March | 2012 | Selfish Scribes Embezzled From The Awful Punk Rocker

Mysterious animal-shaped structures are oldest known

31. March 2012 · Comments Off · Categories: Uncategorized

Manmade mounds shaped like orcas, condors and even a duck may be the oldest evidence of animal mounds outside of North America, according to former University of Missouri anthropologist.

Writing in the magazine Antiquity, Robert Benfer, a professor emeritus, describes a series of mounds, some more than 1,300 feet (400 meters) across, in coastal valleys in Peru. Archaeological evidence at the sites pegs some at more than 4,000 years old.

“It’s going to shake everybody’s views,” Benfer told LiveScience. “The previous oldest animal figures were at Nazca and they’re 2,000 years old.”

The Nazca Lines are simple stone outlines of animals decorating the Nazca Desert in Peru. Like the newly discovered mounds, they may have had ritual significance. In addition, the shapes likely coincided with the constellations these ancient people saw in the Milky Way.

“The previous oldest animal figures were at Nazca and they’re 2,000 years old.”

- Professor emeritus Robert Benfer

Strange shapes

Benfer discovered the mounds while looking at satellite photos of a site about which he’d long held suspicions. The feature seemed shaped like a condor, he said, but archaeological wisdom suggested that animal effigy mounds were a North-America-only phenomenon, with few exceptions, such as one at a Central America site in Mexico.

The satellite photos revealed furrows that looked like teeth as well as a burned charcoal area perfectly positioned in the spot where the eye of the bird would be. Global positional system (GPS) information and an archaeological investigation of the site convinced Benfer that he was, in fact, looking at a condor-shaped mound, with the eye likely being a site where offerings were burned. The condor is oriented according to astronomical rules: It lines up with the most extreme orientation of the Milky Way as seen from the Chillón Valley where the mound is found. [See Images of the Animal Mounds]

Next to the condor is a second mound, this one oriented toward the spot where the sun rises on the day of the June solstice, the start of summer. This 1,062-foot-long (324 m) mound appears to be a combination puma and alligatorlike cayman, Benfer reported. Stone pillars, plastic structures and ancient ceramics are associated with all of the sites.

Astronomical markers

In another Peruvian coastal area, the Casma Valley, Benfer discovered two additional birdlike figures, both “looking” toward the June solstice sunrise. Most likely, he said, these mounds were built under the direction of astronomer-priests. The ancient civilization that constructed the mounds would have depended on astronomical clues to know when to plant and harvest crops, and fish, Benfer said. This astronomical knowledge would eventually turn up in the Inca civilization in the 1400s and 1500s, which recognized the same constellations.

“This was the beginning of a very long tradition,” Benfer said.

The oldest of the sites dates back to 2200 B.C. Benfer plans to return to the mounds to extract organic material for more precise radiocarbon dating, which is based on the time it takes that carbon to decay. The four large mounds are only the tip of the iceberg, he added ? he has explored only five of the 54 valleys along the Peruvian coast and has found numerous smaller mounds, including ones shaped like orcas and even a duck. Many unexplored valleys likely hold more mounds, Benfer said.

“It’s a totally unexpected find,” he said. “It’s especially unexpected to archaeologists like me who had walked over some of these sites before without realizing what we walked over.”

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5 collectible cars for under 5 grand

31. March 2012 · Comments Off · Categories: Uncategorized

The profusion of televised auctions like Barrett-Jackson and Mecum ? where fifty grand is chump change ? seems to have placed a giant ?keep out? sign in the minds of would-be car collectors of modest means. Yet every day Craigslist and eBay Classifieds are full of entry-level vintage cars that are interesting potential weekend cruisers. Here are some of our favorite ?credit card cars? that can be found in perfectly usable shape for less than the limit of the average VISA.

