AMD's VISION - The APU. (And why you should vote for me!)

I'm not usually one to enter this sort of competition, but when the good people at AMD approached me during an event that I held for them, I could hardly say no. I need votes to win, but before I get into that, let me run you through AMD's VISION..

Beyond all the computer jargon and fancy talk, it's all very simple. The folks at AMD had a vision that everyone and their uncles should be able to have a supercomputer. Simple things like full time HD, a battery life of over 8 hours, across the board 3D capabilities and much more were desired. So they built an APU - Accelerated Processing Unit. This is what AMD had to say about their APU:

"Information inside a computer flows between two critical areas: the GPU (for creative and visual tasks) and the CPU (for analytical and logic-based functions). Traditional PCs have separate CPUs and GPUs which leads to a communication bottleneck. This often results in extensive slowdowns for consumers.

Introducing the innovative AMD Fusion Accelerated Processing Unit (APU):

Powerful AMD processor technology and discrete-class, DirectX® 11–capable graphics combined on a single chip. It’s the perfect combination of beauty and brawn—delivering smooth HD video, powerful multitasking and energy efficiency. AMD's new APU features up to 4 x86 cores combined with up to 400 Radeon™ graphics cores in a single microchip."

That's how they describe it. In simpler terms they took, what has always been the more capable chip in a computer the GPU, and built it into the CPU, thereby increasing the processing power by at least 80%! Smart move, eh? You know have a simple chip that has tons of more processing power, making things like extended battery life, full time HD and 3D child's play. All of this is rooted in AMD's VISION engine. I'll let them explain that to you:

"AMD VISION Engine — The foundation of VISION Technology from AMD that enables vivid HD

entertainment, blazing-fast Internet browsing and accelerated media applications."

Pretty sweet, huh? My request now is to get you guys over to their website and vote! Each of the challengers, yours truly included, has to gather votes and the challenger with the most votes gets to go to the Austin City Limits Music Festival to see, amongst others, Arcade Fire, Coldplay Kanye West etc. live!

Help a brother out? Click here to start voting for your friendly, neighbourhood smartass!


M

Review: The Samsung Smart TV. How Smart is Smart?

About a week before their launch on 6 April, I was invited by the folk at Samsung to have a look at their new product the Samsung Smart TV. Alongside me were a bunch of other technology related bloggers, like Paul ‘DaddyBird’ Castle, Magnus Nystedt of PCWorld, Mohammed Al Huraiz of Lochal Archade, Saurabh Chabra, the young chap from EMR8.com and the legendary Ashraf Ghori, creator of the Xero Error series

Oh dear, I've fallen into it again..

Well it's true, after spending a lot of time contemplating my return to the blogosphere, I did give in and will resume blogging, effective immediately! My initial concern was that I will not have enough to blog about or any specific things I may want to write about. However, what I did discover is I do have things I want to talk and blog about.

I will hereby turn this blog right around and you can expect to see me blog about the following topics:

1. Motorsports. I've recently joined my company's racing team. This adds to my previous track experience, so I guess it's about time I start talking cars as much as I love driving them.
   
   
2. Paintball. Cuz it's awesome. And now that I have all my gear, it's time to terrorize the office.
   
   
3. Video Games. I play a lot of them. It's time to take it a bit seriously.
   
   
4. Campus Radio ME. Along with Ritesh, I started this almost a year ago. Here, I will talk about recent news, updates etc.
   
   
5. Movies. I spend a lot of nights burning through DVDs. Why not share my views? :)

By any means, this list is not exhaustive. But possibly a teaser of things to come.

See you guys around!

M

Just a personal update :)

January 2009 is over. The first month of 2009, which I intend to make an awesome year, has been up to par so far, and I'm fairly happy. Exams went well, I'm growing my profile as an MC or Host or Stage Manager, am starting to work in Dad's company more and all around progress in all fields. School reopens on the 8th, so I've got that long to relax before I get back to the University grind.

Unfortunately for me, earlier this month my hard drive was damaged by a dear friend of mine, and the data was unrecoverable and the hard drive was fried. My friend was deeply apologetic, and was sweet enough to reimburse me with a brand new hard drive with the same capacity. Albeit I lost all my data (AND MY MUSIC WTF!!!!) but she's really decent and I couldn't thank her enough. I went to the beach yesterday and gave my old hard drive a burial. The whole nine yards. Toy spade, rocks to mark the grave, sea shells to decorate and everything. T'was an awesome night.

