Facebook and You Tube blocked in the UAE?

Happy to be proved wrong but like a lot of people in Dubai I haven't been able to access either Facebook or YouTube for 3-4 days. I assume that like Skype (see entry below) they've both now been blocked. No luck using a VPN over the weekend and today I can't even access the websites for either H.S.S. or T.C. We're with Etisalat. Friends with 'du', the other comms company here in Dubai, say they can still access Facebook and YouTube, but its "up and down". If Etisalat has barred the sites then du won't be far behind.

Here's what happens:

Facebook: the sign-in page comes up as normal, I type in my password, press enter and get bounced straight back to the sign-in page, repeat ad infinitum.

YouTube: the site comes up ok, type in subject, maybe something innocuous like "kittens playing", press enter, the little Ouroboros thing comes up in the middle of the black screen followed by the words "This video is no longer available". Also "not available" to protect the public, due to the obviously corrupting nature of the content are tips on propogating tomatoes, my own videos of John driving the Lambo, Crufts Dog Show, bellydance, pro wrestling, and even instructions on textured finishes for painted walls (for some reason this reminds me of Lister's crocheted hat and "Wall-papering, Painting, and Stippling - a DIY guide".)

If anyone's having better luck let me know.

Soccer: Australia -v- Iraq ticket ripoff

Ticket prices have just been confirmed for the Aus-v-Iraq match to be played in Dubai tonight. There is a euphemistically named "two tier" price system in place: 20 dirhams ($US5.45) for Iraqis/Arab nationals and 356 dirhams ($US100) for expats. That's not just a tier mate, that's the whole bloody grandstand!

But this bit of shiftiness and some other unsportsmanlike incidents pre-game have not gone unnoticed out there in the Real World with an article already in the Melbourne Age. I'm annoyed and I'm not even Australian!

Skype blocked in the UAE

Skype is a software programme, created in Estonia, which allows users to make phone calls from their PCs. Calls made to other Skype users are free and there's a small fee for calls to landlines and cell phones. I can make calls to NZ, talk for 15-20 mins and it only costs around 40c US.

Access to Skype is now blocked (again) in the UAE. It was banned previously (2005-ish) but people got around it by using VPNs but now that doesn't work either. Attempts to access the Skype website result in this message:



'We apologize the site you are attempting to visit has been blocked due to its content being inconsistent with the religious, cultural, political and moral values of the United Arab Emirates.'

I don't understand how making phone calls to family and friends overseas is "inconsistent with the religious, cultural, political and moral values of the UAE". Inconsistent with profit making more like it........

How architectural plans are interpreted on site

Another one for the 'Only in Dubai' department.

Madame is not amused.

Madame seems to have her own fanclub :-) The latest news is that she served only 4 days of her sentence and then we bailed her out of the Big House. Up until recently, you could pay the fine plus 100 dirhams per day for each day of impound and keep the car. We were *told* that people could no longer do this, but in true Dubai style that wasn't true at all. After 3 days without Madame Colin asked the question, paid the cash and got the car back immediately.

Madame however, was not amused. To show her displeasure she blew her alternator which means she's now sitting out at the Audi dealers having a nice time with all the other Audis (her peeps) while waiting for a new alternator to be imported from Germany. While she's is out of action I'm tootling round town in a 'loaner' a little Audi A4. Where Madame is a fire breathing tiger, the Baby Audi is a little kitten. So I just 'pull my head in', drive in the right hand lane with the Good Kids and watch the endless display of imbecility and death wish that pass for driving on Dubai roads.

Satwa: الى اللقاء (See you later)

Sadly, we’ve joined the exodus from Satwa and, after we moved out, as arranged, the Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (“DEWA”) cut off the water and electricity supply to the Satwa villa on 17th May. DEWA produced the final bill on 20th May. Now DEWA are refusing to refund the original deposit we paid as they're demanding that we pay for water and electricity at the Satwa villa from the date they disconnected the power and water, 17th May, to the date the bill was produced, 20th May. Why? According to DEWA their policy is that the amount to be paid by the consumer is calculated on the date DEWA produces the final bill not the date the service actually ceased. So if, for example, a villa in Satwa is demolished before DEWA produces a final bill for that property, and due to the number of Satwa disconnections it takes them let's say, 6 weeks, to produce a final bill, is the consumer required to pay for water and power (non)supply to the pile of rubble for that 6 week period? I'm sure we'll find out the answer when the demolitions really get under way over the next few months.

The keffiyeh kerfuffle

This article from the Sydney Morning Herald just leaves me shaking my head.
May 29, 2008 - 1:15PM

The US Dunkin' Donuts chain has pulled an online advertisement featuring celebrity chef Rachael Ray after critics argued that a scarf she wore in the ad offers symbolic support for terrorism.

Dunkin' Donuts said today it pulled the ad over the weekend because of what it calls a "misperception" about the scarf that detracted from its original intent to promote its iced coffee.

Critics, including conservative commentator Michelle Malkin, complained that the scarf appeared to be traditional garb worn by Arab men. The ad's critics say such scarves have come to symbolise Muslim extremism and terrorism. According to Malkin's syndicated column (which in the UAE is blocked, possibly on the grounds of terminal idiocy), Ray is wearing a scarf that resembles a kiffiyeh. Malkin said the garment was "popularized by Yasser Arafat and a regular adornment of Muslim terrorists appearing in beheading and hostage-taking videos,".

(If you follow Ms Malkin's logic then the following assumptions must also be true:
1. The Yorkshire Ripper wears trousers.
2. Most men wear trousers.
3. Therefore most men support the Yorkshire Ripper?)

Dunkin' Donuts, based in Canton, Massachusetts, says the black-and-white scarf that Ray wore had a paisley design, and was selected by a stylist for the advertising shoot. The chain said no symbolism was intended.

On her blog, Malkin said Ray's decision to wear the scarf was "clueless sporting of a jihadi chic keffiyeh".

"I'm hoping her hate couture choice was spurred more by ignorance than ideology," Malkin wrote last week.

Acknowledging the "keffiyeh kerfuffle" that had since erupted, Malkin yesterday explained her stance further.

"Anti-American fashion designers abroad and at home have mainstreamed and adapted the scarves as generic pro-Palestinian jihad or anti-war statements.

"Yet many folks out there remain completely oblivious to the apparel's violent symbolism and anti-Israel overtones."

Shevonne Hunt, a freelance journalist, has reported on the popularity of the keffiyeh in Australia.

She said the so-called "dessert scarf" (maybe she's means 'desert') had become a recent fashion craze in Australia, following a similar trend in the US about a year ago that started after celebrities including Jude Law and the Mary Kate Olsen were seen wearing one.

In Australia, versions of the keffiyeh were available at popular fashion retailers, including General Pants, Cotton On and Tree of Life, Hunt said. But retailers said they often sold out of the scarf, she said.

But the keffiyeh's recent popularity as a fashion item is disappointing to many who understand its history, she said.

"Some people used to wear the keffiyeh as a symbol of solidarity with the Palestinian people. But now, the people wearing it often have absolutely no idea what it means or its background," she said.

"Many Palestinians are now actually annoyed because it's lost its power, it's lost its impact."