1979-82 Fiat Spider 2000: Fiat?s back in the U.S. with the new 500, and it seems like a good time to plumb the back catalog of cars it sold in the U.S. prior to saying, ?Arrivederci, America? in 1983. The Spider 2000 was the last iteration of the lovely Pininfarina-designed Spider that dated back to 1966. The final version came with fuel injection, relatively plush interiors with a genuine wood dash and one of the best convertible tops ever (undo two latches and throw it over your shoulder at a stop sign). Look out for body rust, tired smoky engines and worn out 2nd gears.
1987-93 Ford Mustang 5.0: OK, it?s not the classic 1964½-1970 model, but neither is it the ?malaise-era? Pinto-based Mustang II of 1974-78. The forgotten Ford Fairmont donated its competent underpinnings to the ?Fox? platform Mustang, the longest-running iteration of the original pony car. The 1987 5.0-liter V-8 Mustang announced that the U.S. auto industry had finally awakened from its 13-year coma with a conservatively rated 225 hp that let enthusiasts know that Ford hadn?t completely forgotten the Cobra-Jet days. Convertible GT and LX cars are getting pricey, but the notchback and hatchback coupes can still be had reasonably if you look hard enough. Rust, poor collision repair and bad Ricky Bobby modifications are always a concern. Look hard for a well-kept stock example.

Click here to learn the value of your car for free using Hagerty Valuation Tools.

1975-78 Datsun 280Z: The Datsun 240Z changed Americans? perceptions of Japanese cars for good by offering Porsche 911 performance for half the money. Emission laws blunted the car?s performance and new bumper laws meant that by 1975 ? when the car became known as the 280Z ? it sported a pair of battering rams front and back. It wasn?t all bad. The addition of fuel injection brought back the performance of the original 240Z which seemed a fair trade for the freakishly large bumpers. If you can look past those, the 280Z is a handsome, reliable and decent-performing sports car. As always, outside of the West Coast, rust is a big problem. Of all the cars on the list, it?s the one to buy sooner rather than later. Nice sub-five grand examples are getting tough to find.
1988 Pontiac Fiero: The General Motors of old was famous for employing customers as ?unpaid research and development consultants.? Witness the string of underdeveloped models like the Chevy Vega, the 1984 Corvette and the Cadillac Allante that GM pushed out before they were fully baked. Often, just as GM finally got a car right, they whacked it. The sporty mid-engine two-seat Pontiac Fiero was a prime example of this approach. Originally floated as a ?commuter car,? it had sports-car looks that the chassis and low-power four-cylinder engine couldn?t deliver on. By 1988, Pontiac had remedied everything ? the Fiero had great looks, a powerful V-6 and a new suspension designed by guys who had paid attention to what Lotus was doing in its high-dollar sports cars. Forecasting a drop in demand for two-seaters that didn?t happen, GM killed its by then very competent sports car after the 1988 model year. The last year V-6 GT is the one to seek out. Beware of overheating engines from damage to the fragile cooling pipes that run underneath the car.
1960-63 Ford Falcon sedan: The Falcon was Ford?s first attempt to field a compact car to stem the flow of European imports. The nameplate lasted until 1970 but the first generation of cars was arguably the most attractive. They?re sturdy and attractive little cars that were offered in body styles as diverse as a convertible and a compact pickup. Virtually all of these with the exception of the humble four-door sedan have appreciated beyond our self-imposed five grand limit. Sadly, although the cheapest to acquire, the sedans seem to have a relatively low survivorship rate.

Rob Sass is the author of ?Ran When Parked – Advice and Adventures from the Affordable Underbelly of Car Collecting.?

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Morocco’s trailblazing female golfer

31. March 2012 · Comments Off · Categories: Uncategorized

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Maha Haddioui is the first Arab woman to play golf in a professional tour event. She aims to earn her card on the Ladies’ European Tour and LPGA in the United States.

As a teenager, Haddioui would spend up to 10 hours per day practicing on her home course in Agadir.

Haddioui plays an approach shot during last year’s Lalla Meryem Cup on her home course. She finished an encouraging 25th in the Ladies’ European Tour event.

Haddioui is determined to forge a successful career on the major golf tours of the world and win Olympic gold.

Her Olympic ambition was inspired by the feats of compatriot Hicham El Guerrouj, who won two gold medals at the 2004 Athens Games.

In November last year, Morocco’s pro-reform “February 20″ protest movement called on voters to boycott that month’s elections.

King Mohammed VI, Morocco’s ruler since 1999, has made concessions in choosing top government officials and also addressed women’s rights.

Maha Haddioui is first Arab woman to play golf in a major professional event
Haddioui wants to win Olympic gold and tournaments in Europe and the United States
The 22-year-old from Morocco is supported by her national federation
She wants “peaceful” changes to spread democracy in her country

(CNN) — In many ways, Maha Haddioui is the archetypal young professional women’s golfer, desperate to make a breakthrough on one of the major tours in Europe or the United States.

Educated at an American university, the 22-year-old speaks four languages. Her Facebook page lists has hundreds of friends from all over the world.

