Light posting

I know I've been posting lightly this week. The reason is that I got another cold. The sore throat has lasted four days and finally (fortunately) moving to the lungs. Besides sleeping I've spent most of my time monitoring weather back in Iowa. I've asked my friends to send pictures because I'd like to be able to show them to my students.

Today was one of those days that makes me love teaching here: I attended a seminar about getting locals to work in the private sector. Sounds terribly boring, right? For me it's a constant state of amazement that never see an Emirati working outside of the government.

It's an open question: How do you convince someone to work in the private sector for less money and a requirement to actually work 40 hours (or at least 30) per week?

Right now a college graduate can make $105,000/year tax free as a police officer. One idea in the future is to let the new police officer know that his pay is really $25,000 but from the kindness of the Sheikh he is receiving an extra $80,000. Maybe they will offer similar subsidies in the private sector. "Here, take this job at Wal-Mart. You will get paid $20,000 from Wal-Mart, but the government is so happy you took a private sector job that they will pay you an additional $60,000/year."

Hearing ideas like that remind me that I'm not in Kansas Iowa anymore.

Norwegian death ray

I know the midwest is digging out under a few flakes of snow, but you really have to see these real pictures. As the article explains, scientists are baffled and say it is not related to the Northern Lights.

There's video here.

Listening to Iowa Public Radio

Here's what you are seeing: My IPhone is connected to my cigarette lighter. It is connected to the internet by the cell phone towers and is connected to WSUI radio in Iowa City, Iowa, via the web.

The device is hooked up to my car stereo so I'm able to listen to it over the car speakers. Even better, thanks to headphones, I can can continue listening to the radio as I'm walking to class. As an NPR geek, this is fantastic.

It is a surreal experience to be running the air conditioning while hearing about a foot of snow about to be dumped on eastern Iowa!

Sad to see this led to an arrest and the news

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) -- An Iowa City woman who tried to trade sex for gasoline faces prostitution charges.

Police say when they approached 44-year-old Lisa Langer in an unmarked car early Wednesday morning, she offered them sex, but asked for gas in return.
Police say Langer appeared to be hitchhiking near downtown Cedar Rapids.
Langer has been charged with prostitution and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Police say they found a drug pipe in Langer's purse.

Who among us hasn't been willing to blow someone for gas? Er, I mean at least she wasn't trying to steal. She wanted something (gas) and she was willing to offer a payment for it. I understand that it's not the payment most of us would have offered, but is this really deserving of an arrest and jail time?

Steve Kranz - the clairvoyant

Disregard this...

I stole this picture from a student's facebook wall. I think it is hilarious.

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The real point of this post is that I wrote foreshadowing for the Dubai crises way back in March. I had forgotten what I had written and someone anonymously reminded me.

So read what I wrote back in March. It pretty well sets up what has just now happened in terms of Dubai doing into default.

New development

Confession: over the past decade I have read story after story of Canadian companies with rights to US resources.  I don’t view Canada as the enemy so it didn’t bother me much. 

Now I see this story where the US is ripping out all of the oil shale in Canada.  Maybe WE were the bad guys.

H2oil animated sequences from Dale Hayward on Vimeo.

I know many Iowans will watch this.  please give me your feedback.

Quote of the day

Today is the first day back to work after a ten day break. I decided to grow a beard during the break and it's coming along but very gray. My boss decided to grow a goatee during the break and his looks kick-ass... a comment I was making to him when a colleague came along and said,

You know beards usually make a person look older, like Steve here, but your goatee makes you look ten years younger.

This wasn't typical Arab sucking up, it was true on both counts.

Before I shave it off I will take some pictures but for now it's still a work in progress.

Weekend remainders - bonus deviant behavior edition

The Russians have developed a pill that gives you feeling of being drunk without alcohol.

A British couple is making porn to pay for their wedding.

The University of Montreal wanted to do a study on men who don't watch porn. They couldn't find any.

Weekend remainders - the mostly political edition

The right claims the hatred for Obama is only comparable for the left's hatred of Bush. Personally, I think they've more than ratcheted it up a notch.

Sometimes I think I live in alternate universe when I hear that Bernanke is in a tough battle for reappointment and that the stimulus was a mistake. The world would be much worse shape today if it weren't for Uncle Ben and the stimulus. You don't have to believe me, you can read it here and here.

I can't bring myself to do an entire post on this: Obama has been a disappointment and if you read this account of how Greg Craig was let go you'll see why many of us on the left feel let down.

This stop light counts down until it turns green (so you can turn your car off while you're at the stoplight). I'd prefer a green one with a countdown so I know if I should speed up or slow down as I'm coming to the intersection.

Besides comedians, an author has profited from Tiger Woods in the past week. Honestly, I want the book.

In Iowa news a teacher in Alburnett resigned after it was discovered she discussed personal things and sexual innuendo with students on Facebook. I'm not condoning this, but this has happened for decades. The only difference now is that it is possible to record it on FB.

December unemployment numbers

This morning's unemployment report was much better than expected: Only 11,000 jobs lost in November and unemployment rate dropping to 10.0%. Yes, the economy is still losing jobs, but it's very close to turning the corner. The above graph was produced before today's report and shows the weekly initial claims for unemployment. The number is dropping and dropping fast.