Here is picture of above mentioned grave.


For reasons yet unexplained, the picture refuses to load the right way up, so you're gonna have to tilt your head to your right so see it from the angle that the picture was taken.

So that was yesterday. A lot of guests coming down in the next few days. My eldest brother will be leaving the UAE and heading back to USA for a few years. so we've got a bunch of folks goming down here from all around the place to see him off. My brother from Egypt, an aunt from India, my brother's in-laws, his friends etc etc. A flurry of activity around the house really, and February's probably going to be a busy busy month. A busy and crowded month. Bright side is I get to see the kids and that's always a good thing.

The fact that the kids have grown, means I will have to hide a lot of my stuff. Stuff that can be broken. Stuff that can be dangerous. Stuff that I only have one of and so can't share it with the kids. All these things will have to be hidden if I am to avoid any damages/losses to or of these items as well as to prevent fights amongst the kids.

the 26th of January is the Indian Republic Day, and on that night, I hosted a fashion show at the house of the Consil General of India. It was a part charity part university promortion fashion show, but it was a good one. Met a lot of interesting people there, including the Consul General of India Venu Rajamony, the Consul General of Britain, France, Guineau, China, South Korea, Thailand and many other dignitaries. Also met a fellow Tweeter PKGulati and his wife. Was nice to run into them.

I also took part in a little blogging experiment that T held, and submitted a guest post on the topic of change on his blog. If you haven't already read it, give it a read here.

Either way, that was January 2009 for me. Moving in to February in a couple of minutes or so. Let's keep it going, shall we?

M


_

Thursday, September 18, 2008

The day mentioned in the title was one very eventful days. It's one of those days where you see so many different things, and each one of them has an effect on you.

Event 1: Mrs. Fokiya's Movie.

Mrs. Fokiya is a newly appointed Professor at my University. She'd been a temp with us for 2 years and only this year she was offered a full time post, which she took. So it turns out Mrs. Fokiya makes movies on the side and from what we were told she's made over 20 short documentaries. Most of them are about humanitarian issues and the like.

So, on titular date, the faculty decided to show a screening of one of her movies. This movie was about widows and mainly orphans in Kashmir. It was a good depiction of the troubles and worries that orphans and widows in Kashmire face in their day to day lives. It was one of those things where, it wasn't like you didn't already know about it, you just had never seen it. In my time working with the UNERU and RAD, I've organized a lot of supplies for these people so this movie had a very personal impact for me. 18 year old boys taking care of entire families. 6 year olds with ambitions to be a doctor or a teacher so he can heal or teach other orphans. A 13 year old girl, when interviewed, showed the maturity that most adults of our generation lack.

What got to me though, was when after the movie was screened I heard a lot of my peers commenting on how ,'boring' that was and how, 'pointless' it was that they wasted their precious time sitting there and watching that movie about some kids who struggle with their lives.

Is my generation really that shallow? Are our stomachs and our looks all we ever care about? How could we possibly complain about education, family, friends or the hardships that WE face, while these children face unsurmountable challenges without battering an eyelid.

We're screwed.


Event 2 - Almost roadkill

I was invited to the Games Alliance Middle East Show 2008 (GAMES 2008) to try out new game titles. Now, while that I will speak about as well, this part is about what happened on the way to the hotel.

It was being held at the Grand Hyatt and I was in Satwa. A friend was to pick me up and since he didn't know where I would be exactly, he waited at the big Satwa Mosque, which was a 5 minute walk from where I was. I made my way there and just as I saw his car from across the street, a taxi pulled up behind him and stopped. Two women got out, and I could see some children in the car. Three, if I remember correctly, and amongst them was a little boy roughly about 2 years old.

The moment this little guy hit the pavement he bolted for the main road that I was about to cross. He caught his mother by surprise and made a dash for the road. Why? Dunno. He's a kid. Either way, the kid jumped onto the road and freezed. An RTA bus saw the child and hit the brakes, but it wouldn't have stopped in time.