A stylist on the course, she sports an elegant line in clothing — more often than not wearing a polo shirt and pink skirt.

But, unlike her peers, Haddioui is a trailblazer in a region of the world that has seen turmoil and political upheaval over the past year, and where women’s freedoms are often severely restricted.

Hailing from Morocco, she’s the first Arab woman to compete in a professional golf tournament.

Golf investors look to Morocco

Water for a desert course

Life as a young pro golfer

Golf through the camera lens

Her lifetime ambition is to follow in the footsteps of the North African nation’s legendary middle-distance track and field athletes and win Olympic gold. Golf will return to the four-yearly sporting showpiece in Brazil in 2016 after an absence of more than a century.

“I have always watched the Olympics with my father and it is the biggest sports event worldwide,” Haddioui told CNN.

“We have had some great Moroccan athletes like Hicham El Guerrouj that have made the country proud, and my dream is to follow in their footsteps.”

Fortunately for Haddioui, she was brought up by a liberal family who did not insist on traditional dress code for their young daughter.

Able to practice on local courses near their home in Agadir, she quickly showed an aptitude for golf and received support from the country’s ministry of sport.

She has spent four years on the collegiate golf circuit in the United States, studying at Lynn University in Florida and earning the accolade of top-ranked NCAA Division II women’s golfer during that time.

When she graduated, the repercussions of the Arab Spring began to be felt in the wider region, and in Morocco there were also demands for democratic change.

The bulk of the country has been ruled by a monarchist dynasty since the 17th century, with King Mohammed VI holding power since 1999.

With regimes in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya swept away, Morocco’s 48-year-old ruler promised reforms. In November’s election he was obliged to choose the prime minister from the largest party, rather than by his own personal choice.

He had, in 2004, introduced measures which addressed women’s rights.

“I am a big supporter for freedom and peaceful change,” Haddioui said.

“We had a couple of peaceful protests in Morocco which have led to major changes in the constitution of the country, but we have enjoyed our freedoms in Morocco for decades.”

We have had some great Moroccan athletes like Hicham El Guerrouj that have made the country proud and my dream is to follow in their footsteps
Maha Haddioui

Haddioui is proud of her country and wants to represent it with distinction.

“My aim is to be the first Moroccan and Arab golfer to make it into the European Tour,” she said. “I hope that there will be a lot more women that will follow in my footsteps.”

Success has already come with gold in women’s golf at last year’s Arab Games in Qatar in a team which included her younger sister Nezha.

Last season, her first as a professional, Haddioui finished 25th in the Lalla Meryem Cup held in her hometown, and made the halfway cut at another Ladies’ European Tour (LET) event in Germany.

But it is a big step from collegiate golf to the cut-throat professional world, and this year she will again rely on invites to main tour events.

A disastrous second-round 84 at the LET qualifying school in La Manga in Spain wrecked her chances of winning a card with full playing rights. “I don’t know what happened there, it was a tough week,” she admitted.

But Haddioui is undeterred and will be looking to her home tournament in March on the Golf de l’Ocean course in Agadir to make a big impression.

With a men’s European Tour event, the Hassan II Trophy, and the Lalla Meryem Cup held in the same week at the end of next month, plus a host of regional tournaments, Morocco is promoting itself as a golf destination par excellence.

Outside investment, mainly from the Middle East, has brought several new courses and developments — as Haddioui says, “taking advantage of our fantastic weather and the opportunity to share a very rich culture.”

Haddioui aside, Moroccan players either male or female have yet to make a much of an impression among the professional elite, but all that could be changing.

I am a big supporter for freedom and peaceful change
Maha Haddioui

“Golf is becoming more affordable for locals thanks to the work of the Royal Golf Federation,” she said.

With more youngsters playing, the talent is starting to emerge. Ahmad Marjan, 18, has earned an invite to this week’s Dubai Desert Classic, where he will rub shoulders with some of the best players in the world.

Haddioui will target December’s Dubai Ladies’ Masters on the LET as she tries to earn enough money to get an automatic card for 2013.

Though proud of her roots and background, it was her spell in the United States that decided on her career path.

“Getting an education in the U.S. is definitely the best choice I have made in my life,” she said.

“It allowed me to play golf and pursue my education at the same time. It has prepared me for my current life as a professional golfer where I have to travel on my own.”

