Chris Saul's Blog

Wednesday February 28, 2007

If cigarette ads followed the same rules as beer adds

I found myself wondering the other day what cigarette ads would look like if they followed the same style as those used to advertise beer.

Most European beer ads and pub logos, the traditional kind at least, feature an image of a middle-aged chap who's clearly long been fond of his beer. My favourite is Tuborg's 'Der Durstige Mann' (The Thirsty Man).

Imagine if cigarette adverts did the same thing? Where images of humans are still allowed we typically see slender ladies and healthy outdoorsy types puffing on a ciggie. If the beer ad principles were applied we'd probably end up with something like Wayne and Waynetta Slob from Harry Enfield.

( Feb 28 2007, 08:12:09 PM GST ) Permalink

Gherkin skyline

The main difference to London's skyline today, compared to when I left four and a half years ago, is the addition of Norman Foster's Swiss Re building, popularly known as the 'Gherkin'.

This BBC article from 2000 has a picture of what it was thought it would look like. My course was in the building next door.

This was the first time I've been close up to it and although it's shorter than I'd expected, it's pretty stunning. I expect Dubai will build a replica that's twice the size of the original.

Walking over London Bridge each morning last week, from my hotel to my course at Tower 42, I was surprised to see a fair amount of construction going on. London's skyline hadn't changed that much from the last time I'd spent a few days in The City, but there's a fair bit of renovation and new building being done.

I really enjoyed being part of the London City throng during my stay. I particularly enjoyed leaving the throng after my ten minute walk and going straight to my hotel room each evening, skipping the train journey home most of the other commuters were facing.

Other things I noticed during my week:

* Lots of City people not wearing a tie. The Hamas and Ahmenidjad look, albeit with a London twist, seems to be getting more and more popular. You need to buy proper shirts that are made to be worn without a tie though, apparently. No good just wearing your old smart shirts with an open collar. Time for me to make a trip to Marks and Sparks.

* Lots of Polish people working all over the place.

* I felt there was more of a 'buzz' to the place. To be expected, considering I left at the height of the dotcom crash.

* Free newspapers being thrust in your face every five metres by their enthusiastic 'sellers'.

* Not so many homeless people.

* Pubs that don't kick you out at 11.

( Feb 28 2007, 10:51:24 AM GST ) Permalink Comments [3]

Sheikh Zayed's Range Rover

I like this customised Range Rover, used by Sheikh Zayed to inspect his troops a few years ago.

The Range Rover, particularly the Range Rover Sport, is very popular with the local Emirati population still.

Land Rover have probably played more of a role than any other vehicle maker in the UAE's history, with the early Series vehicles helping to track down the locations of the first oil wells, as well as serving as general purpose vehicles before today's quality roads appeared.

Toyota have beaten them though - whilst the Land Cruiser reigns in all its forms, from basic farm truck to luxury Lexus, Land Rover's success is now limited to its luxury Range Rover models. Older Series Is, IIs and IIIs can still be seen, but it's rare to see a new Defender working as a commercial vehicle. Too expensive, too uncomfortable and (I'm told) not as reliable. Sad.

( Feb 28 2007, 09:32:33 AM GST ) Permalink

Elf and safety

During the last two weeks I was in London I was struck by the proliferation of signs all over the place. Compared to five years ago it seems people have to be warned not to do this, to watch out for that and not to step here or there.

This photo of a large metal support outside the building my training course was in is a good example.

Is it really necessary to stick a large '!' on something like this? I don't think it is. A symptom of too much nannying, genuine concern for people's well being or desperate measures not to get sued in some US style 'the hot coffee I spilt on my lap has hurt me' personal injury case?

( Feb 28 2007, 09:19:44 AM GST ) Permalink

The Saul family hit Dubai

My parents and sister came over to Dubai over Christmas and thouroughly enjoyed themselves.

They stayed at Aaron's flat and enjoyed the view.

My sister dropped her eco-friendly stance after she saw Aaron's Hummer.

My dad got to drive the Jeep offroad. Here he is going down the Fossil Rock slipface.

People often accuse Dubai of lacking culture, which is a little unfair. As part of the rather uncultural Shopping Festival we got to see some local men performing traditional dancing at the Heritage Village.

My Mrs Saul cooked up an amazing Christmas dinner which we enjoyed at our flat, adding a nice traditional touch to the rather odd experience of my first ever Christmas away from home.

It was great to show my mum and dad where we live and work - once we've moved into our new flat I hope they'll come again.

Some more pics are here.

( Feb 28 2007, 09:13:54 AM GST ) Permalink Comments [2]

Linux fame by proxy

My friend Jon Masters has just had his Linux Programming book published. Well done Jon!

I met Jon in about 1999 or so, when I was working at Sun in the UK. Jon was still at school at the time - whilst doing a computer science degree in his spare time - and had met Sun's UK MD of the time during a visit to his school. I was tasked with inviting Jon to Sun for some 'work experience'. We spent a very pleasant couple of days down in Totnes where I was looking after Sun's sponsorship of Pete Goss' Team Philips project.

( Feb 28 2007, 08:24:39 AM GST ) Permalink Comments [2]

Just popping out to the offie*, darling

The ME4x4 website has a nice set of pics from one member who popped out to buy some beer and got rather nicely stuck.

* 'The Offie' is British slang for the 'Off Licence', a shop licensed to sell intoxicating beverages.

( Feb 28 2007, 07:25:47 AM GST ) Permalink

Tuesday February 27, 2007

Direct debit at last

Following on from the telco surprise in my last post, I've just had two more!