At that point, I managed to bolt down the road, scoop the child and reach the other side. The bus drove past soon after. I figured that the driver saw me running across to pick the child up and so wasn't worried. The mother was screaming hysterically throughout the entire thing. Her sister was yelling at her, as was the cabbie. My friend was standing there looking at me with his mouth open. I don't know if I saved the child's life, but Alhamdulillah we didn't have to find out.

The interesting thing is that I was in Satwa for an Iftar party at my aunt's place. She did not want me to go, and it took me 45 minutes to convince her to let me go. Even then she was hesitant and my father wasn't particularly happy that I was skipping out on a family event. Had she not delayed me, or was I not permitted to go, would things have happened differently?

Funny how things work out.


Event 3 - Games Alliance Middle East Show 2008 (GAMES 2008)

Microsoft, Pluto Games, Red Entertainment and Sony's Gulf Playstation Division invited me to attend GAMES 2008, where I was able to try out never-seen before titles. Some of these titles were still a few months out but were available for testing and trials at this exhibition.

Long story short:

I TRIED GEARS OF WAR 2! AAAAAHH!!!!

It was BEAUTIFUL. Every bit as orgasmic as I had imagined. The cool thing was that it was still a development module and there were bugs and I FOUND ONE. When you revved up the Lancer's chainsaw, while walking towards an enemy if you grazed past a wall or a vehicle or anything, the player would discharge onto it, so you' waste time, the element of surprise and would have to rev up all over again. But the gameplay was beautiful. The characters were crisper and new movements and new abilities just make this already awesome game just that much better.

Other titles to watch out for:

Resident Evil 5 (Simply the BEST graphics I have ever seen in ANY game. EVER.)
Brothers in Arms: Highway to Hell
Fable 2
Quantum of Solace
Star Wars: Force Unleashed (I'm not so sure about this one)
Legendary
Killzone 2
Resistance 2
Call of Duty: World At War


What a day!


Cheers!


M




_

Well thank you, Becca..

July's here. Half the year is over. That would mean just about 5 more months till winter, December and other festivities of great joy. Btw T-Mac this whole, "Challenge" business is a good way to keep me on my toes. I still want my laptop back from the service guys though. Blogging on the family desktop is not very comforting.

I've just learned that I've been invited to the Presidential Youth Inaugural Conference. GYLC certainly has it's upsides and if Obama does win then I believe this will certainly be a historic moment. Ever since GYLC I've ignored the other conferences due to lack of funds and/or clashes with my exam schedule but I really DO want to go for this 4 day conference. I think this is pretty big and I wouldn't want to miss it.

And so the sponsor hunt begins! Now, I'll need money for the following things:

1. Flight tickets, to and from
2. The conference fee.
3. Food & other expenses.

Now while this list isn't big, the first 2 slots are really large chunks. The conference fee will probably be the biggest amount that I'd have to pay and come this weekend, I will actively begin a sponsor hunt.

The world NEEDS me to be there when Obama wins (InshAllah).

(Ok, that's not true at all, and my presence there would be insignificant to the world and Obama, but THINK of all the possibilities and the experience. It's my ego that needs me to be there more than anything else.)

SO, off the top of my head, what kind of firms can I approach and get them to part with their hard earned money.

1. Media-related firms. Maybe I could offer insider information or document the whole journey. I know that I'll be given a LOT of documents when I'm there and according to the invitation plan I meet a lot of people, INCLUDING a (and I quote), "Major Presidential Candidate." So it could just be their marketing guys or who knows.
   
2. Banks and Construction firms. They have a lot of cash.
3. Airlines. If I want to get free tickets I'm gonna have to start looking for the tickets NOW because most airlines decide their sponsor budgets a year in advance.

So that's my detailed list and let's see what I can get done.


Moving on, that was my post on life and now a little round of 20 questions.


1. What is your favorite food?
Noodles & Sausages

2. What was your happiest moment when you were a child?
No defining moment, but I did have a decently happy childhood.

3. Where is the place that you want to go the most?
Boston. Turkey. And New York City again.

4. Which part of you do you hate the most?
The overthinker/second guesser part.

5. When you encounter a sad moment, what do you do?
Ignore it for the most bit and then get all weird and angryquiet.

6. What are you afraid to lose the most?
Other people's respect.

7. If you win $1 million, what would you do?
Secure my and my family's (immediate and soon-to-be's) future and then divide the rest amongst charities. I'd probably invest a little too.