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Best bits of Marketplace Africa

31. March 2012 · Comments Off · Categories: Uncategorized

Marketplace Africa launched with an interview with the former head of IMF. More than 90 episodes later, IMF’s current boss Christine Lagarde appeared on the show to talk about the impact of the eurozone crisis on Africa.

Ntebo Rajuili has written a pocket guide called ‘How to do Business in Africa’. In this show, she explained to Robyn Curnow how cultural differences might hinder or help when doing business in Africa.

Robyn Curnow also traveled to Kibera in Kenya, one of the largest slums in Africa. She found these dirt streets and alleyways can actually be moneymakers for companies focusing on an often-overlooked consumer.

We went to Tanzania and saw the many ingenious ways the mobile phone is changing business and saving lives.

On the streets of Addis Ababa, newspaper vendors not only sell their wares, they rent them too. It is not uncommon for one newspaper to be read up to 20 times a day!

Zimbabwean Finance Minister, Tendai Biti, is steering the country onto a path of economic stability. In this show, he sat down with Robyn Curnow to talk about investment in Zimbabwe.

Jim O’Neill is known as the economist who coined the phrase ‘BRIC’. He shared his insights with Marketplace Africa on why South Africa was admitted to the group.

Marketplace Africa landed an interview with the ‘Queen of chat’ Oprah Winfrey, who told Robyn Curnow how she hoped to harness the potential of the girls at her school to create future leaders for South Africa.

In her first television interview Gillian Milovanovic, the newly-appointed U.S. chair of the Kimberley Process called for a review of what constitutes a “blood diamond.”

Our most recent show looks at how Durban’s port is affecting the growth of South Africa’s economy. Africa’s busiest port has been criticized for having infrastructure that is unable to cope with the increase in trade to and from Southern Africa.

Launched 100 weeks ago, Marketplace Africa brings African business news to the global audience.
The show traveled extensively across the continent to deliver news from a fresh perspective.
The show will carry on producing exciting and excellent content about business in Africa.

Johannesburg, South Africa (CNN) — Marketplace Africa launched 100 episodes ago. That¹s one hundred weeks of African business news that brought our global audience a fresh perspective from a continent that has not normally been viewed as an investor-friendly destination.

We kicked off the first show by interviewing Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who was then the managing director of the IMF. His wife, Anne, was with him and he proudly introduced me to her, reminding me that both she and I were both broadcasters.

She is a famous news interviewer in France. Then, I interviewed him on the stage at a local university theatre. It was a small and intimate setting, so very different from the glare of the global spotlight in which he later found himself.

My interview with his successor Christine Lagarde more than 90 episodes later was a very different affair. We met in a smart Pretoria hotel with a view of South Africa¹s Union Buildings, the seat of government.

She was shuttling from Africa to the Middle East to Europe and seemed to have a punishing travel schedule but nevertheless looked elegant and not in the least bit fatigued by jetlag or the European debt crisis. She patiently took time to explain why Africa should care about what happens in the Eurozone.

Looking back, though, it is always gratifying to take the show on the road. We reported from Kibera slum in Kenya where we discovered that even the poorest consumers were driving changes in the way multinationals were making and distributing their products.

We went to Tanzania and its administrative and financial hub, Dar es Salaam, to investigate how the mobile revolution was changing the way poor women had access to healthcare.

While there, we also talked to Tanzanians about schemes to rent land to South Koreans, who were planning to plant rice paddies and export the food back to South Korea. This is all part of a continent-wide push to utilize Africa¹s land resources smartly.

BMW proud of South African production

South Africa Ostrich industry in crisis

Investing in Africa’s mining sector

British consumers hunt for a bargain

Importantly, we took the show to Zimbabwe and reported from the streets of Harare and the parched lands in Mashonaland West. We explored how remittances, money that is “sent home” from family members in the United Kingdom or South Africa, supports entire communities.

However, the realities of life in Zimbabwe were made starkly clear to our crew when police and intelligence officers in Harare briefly detained us.

Despite having permission to film, these security forces threatened us and insisted we be taken to a notorious central prison for further questioning.

They were suspicious and uncomfortable with a foreign TV crew filming openly on the street, even though the Zimbabwean Ministry of Information insisted that international media were now welcome in the country.

We were released only after we made a phone call to a cabinet minister who managed to get the message to them that we were to be left alone.

We continued filming and presenting Marketplace Africa for the next few days and those two shows give a deep understanding of the political and economic realities in the country.

