mohammed's blog

The discusion on indecent TV programming reminded me of a blog entry I posted last year on Fashion TV being taken off air during Ramadan on Orbit. Well this year flicking through the channels it seems that Fashion TV is playing as usual. I suppose this is as good an indicator as any of the changes in Arab society...

Here is what I wrote last year:

You have to love the Middle East. I found this message on Orbit while channel surfing - it was on Fashion TV that said: "This Channel is not available during the Holy Month of Ramadaan".

So, what is the great Eid Gift from Orbit to the viewers in the Middle East? Fashion TV...

You have to ask yourself what is different about tomorrow? Do things suddently change so that Fashion TV can become "available"? Now this post isn't about whether what is shown on Fashion TV is complete rubbish (which I think it is). It's about the people who own and run these networks. Do they think we are idiots? Do they think that doing this somehow makes the Arab public think they are "good Muslims"? This reminds me of the time when Fahd died and all the Music channels (more crap) started playing Quran.

Hypocrites.

Google has just announced a new program. Soon you'll be able to advertise directly on websites of your choice! Google is really turning the advertising market upside down. I love it! From "What is New - November 2005":

Gain new advertisers directly from your webpages

Your content is valuable. And starting within the next two weeks, advertisers will be able to bid for placement on your site right from your web pages. With Onsite Advertiser Sign-up, a new feature of AdSense, your AdSense ad units will display an 'Advertise on this site' link that takes interested advertisers to a page which you can tailor for your business. On this page they can see your details about your site and the Google AdWords programme. Advertisers who sign up for AdWords through this landing page will create an ad automatically targeted to your site and your site alone. And more advertisers competing to display ads on your site means more revenue for you.

You have to love the Middle East. I found this message on Orbit while channel surfing - it was on Fashion TV that said: "This Channel is not available during the Holy Month of Ramadaan".

So, what is the great Eid Gift from Orbit to the viewers in the Middle East? Fashion TV...

You have to ask yourself what is different about tomorrow? Do things suddently change so that Fashion TV can become "available"? Now this post isn't about whether what is shown on Fashion TV is complete rubbish (which I think it is). It's about the people who own and run these networks. Do they think we are idiots? Do they think that doing this somehow makes the Arab public think they are "good Muslims"? This reminds me of the time when Fahd died and all the Music channels (more crap) started playing Quran.

Hypocrites.

It's been a long time since I've seen a good flame war. This one is funny - it's between Rashed (a Qatari teenager) and James (a British expat living in Qatar) who are in the same school. Apart from it being juvenile and very teenage, I think it brings up some interesting tensions between expatriates living in the Gulf and the locals. It seems that beneath the civility there is some discord. Here's what happened:

Rashed finds James blog and reads that James wants to get out of Qatar

HAHAAA you guys!!! You see that kid that walks around school looking like frodo/harry potter?? Well apparently his name is james and he has a site!! ... Well in it, he keeps talking about how much he misses his girlfriend ... and how much he wants to leave qatar. So before he casts some magical spell on me that turns me into something even shorter than I am, I decided to be a bastard and TRY to scare him, so I pretended I'm a government official who's not so happy about what he says about Qatar....

Qtel launched a great service this Ramadaan. You can SMS/text the word "ZAKAAT" to 2005 and they will transfer QR15 from your account to the Zakat Fund of Qatar.

Zakat Al Fitr is an obligatory charity which is set at QR 15 per person and must be distributed before the Eid Al Fitr prayers. More information can be found here.

James from English Version Included can't wait to get out of Qatar and is counting down the days till he leaves:

Ever since I moved here to Qatar, I knew it wasn’t meant to be. I have been trying for days, weeks, months, to get my ass out of here and on a plane back to Holland, back to my life, my firends, my love. It isn’t 100% sure I’ll be coming back and the time frame may be a little off. It is most likely I will be back for New Years, so this page is a count down to when I should be back on New Years.

Now tell me there aren't days when you feel like this? I mean, teenagers already have enough to be angry about - imagine sticking them in Qatar where life revolves around work, shopping and money...

It seems as if someone from the PR department of the State or Qatar Airways has setup a Flickr account and is putting up PR shots.

I needed to set-up a call with the guys from Bryght, a Web 2.0 company that is building some great content management solutions with Drupal. Now, Bryght is based in Vancouver and I'm based in (you guessed it), Qatar. After co-ordinating our schedules, I suggested that we setup the conference call at 4pm Qatar time. Now this is where it gets interesting. I didn't think much of it - I thought that Bryght was in Canada and that they were probably in the same timezone as New York - meaning it would be around 9am. Well, the night before the call I got a mail from Kris to confirm the time of the call:

"Just wanted to confirm that you're meeting with Boris Mann and I via phone tommorow at 4pm your time (7am our time)."

My first thought when seeing this was "ouch". I didn't realise that it was going to be that early. But at this point it was too late to change it and I figured that this was a good indication of the commitment to customer service by the lads at Bryght.