8. What do you love the most about last year (2007)?
Not much. Last year was weird. Ramadan last year was great though :)

9. Which actor/actress would you like to play you in a movie?
Edward Norton.

10. How do you cope with boredom?
I agree with the T. Internet

11. Till now, what is the moment that you regret the most?
Not trying hard enough to keep in touch with friends.

12. What type of person do you hate the most?
Impatient, arrogant, narrow-minded.. And nice-to-your-face people..

13. What is your ambition?
To live my life healty, successfull and with a great family to top it off.

14. If you had one wish, what would you wish for?
I'd wish for Telekinesis.

15. If you were an animal, what animal would you be?
A dolphin. For multiple reasons ( ;) )

16. What has been the craziest thing Well... now...

17. What do you look forward to in the remainder of 2008?
Earning more. Working harder. Getting better.

18. If your life is a song, what title best fits it?
Oasis - Wonderwall. It's been my soundtrack for a while now.

19. If you were to change one event in your life, what would it be?
My metabolism.

20. Who are you going to tag?
T-Mac, the Junkie and my property.


Anywhoo. That's that for today. See y'all later.

xx


M

Iraq Body Count

Ever since the Iraq war began 6 years ago, the number of civilian losses have always been both a matter of dispute and shame.

I stumbled upon this website a few years ago and since have kept returning ever so often to keep track and to keep myself updated on Iraqi issues. This wonderful website is run by volunteers who painstakingly keep track of the dead and try to identify and list them. However, with the growing capacity of the website, and unfortunately the dead, the site is crumbling under the fiscal burden imposed on it and so need donations to keep going.

I added a Web Counter that the site developed onto my blog and it shows the latest estimates of dead civilians. The counter is on the right and is updated frequently. The numbers will shock you.

I could not donate any money myself, as I own no credit card nor bank account, but I think that what this site is doing is something very noble in today's world and I'm gonna try and help them get their funding in any way possible.


One hell of a job guys. Keep it up.


Iraq Body Count.


xx


M

8 Israelis massacred in Seminary

..was one of the major headlines on CNN today.

Wow. 8. Eight. That's one more than 7. But not quite 9.

(Funny it took the death of 8 Israelis to make me want to blog all over again)

Coming back to the topic of hand, WHY does the death of 8 Israelis make the headlines on CNN? I mean, people die (read: get killed) all the time don't they? Palestine, Iraq, Chechnya, Kashmir, Sudan, etc. So why is the demise of 8 Israelis, shot to death by a rampant terrorist at a Seminary, SUCH a big deal?

How come CNN doesn't cover the DAILY massacre of the Palestinians by those Israeli bombers? I think that's important. More than eight people were killed everyday. Were their demises not headline worthy for CNN?


Shame.



Oh and, my condolences and all to the families of the 8 Israelis killed.


M

On this glorious day..

2.3 Billion people all over the world came together to celebrate in union, on this glorious day,





... my Birthday


(and Eid..)



:D


xx


M

Unlocked iPhones for sale in UAE

The text of this post is just what the title reads.

I've got iPhones. They're ready to work in the UAE, because I got them unlocked.

Plus point is: They're software unlocked so no hardware nibbles took place. What you get is all APPLE iPhones with no restriction on networks so it'll work in the UAE or any other place for that matter.

We guarantee the software unlock. It doesn't work, your money back.

And speaking about money, each iPhone you buy will set you back AED 3000/- . By this Thursday (20th of September) I'll have the Demo pieces as well so you can come and see that they work if you require the proof.