The free press in Ethiopia was one of my favorite stories on our show. We highlighted an innovative scheme of newspaper renting on the street corners of Addis Ababa. Many Ethiopians cannot afford to buy newspapers or magazines, so enterprising newspaper “landlords” rent out the daily news for a small fee.

It is always gratifying when an interview is a lively discussion that introduces you to new facts. Ntebo Rajuili¹s advice on how to do business in Africa was great fun as she explained some cultural quirks in different African countries, which might hinder or help when doing business.

Of course, chatting with Oprah Winfrey about educating young girls was a treat. I wish we could have used the whole half hour of that interview rather than just four minutes. As we all know, Oprah makes for good TV.

Jim O¹Neill is the economist who charted the rise of emerging nations Brazil, Russia, India and China and then coined the phrase BRIC. His insightful analysis was fascinating. He expressed confusion as to why South Africa, a relatively small economic player, had been admitted into this group of global big hitters.

Recently we presented Marketplace Africa from a tugboat in Durban harbor. We were investigating the challenges facing Africa¹s busiest port and what better way to do it than to hitch a ride on a working ship?

As for the next hundred episodes, the journey will continue to be just like doing business in Africa: Exciting, perhaps slightly risky, but with the promise of excellent results.

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Bollywood beckons for double agent

31. March 2012 · Comments Off · Categories: Uncategorized

Tennis star Mahesh Bhupathi is a prominent figure on the Bollywood scene. His company represents several film stars and also produces its own features. His wife is Bollywood actress Lara Dutta, right.

Bhupathi also acts as agent to two fellow players — India’s top-ranked male, Somdev Devvarman, and Sania Mirza, the first Indian woman to ever break into the top 30. Mirza and Bhupathi won the Australian Open mixed doubles in 2009.

The veteran Bhupathi (R) has won a total of 11 grand slam titles during his career — all in doubles. Three of his four men’s crowns have come with compatriot Leander Paes, including Wimbledon in 1999.

Bhupathi, now 37, turned professional in 1995 and briefly played singles before focusing his attention on doubles.

In 1997, Bhupathi became the first Indian to capture a grand slam title as he and Japanese partner Rika Hiraki defeated Americans Patrick Galbraith and Lisa Raymond to seal the mixed doubles crown at the French Open.

Bhupathi enjoyed grand slam mixed doubles success with another Japanese partner, winning the 1999 U.S. Open crown with Ai Sugiyama, defeating Americans Kimberly Po and Donald Johnson.

Alongside their three grand slam titles, Bhupathi and Paes also struck gold in the men’s doubles at the 2006 Asian Games, held in Qatar.

Bhupathi and Paes are household names in India but they can’t quite match the fame that cricketer Sachin Tendulkar enjoys. Here the duo meet the highest runscorer in Test cricket — known as the “Little Master” — in 2002.

Bhupathi’s 11 grand slam titles have come with a total of eight different partners. Here he celebrates his mixed doubles success at the 2006 Australian Open with former women’s world No. 1 Martina Hingis of Switzerland.

Bhupathi teamed up with compatriot Rohan Bopanna (R) at the recent Australian Open, where they were defeated in the third round by Americans Scott Lipsky and Rajeev Ram.

Mahesh Bhupathi has won 11 grand slam doubles titles in his tennis career
The 37-year-old also has his own sports management company Globosport
Bhupathi still plays doubles on the tour but is also agent to other tennis pros
Globosport manages a host of Indian sport stars as well as Bollywood actors

(CNN) — Mahesh Bhupathi is best known in tennis for his many successes as a doubles specialist, but now he’s playing a new role — that of a double agent.

The 37-year-old Indian veteran is still a professional on the ATP Tour, winning his latest doubles title in Dubai earlier this month, but also acts as manager to two of India’s brightest tennis hopes through his company Globosport.

And with a host of Bollywood film stars also featuring in the firm’s portfolio, Bhupathi has a ready-made route to success once his career on court comes to an end.

Bhupathi, who cites entrepreneurs such as Virgin boss Richard Branson and telecoms mogul Sunil Mittal as businessmen he looks up to, has recently made his screen debut in one of his company’s latest projects.

Meet India’s tennis ‘prince’

His wife, Lara Dutta, is an award-winning actress and was named Miss Universe in 2000.

Sania Mirza tackles tennis obstacles

When he does hang up his racket, the first player from India to win a grand slam title — Bhupathi now has 11 all in doubles formats — aims to mix the glitz and glamor of Bollywood with a plan to boost the prospects of burgeoning tennis talent in the country.