So, Tuesday 4pm I dial Bryght but I get the answering machine. I figure maybe they are still getting into the office. I call back 10 minutes later and still nothing. I try again at 4:30pm and still nothing. So, I start packing up (the reason I set up the meeting for 4pm was so I could be home before 5pm to break my fast) and then it dawns on me - did I muddle up my timezones? I pop out my PalmOne Treo 650, load up World Clock and add Vancouver to my city list - it still isn't 7am in Vancouver! I pull up the old e-mail and there it is:

"How does Thursday 4pm (GMT+2) sound?"

Qatar is GMT+3 (not GMT+2). In my defense, I've lived in GMT+2 for about 25 years and GMT+3 for just about one.

So I make a quick decision - I rush home (making it home to break fast), grab a plate, load up my favourite Voice over IP (VoIP) client (not mentioned here since I don't think the local telecom is too keen on VoIP - monopoly and all that) and dial Bryght while nibbling on supper hoping that they don't notice (the nibbling or the VoIP).

What does this all mean? Well, for starters I'm going to have to stop laughing at the CNN Richard Quest promo's where he is "Do you ever wake up in New York? Have lunch in London? And supper in Tokyo? CNN Business Traveller is for you."

P.S. Kris just in case I forget again, Qatar is GMT+3 :)

I was flicking through the channels on Orbit the other day and passed across the Fashion Channel which had a splash screen saying "This Channel is not available during the Holy Month of Ramadan". Now don't get me wrong, I think the Fashion Channel is garbage (along with a whole lot of other programming that gets beamed into the Middle East) but do the programmers think that th

Previously I complained about the traffic situation in Doha. To alleviate the problem the Public Works Authority in Qatar, Ashghal has has just launched an SMS alert service to help residents navigate all the diversions caused by the road works.

You can sign up here for the alerts. Registered users will be notified of road works one week prior to them starting.

I just saw these bus-stops that have sprung up all along the Doha Corniche. The much anticipated bus service is going to be launched by Mowsalat on the 23 October 2005. I think it's going to bring much needed relief to the city's transport system - especially considering the state of the taxi system. The phasing out of the old orange taxi's are is causing a severe shortage of taxi's on the road. Karwa (also owned by Mowsalat) run the shiny new green taxi's just hasn't been able to cope with the demand. People have complained about phoning 458 8888 (the Karwa hotline) to book a taxi hours in advance, just to be told by a call centre agent that there are no taxi's available for the rest of the day. Others have complained about taxi's arriving up to an hour late (if at all). 

Here are some details from the Peninsula:

Route number 76 will see buses plying at 20-minute intervals between Mowasalat's temporary bus terminus at the Grand Hamad Avenue and the City Centre in the West Bay, while route 33 is between the bus terminus and the Industrial Area. The services will be rolled out all over the capital and other cities of Qatar in a phased manner up to January 31, 2006.

The new bus service should make life much easier for visitors and workers in Doha.

Qatar has the reputation of being the home of free speech in the Middle East. Not only is it home to Al-Jazeera, but it also plays host to The Doha Debates which are held monthly at the Qatar Foundation. From the website:

The Doha Debates are a public forum for dialogue and freedom of speech in Qatar. Each month invited speakers debate the burning issues of the Arab and Islamic world in front of an audience who are encouraged to participate by asking questions. The Debates are chaired by the internationally renowned broadcaster Tim Sebastian, formerly of the BBC's HARDTalk programme.

The Debates are usually lively and controversial - if you're interested in Arab politics, make sure you book a seat for the next debate (November 15th, 2005). The motion is 'This House believes that oil has been more of a curse than a blessing for the Middle East.'

Is the traffic situation in Doha driving anyone else nuts? Doha was ideal for driving around - it was small, there are also multiple routes to any destination and if you could handle the "creative" driving it was generally quick to get around town.

Of course, this changed a few weeks ago - welcome to the world of road upgrades. When they closed the Airport round-about and the bottom end of C Ring, I spent three hours in traffic trying (unsuccessfully) to get to where I was going near Parachute round-about. The local newspapers were all over it the next day - the excuses were great:

- There are 45,000 new cars on the road (erm...weren't their 44,921 cars on the road the day before?)
- Everyone is out doing Ramadaan shopping (this is probably true but it could have hardly caused a three hour jam)

The situation is compounded by poorly marked "diverted traffic" signs. It took me over 30 minutes to find my way to Landmark Mall the first time I tried to go there at night after they closed the roads after the Gharrafa Interchange.

What is really funny is that every morning I drive to work on a stretch that is a few kilometres long. One half of the road has been closed and dug up (meaning that both sides of traffic have one lane each). There are about 10 (ten) guys working on the whole stretch. Yes, 10 whole people on that long stretch. You have to ask yourself, couldn't they have

a) closed off only part of the road at a time
b) staggered the upgrades over a longer period of time
c) provided more clearly marked "diverted traffic" signs

I know the Doha Asian Games 2006 is around the corner. I'm sure I'll be happy when there are new lanes. I'm not complaing about the fact that the roads need to be improved - I'm just saying that there has to be a less distruptive way to have done it.

What are your thoughts?