Call me on 050-7199175. I'm gonna keep my number up for as long a I'm selling the phones, so feel free.

xx

M

Virginia Tech Massacre Part 1. The Event

Normally if I had to read the news I just jump to some online editions of popular broadcasts like BBC, Al-Jazeera, Gulf News or 7Days. This time however when I opened up Firefox, Yahoo's frontpage said all that I needed to hear. "Massacre at VT"

VT? Virginia Tech? Really? WTF?! AMMAR & SEAN STUDY THERE! Quick as a flash I opened up multiple tabs and started browsing for any news that I could find on the event. BBC, CNN, Google News, Yahoo News and any any any any website that had anything on it. Needed to know if these guys were ok. Within a few minutes I had some details. There were TWO shootings, a couple of hours apart. Somewhere around 30 people killed, later this was confirmed at 33 including the shooter himself. More sketchy details here and there, but within a few hours I managed to get most of the details. Eventually I managed to contact Ammar on Messenger and he was fine, and so was Sean. I was relieved. Then I continued on some research on the incident.

Cho Seung-Hui was a 23-year old South Korean at VT. Read more about him here. That day he took out 32 students and then shot and killed himself, with a Glock that he was able to purchase because he was a legal resident of the United States of America. The irony for this; the KKK actually promote more students to own handguns, 'so that they could defend themselves.' Read more on that here and here. That is pretty sick. A post on Gun Laws in the USA soon.

Jamal Albarghouti, a grad student at VT, was on his way to meet an adviser, just before the second shooting. He hadn't heard about the first one yet. On his way there he heard what he thought were gunshots. He didn't panic due to the recent bomb scares at VT, and kept on his way. Later when he saw the police draw their weapons as well, he knew that this was going to be serious and began taking a video. See the video and his interview here.

More on the VT Killings and discussion later. Just the facts for now.

May God bless the dead, and keep safe the living. Inshallah.

xx

M

Russell Peters In Dubai...

Weeell, look who's coming to town. Russell Peters himself. The Canadian/Indian stand up is set to tickle Dubai's comedy fans, including yours truly, on the 11th and 12th of March.

Originally his show was schedules to be only on the 11th of March, but ALL his tickets were sold out by 11:45am that same day. Yours truly purchased his, and 4 other, tickets at 12:06am. Hence, that oughta tell you something about the demand for this show.

Because it was a sell out, they decided to have a second show on the following day. Tickets for that show go on sale tonight at 12:00am. I was pondering the thought of buying up some more tickets. What for? SELL THEM!!! Ever since I bought 5 tickets for me and another 4 guys, people have been begging me to sell them the tickets. Rumors about lines at Virgin reaching till the parking lot of Mall of the Emirates have been floating and if rumors are true then this might be a good time to rake in some moolah.

Although to be completely honest, if someone offered me a good amount for my OWN ticket, lets say going AED 500+ I'd sell it right then. I mean what the hell. In RP's words, I'm a, 'filthy downloader.' Let him have the ticket. Let me have the cash. Only we BOTH watch it. Albeit I get to watch it a month or so later but what the hell eh?

xx

M

KRISPY KREME IN DUBAI!!!!!

Today I was at City Center with a few friends when I walked past this gift from the heavens above and the God above that.

Krispy Kreme is coming to Dubai and more than a year and a half of prayers have finally paid off. I ate KK first, in Washington DC in July of 2005. Have been an avid fan ever since and have eaten them ever since, at every opportunity possible.

There really is somebody up there. And he likes Glazed doughnuts.

xx

M

Road tripping...

We were cussed out by locals.

We were pelted stones at by an Arab woman thinking we were taking her child.

We chased little goats across a field.

We were scared shitless by the sights of snakes and 2 inch beetles.

We were almost hit by crazy women speeders.

We ate lunch at the most random place EVER.

I saw a drunk white guy telling me about how he is gonna go pee in the ocean.

Yeah... Road trips are fun...

xx

M

Life as I know it is crumbling...

Thats it, Life is OVAARRR!!!!


I can't BELIEVE it!!!!! IRON MAIDEN, IN FLAMES, MASTODON & STONE SOUR HAVE ALL BEEN CONFIRMED FOR DESERT ROCK AND I WON'T BE ABLE TO GO!!!!!!


NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!



xx

DDRF: Updates!!!

The Dubai Desert Rock Festival fever is seriously catching on with the local metal and rock fans. Yours truly included. Unfortunately, knowing my luck and the inclinations of my family I probably won't be able to go. What saddens me this time the most is that InFlames are coming for SURE and they happen to be my second best band, and the one chance I'm probably going to get to see them perform, I'm gonna miss.