India’s tennis pioneers

“All of us growing up are aware what support it takes to build a tennis player,” he told CNN’s Open Court show. “I don’t think there’s any dearth of talent in India — we’ve always had the best juniors in the world.

“The big transition is how do you get from the juniors to the seniors, and that comes through financial support.

“In the West the kids have coaches, trainers and a pretty robust support staff, so it takes a lot of money.

“We have one kid we are supporting fulltime now. He’s 14 years old and very talented, so hopefully we can make it to where we help more and more kids and eventually there will be a pipeline of players coming out of the country.”

Outside of cricket, whose stars are worshiped in India, Bhupathi is one of the country’s best known sporting figures.

He has a clean sweep of grand slam titles in the mixed doubles, claiming his first crown at the French Open in 1997 with Japanese partner Rika Hiraki, and can also boast four men’s doubles titles to boot.

I don’t think there’s any dearth of talent in India — we’ve always had the best juniors in the world
Mahesh Bhupathi

At January’s Australian Open he partnered compatriot Rohan Bopanna — with whom he recently won the Dubai Open title — but they were knocked out in round three.

Yet it is his partnership with another Indian player, Leander Paes, that has reaped dividends. They have won three men’s doubles titles together — at the French Open in 1999 and 2001 as well as Wimbledon in 1999.

Even with a career that is still in full swing, Bhupathi also acts as agent to Sania Mirza — the first Indian woman to break into the world’s top 30 players — and Somdev Devvarman, who reached a high of 62 in the men’s rankings last year.

“For me it’s two fulltime jobs so I’ve got to put in more work, but I really enjoy doing what I do,” he explained. “Sania was one of our first clients, I think we signed her when she was 15.

“The tennis part of it is easy for me because I’m on the road, I’m networked into the tennis world, so doing her racket and apparel, this is very easy as I’m there on site.

“I’m aware tennis isn’t going to last forever, and this going to be a smooth and natural transition now because Golobosport is eight years old.”

But though Bollywood is beckoning, Bhupathi insists his eyes are still firmly fixed on court for now.

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Saudis ditch fast food for fine dining

31. March 2012 · Comments Off · Categories: Uncategorized

A traditional Saudi dish of shredded meat being prepared in an outdoor restaurant in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Smarter restaurants are slowly developing in the city.

A “works burger” from a Jeddah franchise of the American burger chain Fuddruckers. Rashed Islam, founder of JeddahFood.com describes the burger as a “firm favorite of mine,” but some chefs complain of too many American fast food chains in Saudi Arabia.

A grilled chicken shish taouk from Tikka Express, an Indian fast food franchise with branches across the Middle East. It is one of around 100 branches of fast food chains in Jeddah

A key lime pie from Munch Bakery. The first branch of Munch Bakery was launched in 2008 by a group of young Saudis. It now has two branches in Jeddah and one in Riyadh and specializes in sweet treats.

Moroccan tea at Andalusia at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Jeddah. “A wonderful place to relax outside with a superb sea view,” said Rashed Islam, of JeddahFood.com

Too many restaurants in Saudi Arabia are fast food chains, say chefs there
Saudi Arabian Chefs Association was founded three years ago and has 270 members
Chefs Yasser Jad and Emanuele Esposito are both aiming to open fine dining cookery schools

(CNN) — Yasser Jad has a dream to open a fine dining cookery school in Saudi Arabia.

He founded the Saudi Arabian Chefs Association three years ago to create a network among his country’s best cooks and encourage them to improve their skills and now has 270 members.

But he believes there’s more to do in developing fine dining.

Jad himself trained at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and is now in charge of in-flight catering at Saudi Arabian Airlines.

“Most Saudi chefs begin without proper training,” said Jad. “We have some courses but they don’t take people to the level they need.

“As a result young chefs aren’t surviving long in the market. They are leaving the industry after two or three years because they don’t get paid a lot and the competition is so high.

I wish everybody could have proper training
Yasser Jad, president of Saudi Arabian Chefs Association

“I wish everybody could have proper training.”

Saudi Arabia’s food scene is quickly becoming more varied — and healthier — as it incorporates influences from around the world, Jad said.

“Saudis have traditionally eaten too much lamb and not enough salad or vegetables,” he said. “But that’s changing. People are mixing more ingredients with influences from Asia, North America, the Mediterranean and all over the Middle East.”