We're still screwed, but today's news is remarkably good.

If you've been paying attention you may be wondering how did the unemployment rate drop to 10.0% when we're still losing jobs? It's because the overall labor force is still shrinking. <--- that's a polite way of saying that many people have given up looking for work.

The unemployment rate will almost certainly go up in the coming months as the economy improves and people again start looking for work. So that rise in unemployment will be a good sign, not a bad one.

Dubai update

Here's a decent article for those interested in following this...

My next birthday cake

I can see it becoming an annual tradition. How long of a tradition? Who knows, but that's the point of the cake, isn't it?

Planning a Christmas Party

Some friends and I are throwing a Christmas party next Friday at my place. After the successful Thanksgiving gathering I decided, "Why quit when you're ahead?"

Then I realized, I can't remember my last non-work, non-family Christmas party. That makes me a little nervous. What do people expect? So here's my situation:

I have food/beverages down. I'm not planning egg-nog because I think it's disgusting. Any other good holiday drink? If I were back home I'd do cinnamon schnapps in hot apple cider, but it's not cold enough here for that... or even hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps. A friend is making Christmas cookies.

I have plenty of Christmas accessories like napkins, paper plates, a Christmas tree, etc. It helps to be a Coke collector. It all just looks Christmasy.

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But returning to my original concern: Not remembering any private Christmas parties (let alone throwing one), what can do to make a good party and what should I avoid?

Newsflash

Tiger Woods is human. Film at 11.

Was it worth it?

I'm not sure but that's the question I kept asking myself as I sat through 2 1/2 hours of bumper-to-bumper traffic just to get out of downtown... and another 1 1/2 to get home.

What I do know is that my IPhone saved me from road rage. Something about listening to the 100 greatest hits of 1985 made time pass pretty well.

Example of life here

I am sitting along a walkway on the Persian Gulf... Waiting for fireworks. It's 9pm... Been dark since 6. Nobody knows when they will start or even where they will go off (people are sitting on both sides of a half mile causeway... Half expect the fireworks to go off to east and the other half to the west.). There is no sign of a barge holding the fireworks like you'd expect. I am not sure how much longer I want to wait, but I'd hate to have driven this far for nothing!

The paper lists this as the largest, most expensive fireworks in history. I hope it's true and I guess I'll wait a little longer.

Dubai: The story I'm not reading

The local press has been awful. They basically are selling the line that the issue is being completely overblown by the western press. One article in The Nation (the supposedly independent newspaper) went so far as to say that nobody thought these companies had the backing of the government. Reality, of course, is that everyone saw them as being backed by the government. It's called Dubai World and one-third is completely owned by the government!

Basically, Abu Dhabi is saying that Dubai can fail and it won't have negative repercussions for the rest of the Emirates. I hope they are right, but I'm skeptical. The outside world doesn't view major differences between "Dubai" and "Abu Dhabi." Tourism and investment are likely to shy away from the country, not just Dubai.

The story I want to read: What is going to happen to the dozens (hundreds?) of buildings that sit half completed? If the money has dried up and they are on the verge of bankruptcy will these projects all go dormant? Right now the city skyline in Dubai is fantastic. It's one stunning building after another... but there are also lots and lots of cranes and partially completed projects. It will not be pretty if they are allowed to sit and decay.

In ten years Dubai will look less like New York and more like Detroit.

The best way to deal with homophobia

I thought this was funny even before I clicked on the picture to realize, yes, she is wearing a corduroy skirt.

I (still) like Mike!

The far right has never trusted Huckabee. He did the unthinkable while governor: Raised taxes to build better roads. Long ago he commuted the sentence of the guy who killed four cops and the right is piling on. Some have the agenda of clearing the decks for Sarah. Others just never liked Mike.

The picture above is not a hoax or photoshop. I went to the Ames straw poll for Huckabee in August 2007. Huckabee's strong second place showing knocked out Kansas Senator Sam Brownback and set up his win in the Iowa caucuses.

Who came in first in the straw poll? Romney. That's amazing since Romney now blames Iowa anti-mormonism on his loss in the caucuses.

Holiday remainders - the scary edition

There's spyware for phones that allows another person to be notified when you get a call and listen in without you ever knowing. Luckily my calls are boring and nobody would want to listen in.

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Let me know if you see any bumper stickers that read:

"Pray for Obama - Psalm 109:8"

What is Psalm 109:8?

Let his days be few; and let another take his office.

Let his children be fatherless, and wife a widow.

I'll bet this guy has one of the bumper stickers:

He is not only a birther, but he believes Obama was responsible for the shootings at Fort Hood. He paid $2500 to have a billboard painted to express his beliefs.

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Robby sent me this story: A cop tasered an unruly 10 year old girl who wouldn't go to bed - with mom's consent. Given the response to the summer's story on police behavior I'm sure many think this is great... because, of course, cops can do no wrong.

*****

And finally, imagine getting arrested for child porn because a virus infected your computer and made it look like you downloaded it yourself.