Anyway, the (for the first time) 2 day festival's gonna be on the 9th and 10th of March. Till today, the confirmed bands that are performing are:

The Prodigy (yes, at a rock festival)
Incubus
Children of Bodom (Woot!)
InFlames (WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTT!!!!!!)
Prime Circle

Typical to post-rock festival, rumors are afloat of other bands are yet to come. 10 Bands are s'posed to come in total. The other 5 bands aer rumoured to be:

Iron Maiden
Mastodon
Slayer
Linkin Park (???)
[edit] StoneSour [edit] (Thanks Uzma!)

[omit] And one more that I can't think of. [omit]

Anywhoo, let's hope my parents feel generous eh?

Here's hoping for the best...

xx

December..

I think I'm always happy whenever December rolls around. Maybe it's because for once in the year I can complain that it's too cold out. Or maybe it's because for the first time this year I can sleep in a cool room unde rthe covers without the air conditioner running. Or maybe it's because I love the smell of fresh rain. Or maybe it's because my birthday's on the 19th. Or maybe it's becau.. Yea I think it's because of my birthday.

December's always been special that way. A lot of my friends were also born in December. My mum's born in December too. So are Hussain & Sehr. I guess God chose a month for the hipper crowd. Josh's born in Dec too. In fact he turns 18 this year, with Sehr. 18's quite a milestone in the UAE cuz that's our sweet 16. License, Legal smokes n' sheesha (not that I do any of those...) etc etc. I think the fact that winter also roles around in December adds to my fondness to it (read previous post). Something about it I'm not entirely sure...

In other news: Dubai Desert Rock fever is catching up. Children of Bodom, Prodigy & Incubus have been confirmed. Rumours are afloat about Slayer, and more importantly, In Flames. If In Flames come and I don't get to go, someone is going to rue the day. Anthony, I hope you're wrong. In Flames are awesome and I'd hate to miss them.

Zenobia flies off to India tonight for her brother's wedding which is (coincidence) also in December. She'll be back in Jan, when she'll stay for a week before she flies off to Monash, Australia for her University. Sucks. Am going to miss her. Too bad I won't be able to tell/show her that. Crap.

Other than that, stuff isn't half bad. Soaking up this awesome weather. Been sleeping a lot more lately. Anyway, I oughta get going, have to be at school early tomorrow morning.

Oh, and work sucks.

xx

Inter-house Sports

This week saw our school kick off with our inter-house sports, and the first match played was Yellow Vs. Blue. My team against Faraz's. My team isn't as strong as the other houses but, if we put up a fight we're worth a look at.

Emotions running high in the first game. After the first ten minutes I suddenly felt unusually breathless and fatigued. Which was uncommon. So I took a substitution and got out. It was a rolling substitution so I could always jump back in later. I sat out for a good 10 minutes, during which I tried to recuperate from the sudden lack of breath. During my time out, Sean blistered a free kick straight into the back of the net and we were up 1-0.

Once back in I felt my breath come back to me and I was able to pace better. (Throughout the game after that I missed 4 chances. *sulks*) Before long, Falik (yes, Falik) fired a delightful volley and it shot straight into the back of the net. Everyone was like, "Daym, FALIK!!!!! WAY TO GOO MAN!!" The Kings were up 2-0. Things were looking up. Half time came and went, and the second half rolled in. Confidence was soaring, and we were looking sharp. Then out of nowhere, a quick pass to Blue's Ryan caught our defence off guard and he managed to slot it in the back of our net. The Blues were celebrating. The score was 2-1. They were back in the game.

But within a few minutes of that, Falaknaz's solo effort managed to put us up by one more. And it wasn't long after that, that the final whistle blew. That was it. Yellow dominated and won this game. Confidence was so high it made Sean look short. We felt UNSTOPPABLE!!!!! This happened yesterday.



Today we lost 4-1 to Green.

Damn...

xx

You've been Debated...

Three weeks ago, due to an outburst that Khalid made in the classroom, all of year 13 was involved in a discussion about Hitler. Specifically the legacy that he left behind. Was it a good one or a bad one?