Jad appeared as a judge on the Middle Eastern version of the American reality show Top Chef when it was launched by LBC, the Lebanese broadcaster, last year.

The winner of the series was Omar El Ghoul, a Moroccan-born chef who works in Saudi Arabia as executive chef at Delifrance, the international bakery chain.

The prominence of fast food franchises is one of the issues that bothers Emanuele Esposito, an Italian chef who has worked in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for six years.

“The country has developed a lot in food and hospitality, but there’s still a lot of American influence and fast food,” said Esposito.

“There are four million people in Jeddah and only two or three fine dining restaurants, but probably 100 branches of fast food franchises.”

Like Jad, Esposito wants to open a hospitality school to help develop young chefs.

“A lot of the younger Saudis want to improve their skills,” said Esposito. “I’m working with the Chamber of Commerce in Jeddah, but it takes time. Hopefully we will open later this year.”

Esposito is executive chef at Il Villagio Restaurant in Jeddah, which was Highly Commended in the Fine Dining Restaurant Category of last year’s Saudi Excellence in Tourism Awards.

When Esposito first moved to Saudi Arabia, he only planned to stay a couple of years, but six years later he has no plans to leave.

“There are more restaurants opening all the time. Alongside the Saudi and Middle Eastern restaurants, there are Italian restaurants and Japanese has really taken off in the last few years.”

I love eating and entertainment in Saudi is quite limited, so dining out became important for me socially
Rashed Islam, founder of JeddahFood.com

One person taking advantage of that boom is food lover Rashed Islam. He started a food blog in 2006 and developed it into full eating out website called JeddahFood.com in 2008.

He now has 56,000 Facebook followers, almost 14,000 registered users, 31,000 unique monthly users and 28,000 downloads of his iPhone app.

The website, which has a recently launched Riyadh version, RiyadhEats.com, provides restaurant listings, news and user reviews.

“I love eating and entertainment in Saudi is quite limited, so dining out became important for me socially,” said Islam, 29.

“Before we launched, Saudi Arabia didn’t have any forum for people to review and recommend restaurants.”

Islam, who employs a staff of six, says Jeddah has a vibrant restaurant scene with foods from all around the world.

“It’s a multi-cultural city and the gateway to Mecca and Medina, which shows in the food,” he said. “From sushi to Indonesian, Italian and Lebanese food, it mirrors a lot of the trends from Paris, London and New York.”

Islam’s favourite food, however, is from closer to home, the Arabic dish of ful medames, made from mashed fava beans with olive oil, chopped parsley, onion, garlic and lemon juice.

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A computer faster than 50 million laptops

31. March 2012 · Comments Off · Categories: Uncategorized

The Cray Jaguar supercomputer can perform more than a million billion operations per second. It takes up more than 5,000 square feet at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the United States. In 2009 it became the fastest computer in the world.

The world’s fastest supercomputer is now Japan’s K Computer. Pictured is one its 864 cabinets.

The K Computer, installed at the RIKEN Advanced Institute for Computational Science, in Kobe, Japan, contains 88,128 computer processors.

A console from what is considered the world’s first supercomputer — the CDC 6600. Designed by American Seymour Cray and completed in 1964, it could perform more than one million floating operations per second.

A landmark in supercomputing, another Cray design, the Cray 1, came on line in 1976. It was capable of more than 100 million floating operations per second.

ExaFLOP supercomputers will perform a billion, billion operations every second
Exascale computer would be 1,000 times faster than today’s quickest machines
Issues over power consumption remain stumbling block to their creation
First exaFLOP computers expected to go online around 2020

(CNN) — A new era in computing that will see machines perform at least 1,000 times faster than today’s most powerful supercomputers is almost upon us.

By the end of the decade, exaFLOP computers are predicted to go online heralding a new chapter in scientific discovery.

The United States, China, Japan, the European Union and Russia are all investing millions of dollars in supercomputer research. In February, the EU announced it was doubling investment in research to ?1.2 billion ($1.6 billion).

What is an exaFLOP?

Computer scientists measure a supercomputer’s performance in FLOPS, an acronym for FLoating Operations per Second, while “exa” is a metric prefix which stands for quintillion (or a billion billion). An exascale computer could perform approximately as many operations per second as 50 million laptops.

“It is the next frontier for high-performance computing,” says Dimitrios Nikolopoulos, professor at the School of Electronics at the UK’s Queen’s University of Belfast.

