Archive | March, 2008

Renault and Whipped Cream

$What\'s with Renault and whipped cream?$ I’m not sure what’s up with the Renault F1 team, but I just saw three of them at Geant with 2 fully loaded trollies of cookies and many many cans of whipped cream.

I can find no explanation other than them stocking up on comfort food, you know, the food one scoffs to deaden the senses and ameliorate feelings of guilt. Oh, and as a good “pick me up” after a heavy loss.

So maybe they already know what next weekend’s results are going to be… mind you, with The Fluke back with them, it’s no real surprise!

The Arab Summit transcends bounderies

In a unaccustomed move, the United Arab States – a federation of 23 countries with ancient histories and shared language and values – voted yesterday to adopt the resolutions put forth by Bahrain – which chairs this year’s session – to end the 60 year occupation of Israel, cede control of Jerusalem to become a Capital International Interfaith Independent Centre [cIIIc] presided over by an elected troika representing the main religions of the world.

After 5 long years of discussion, the final reservations by some member states have been removed which paved the way to the adoption of the Universal Constitution which exceed the minimum requirements set forth by the United Nations for respect of human rights and personal freedoms guarantees and forms a new standard to which the rest of the world aspires to emulate.

They have also agreed to continue to fund poverty programs in the sisterly United States of America as well as the Republic of Germany by specifically raising the level of support for educational and entrepreneurial programs. A new office is to be set up to invite budding entrepreneurs from those countries to the UAS’ centres of excellence in Mali (which has joined the UAS as part of its expansion program 3 years ago) to learn from the ancient skills of salt extraction transportation and trade and use those newly acquired skills as a benchmark for their own endeavours on their return to their countries.

The united front of the UAS and its strong communiques have been praised by their citizens who continue to enjoy the effects of stable democratic governments and burgeoning economies.

Next year’s summit, to be held in the Comoros, the new cyclical capital of the UAS, promises to be crucial for the development of this region. Next year’s agenda includes existential issues like allowing Indian and Japanese scientists access to our space and nuclear fission programs as well as the important issue of expansion of our borders by looking into the applications of Iran, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan to the East and Chad and Niger to the West to join the UAS. If successful, this will inevitably require a change of name of the federation from the UAS to a proposed Middle Eastern Sublime States [MESS].

Crying babies are no longer the only thing to screw your flight

Mobile phones will too.

I travel quite regularly and can tell you that no matter how short the flight is, a screaming baby must be the thing that judges should excuse people for going on an air born killing spree.

Now travellers will not just have to contend with that, with mobile phone calls gradually being allowed aloft, the relative peace and escape you so far enjoyed for that short period of time is being shattered. Thanks to “innovative” companies convincing the air transport authorities that mobile phones no longer pose a danger of subverting the aircraft navigational systems.

Zain’s agreement with AeroMobile includes International Roaming Services for all Zain in Jordan’s customers through which they can now enjoy using voice calls as well as SMS services on board. GPRS, Black Berry Services and Push Mail will be also available to customers in the near future.

Brilliant. Can you hear the various stupid ring and message tones in full volume and 27.1 surround sound?

For appropriate use of mobile phones on board, all airlines will be providing a list of guidelines, which will include a request for passengers to switch their mobile phones to ‘silent’ mode during the flight. Furthermore, the cabin crew will be able to monitor as well as handle full control of how the system will be used throughout the trip. Passengers wanting to use the service during the trip will receive a text message welcoming them to the AeroMobile system as soon as they switch their mobile phones on.

Yeah sure. Just as people do so in movie theatres, concerts and even places of worship.

AeroMobile’s Chief Executive Bjorn-Taale Sandberg said: ‘We are delighted to deliver a genuine world first technology through Zain’s network, a mobile operator that is amongst the first in the world to provide such a unique innovative service to its customers. We believe that the ability to communicate efficiently, easily and safely when on board flights will become an every-day feature for business and leisure travelers soon.’ [AMEinfo]

Why thank you Mr. Sandberg. It was bound to happen, of course, but appreciating the relative serenity of screaming babies, I shudder to think what this inevitable invention of yours is going to do to my and other travellers’ already frayed nerves.

The New Media Environment: Paths to Understanding

The premise of the Aspen Institute’s conference I just attended at the Dead Sea in Jordan was somewhat different from the others I had in the past. This one took on the shape of an informal round table discussion with leaders and visionaries of the industry; in them was the grounded wealth of experience unparalleled outside of that room. Their level – board members, CEOs, journalists of note, university professors and renowned new media practitioners – is indicative of the seriousness at which the Aspen Institute’s genuine desire to add value to an oft used and malleable mantra of rapprochement between East and West; Arab and US relations to be exact; and how specifically to harness the power of the emergence of new media to ameliorate differences and elevate the level of discussion within that sphere to be objective and cohesive to engender true understanding.

CNN’s Rym Brahimi - Princess Rym Ali The agenda was given direction by her royal highness princess Rym Ali who is no stranger to journalism; having been an international correspondent with world broadcasters like CNN with stints in Iraq and other trouble spots in the world. She spoke with passion tempered with erudition drawing on her experience in the field and raising many difficult questions challenging the attendees to consider; in her keynote speech she drew many parallel situations in world reporting which demonstrably shows the dichotomy of ignorance on both sides of the equation recognising the prejudices held in the news media explicitly on both sides of the divide and laying down a challenge to the attendees to come up with practical implementable solutions for us all to take on board.

As the conference was chiefly considering the effects of new media – a term which is traditionally interpreted as blogs exclusively; but in really should also encompass capital intensive endeavors like news-sites, satellite television, internet radio as well as old media’s forays into the internet – the sessions started appropriately with short presentations followed by round table discussions in those regards.
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