Amongst the girls, Heena was extremely anti - Hitler and so, just to play with her the guys went around ranting, "Hitler was a GENIUS!!!" One argument led to some laughter and before you knew it the coordinators heard about what was happening and a date was set when this topic was to be debated in front of years 12 & 13. I was put on the team that had to speak for his legacy. For it. We had already lost.

Eventually time rolled by and yesterday (Thursday,9th of November) arrived... Teams were set. Heena and Reyna spoke against it, while Awais and I spoke for it. Uzma and Ahad also decided to help us since we were debating a lost argument. The nice Mr. Kamath treated the audience and speakers to Ice Cream and Sodas. Heena was the first to go. She pulled out a fact sheet and began firing off points showing how bad a legacy Hitler had left behind. Daym. The For team was already getting hammered. When she finished the crowd gave her a warm applause. Awais then jumped on the scene and spoke about Hitler's economic developments. Possibly the only good thing that could have been debated about him. As he signed off the crowd gave us a lukewarm response. But it was better than we had hoped for.

We were then given 5 minutes to prepare our Rebuttals. The teams left the hall and began preparing their speeches. After a quick 5 minutes the teams were ushered back into the hall. Reyna was up next. Her speech was well received by the audience where she spoke about how could yo possibly link Hitler to a good memory. It wasn't getting easier for us.

Eventually it was my turn. I stood up and made my way to the front of the audience. I actually hesitated there for a few seconds, knowing perfectly what I was going to say, just not how to start it. I began slowly, and then worked it up into a well voiced speech about how you can't ignore the economic & military development that Hitler brought to Germany from 1933 to before the fall of the Third Reich. We did not have much to go on but I tried to make whatever we have sound phenomenal.

When I finished the crowd gave the biggest applause yet. Reyna and Heena themselves acknowledged that I spoke the best and that the For team had a HUGE chance of winning this. The judges then asked to take their leave to tally the points. As they were doing their thing, us 4 speakers were wondering who would win. The Against team had the best points, but the For team had the best speech. Who would win? Each team thought the other would win. Although, to be honest I did have that little glimmer of hope that my speech could have turned it for us.

The judges were back. Mrs. Khan stood up in front of the audience. She gave a quick explanation on how the scores were evaluated and how the points were tallied. 4 fields: relevance, clarity, accuracy and speech. Each speaker would be given points out of 100, and the total for both speakers would be tallied. The team with more points wins. She then commented on each speaker. Heena had the most points, Awais focused on Economics, Reyna re-stamped what Heena began, and I spoke with the most confidence. Then she annouced the scores.

Heena 91, Awais 77, Reyna 84,


Muhammed Ali 73


Pwned.


A resounding, "Gasp!" was heard throughout the class. "How on EARTH did Mali get 73?!?!" It wasn't half bad though. I was told I lost points for lack of material. The good part was that some of the audience went to the judges and asked how it was possible for me to score the least. Many of them also stopped by me and said that they disagreed with what the judges thought, and still thought that I spoke the best. Even so...


Pwned..

xx

Woot Woot Auction! (Stupid Municipality)

Yesterday, Lacoste held an auction for roughly 30 - 40 odd items of art, ranging from paintings to clothes designed by artistes, regular people, and our Wish Kids alike. It was a really good event, held at the Lotus One at the Convention Center here. The crowd was (or so I was told) was Dubai's [edit] creme de la creme [edit] (Thanks Devon!). Anywhoo a well organised event it was... Phillipe Lacoste and Patrick Chaloub were both present and spoke to the crowd. This was followed by John giving a speech, after which I spoke about my Disney trip earlier this year, which was such a hit, with the crowd.

Later on, we surprised John, by announcing his Birthday, singing a song, getting him a cake and a gift. The rest of the night was followed by the silent auction for all the art works. That was around 10:30pm.

At 12:30 am, the auction was done and over with, and following a tally of all the bids, I think we crossed into the AED 200,000 range. Which. Is. AWESOME! Eventually, we stayed on till around 1:30am when I finally decided to take my leave. Thanked the event organizers, Mr. Philippe Lacoste, Mr. Patrick Chaloub, the senior staff at Lotus One, and I was outta there...

Today the Municipality calls me and tells me that the money raised is illegal. Damn them. Am now currently fighting the legal procedure to make that money legal...

Morons..

xx