Exascale by numbers

How fast are today’s supercomputers?

Today, the fastest supercomputers operate at the petaFLOP level says Nikolopoulos, performing in excess of one quadrillion (or a million billion) operations per second.

The first computer to break through the petaFLOP barrier was IBM’s Roadrunner in 2008. But its reign as the fastest computer in the world didn’t last long, with the Cray Jaguar installed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in the United States becoming the quickest with a performance of 1.75 petaFLOPS in 2009.

Today, the crown is held by is Japan’s K Computer developed by Fujitsu, according to TOP500 — a project that tracks trends in high-performance computing.

The machine, installed at the RIKEN Advanced Institute for Computational Science, in Kobe, Japan, currently operates at over 10 petaFLOPS. It is more than three times faster than its nearest rival, China’s NUDT YH MPP computer (2.57 petaflops).

How big are they?

“The kind of space that you need is similar to that of a football field. You’re talking about many, many lanes of computer racks and thousands of processors,” says Nikolopoulos.

The K Computer contains a mind-boggling 88,128 computer processors and is made up of 864 refrigerator-sized cabinets.

Physically, exascale computing won’t get any bigger, says Nikolopoulos, and might even get a little smaller. But the amount of processors will rise substantially to anywhere between one million and 100 million.

Cocaine found in Whitney Houston’s hotel room, report says

31. March 2012 · Comments Off · Categories: Uncategorized

Authorities recovered cocaine in the hotel room where Whitney Houston died, TMZ has learned.

As for the quantity of cocaine that was found, official documents show one of the items police recovered was “white, powdery remnants.”

Sources tell TMZ the powder was tested and it’s cocaine.

We’re told Beverly Hills detectives are not investigating rumors that someone removed cocaine from the room, because they’re convinced it wasn’t removed.

Sources directly involved in the investigation told TMZ early on that no illegal drugs were recovered from the room. TMZ has circled back with these sources who now tell us they were unaware at the time that cocaine was present.

So law enforcement is in the final stages of their investigation, but they are not focusing on anyone who possibly removed cocaine, because authorities are in possession of the goods.

Houston was found in her bathtub not breathing. She could not be revived. Autopsy reports showed cocaine in her system, and listed cocaine and drowning as contributors to her death.

She was 48.

Study finds young web-connected adults less interested in driving

31. March 2012 · Comments Off · Categories: Uncategorized

When young adults in the 21st century go on a ?Surfin? Safari? they?re less likely to do it in a ?Little Deuce Coupe,? says a new study by researchers at the University of Michigan.

Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle of the university?s Transportation Research Institute found that an increase in internet use among younger age groups was associated with lower driver?s licensure rates.

Since 1983, the percentage of licensed drivers in the United States under age 30 has dropped from 33 percent to 22 percent, while the percentage of people in their 20s who have a driver?s license has gone from 94 percent in 1983 to 84 percent in 2008, according to the study published in the Traffic Injury Prevention journal.

The researchers found a similar situation in a number of other countries, including Canada, Great Britain, Japan and Germany.

Sivak says that ?countries with higher proportions of Internet users were associated with lower licensure rates among young persons, which is consistent with the hypothesis that access to virtual contact through electronic means reduces the need for actual contact among young people.”

The results of the study echo findings in several others along with anecdotal evidence that indicates that an increase in use of social media, as well as a stagnant economy and more stringent and expensive licensing procedures is leading to a declining interest in automobile usage among teenagers and young adults.

Even in countries that saw an increase in the rate of young drivers, including Spain, Israel and Finland, it was smaller than the growth among other age groups.

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Saudis ditch fast food for fine dining

31. March 2012 · Comments Off · Categories: Uncategorized

A traditional Saudi dish of shredded meat being prepared in an outdoor restaurant in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Smarter restaurants are slowly developing in the city.

A grilled chicken shish taouk from Tikka Express, an Indian fast food franchise with branches across the Middle East. It is one of around 100 branches of fast food chains in Jeddah

Moroccan tea at Andalusia at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Jeddah. “A wonderful place to relax outside with a superb sea view,” said Rashed Islam, of JeddahFood.com

Too many restaurants in Saudi Arabia are fast food chains, say chefs there
Saudi Arabian Chefs Association was founded three years ago and has 270 members
Chefs Yasser Jad and Emanuele Esposito are both aiming to open fine dining cookery schools