been handed to Nick Cooper, managing director of Bennett Associates, the British engineer who designed the drill machine that bored the English Channel Tunnel.

Cooper said state of the art bearing systems at several points in the tower will allow a power plant to rotate the base of the tower at 5mm per second using only 21 electic kettles' worth of solar power.

1. Since it will take a full week for a complete revolution, that means that a given view indicates both the day of week AND the time of day. Think of enjoying the view at your neighbor's home and getting all confused as to what day/time it is. :O

2. This will make for an interesting exercise in real estate law. Said apartment, starting at the central elevator shaft on the 50th floor and heading 100 feet due east, no, wait. That's east-north-east. Man, this is going to take FOREVER! But seriously, has anyone seen a property deed for something like this?

3. "only 21 electic kettles"
   electic
   eclectic
   electric

   (insert witty comment here about tea parties and electic electric kettle selection. :^)

4. Note to other posters: I have heard of rotating restaurants and/or observation decks - this is not an utterly new concept. So, getting the utilities (water, sewer, electric, etc.) to the residents is a matter of scaling past solutions.

5. Lastly: I admire their interest in getting something as immense as a WHOLE SKYSCRAPER to rotate, continuously, for years on end. I just hope they'll be able to get their hands on a good supply of lubricant. <grin>

So now I can get home from work an hour early and can catch my neighbour's wife having an affair.

But seriously: How exactly is a rotating building meant to mess up one's circadian rhythm? Does the blogger think this building is rigged up to do a lap of the Earth each day? It's spinning on the spot!

Finally, why link to a crappy blog entry complete with typos and irrelevant BS, when you could link directly to the article?

Wanna bet he meant the Philippines (or Vietnam, where Typhoon Durian is hitting now)?

Students predict the outcome of the World Cup

They use some algorithms and a lot of data. For the record, with 83% accuracy, Brazil will beat Italy.

While it might not apply to your single-test request, Medical Tourism might help. In your case, for less than the total cost you mention you might be able to fly or drive to a nearby country and get the same test, but in a way that you own the results. More commonly, medical tourism is used to either get an extensive set of medical tests done for a fraction of the U.S. cost (if you could get your HMO to authorize the set in the first place), or to get specific surgeries or dental procedures done for far less than the U.S. cost.

The well-known m.t. hospitals have the same equipment and safety standards as U.S. hospitals, but much cheaper prices. Plus you get your own data and the hospital room is like a resort hotel, sometimes with beach nearby.

As examples, a friend needed $20,000 worth of dental work done (as estimated by U.S. dentists). His total cost was less than $5,000 in Costa Rica (including plane tix: Costa Rica is known for dental m.t.), plus he got some ecotourism time in the rain forests. Several of the m.t. hospitals in Thailand and elsewhere have had their business skyrocket after 2001: families who used to visit the U.S. for their yearly checkups (Mayo clinic or similar) aren't being allowed into the U.S. (i.e. a drop of 40% from Middle Eastern countries. Stop the most U.S. friendly people in these countries from seeing their long-term doctors and keep their money away from U.S. businesses: great PR and great economic planning, with no appreciable safety benefits. ).

M.T. also allows you to truthfully say you're going off for a vacation when you're going to get elective surgery like liposuction or plastic surgery done. On your return you'll get "Hey, you look better...nice tan."

I tend to try to look up any news in things like:
http://english.aljazeera.net/ Aljazeera for a quite extreme view.
http://www.gulfnews.com/ GulfNews as example of moderate arab media a bit further away.
and many others as time and intrest permits.

-FL