First off, I can now pay my phone, cable and DSL bills by direct debit through my credit card. No more wondering why the cable TV's stopped working or Mrs Saul calling me up when I'm away to say that the internet's broken. Go to http://www.e4me.ae for more info.

Secondly, a colleague in the office passed on the info that if you have GPRS enabled on your mobile and send an SMS to 1333 with the letter M as the text, you'll get a reply telling you what your location is. I duly did so and got my location back via SMS, along with a link to a mobile friendly website that told me I was in the general vicinity of my home, which was a relief as that's where I was. There was also a link to a full web based service where you are supposed to be able to enter your number and find out where your mobile's currently located, but I couldn't login for some reason.

Very cool.

3G here I come

I was pleasantly surprised to get a text message from the UAE's telco telling me that my GPRS service has been upgraded for free to 3G and that the monthly charge has been lowered from 30Dhs to 25Dhs (about $7).

I need to get a new sim card and make sure that 3G roaming charges aren't too costly, but if things go well I'll now be fully 3G'd up for my travels. This should make me a lot more efficient work-wise in terms of emailing people promptly, as well as making better use of 'dead time' in taxis and airports where there's no wifi, or the wifi is priced too high.

Granted, I'm a couple of years behind seasoned travellers elsehwhere, but here's to the wireless broadband revolution. Thanks goodness I bought a 3G phone recently!

Thursday February 22, 2007

Tanks on the streets of London

[Update for Bloglines users - if you click on the link for the article you'll see two little videos I made of the tank and the fireworks. They don't show up in Bloglines for some reason.]

Well, one tank.

Last Sunday saw the Chinese New Year being celebrated in London. Trafalgar and Leicester Square were packed.

I was a little surprised to see this Scorpion tank next to Trafalgar Square. The it was parked on the edge of the road, with the crew in bright yellow jackets. They got a bit fed up with everyone crowding around and drive off in a huff.

I'm not sure why it was there - I've never seen a tank playing a role in general security in London before and it wasn't part of a display, as far as I could see. A sad sign of the times?

The noise made by the fireworks at Leicester Square was enough to make you think you were in a war zone, as the explosions ricocheted around the small streets and tall buildings.

Wednesday February 21, 2007

What's gone wrong with my typing?

I've just got back online after a week's holiday and have been reading various mails to catch up on things. This has meant re-reading some mails that I've sent to remind myself what's happening in certain situations. I've been shocked to see the number of typos I've been making - no words spelt wrong as such, but lots of missing letters or missing words due to writing to quickly.

Time to do indulge in some more diligent proof reading.

Dear colleagues - send a link to the file not the file itself

Dear Colleagues

It's great to receive interesting information encapsulated in large PDF or StarOffice files. All interesting stuff, that helps me do my job better. However, sending this fascinating content as an attachment means that all of us in the field who are not lucky enough to be enjoying a highspeed connection to the internet have to wait for ages while Thunderbird downloads the file. If we're particularly unlucky we have to stop and restart Thunderbird, which is a waste of time.

We have an internal site that can be used to post files so that you can send a link to the file rather than the file instead. For the sake of my sanity, please start using it!

Warm regards

Chris

Wednesday February 07, 2007

The last king of Scotland owned a Commodore 64

Mrs Saul and I went to see The Last King of Scotland this week, a film about Idi Amin.

A friend of mine here in Dubai used to work in a computer showroom in Saudi Arabia, in the city where Idi Amin lived after he was ousted. He once told me how the former Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea came in one day with some of his kids. My friend sold him a Commodore 64. I wonder if he ever played with it and which games he enjoyed?

Did he ever learn a bit of Basic and write a programme?

10 print "I am Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea"
20 goto 10

Tuesday February 06, 2007

Off to the UK... If it continues to exist

This post was originally a short entry to say that I'm off home for a week's holiday and then a week's training course, leaving on Thursday. As I first wrote the title though, it struck me that if a lot of people have their way the 'UK' I go home to in future will be radically different to the one we've had for 300 years this year.

There's a lot in the UK press at the moment about Scottish independence, partly driven by the fact that 2007 is the 300th anniversary of the Act of Union. I've read that Scottish independence fervour reached a similar point in the 70s, but things stayed as they were. That said, it's unsettling to read about the potential breakup of my country.

I believe that breaking fully from the UK would be a disaster for Scotland and a disaster for the remaining parts of the UK. Aside from making some jingoistic Scots and English people happy I cannot think of one advantage, political or economic, that it would bring.

Cross Dressing football fans

The UAE recently won the Gulf Cup and there have been lots of celebrations. Friday saw a big parade throughout Dubai with hundreds of cars and supporters.

According to Emirates Today (link to the paper is here, but I can't link to today's front page article) some people were dressing up as members of the opposite sex during the event. The article concludes with the suggestion that, according to informed sources, the cross-dressers weren't deviants - they were simply dressing up for fun. I'm sure they were and I hope they won't get into serious trouble.

The article reminded me of a scene at the Rugby 7s a few years ago. One amateur team from Kuwait, consisting of some very large and flabby British rugby players, was standing next to the pitch close to two policemen. Suddenly the players all took their sports kit off, donned pink tutus and ran onto the field, kicking their legs and twirling rather gracefully as they went, much to the crowd's amusement. Security grabbed them and hauled them off. The policemen were only able to stand there open mouthed in shock at Western men's odd rugby culture antics. I don't blame them - it wasn't a pretty sight.