Art is an appropriate medium for a person to express one's feelings towards the martyrs (Emirati artist pays tribute to UAE's fallen soldiers, October 22). Budour Al Ali's painting will help the coming generation to learn about the sacrifices made by the brave men.
Name withheld by request
Badour Al Ali’s art is very touching. Not only does it show respect, empathy and an understanding of the true sacrifice these brave souls faced for unselfish reasons, but she also gives comfort to the families and friends who are missing their presence in their lives.
She has in a sense immortalised the life that once was. Who they were, and what they did both mattered, and made a positive footprint on the time they were here.
You also expose people who would normally turn a blind eye to world events, casualties, and things they just don’t think will ever touch them and you help them too see that it’s real, and can never be ignored or never touch their lives.
She should consider having a print made and sent to each family of each person who inspired her.
John Saf David, Abu Dhabi
Should we get rid of speed buffer zones?
Speed buffers are not exactly an issue (End the confusion on speed limits, October 23). How about just educating people on driving etiquette, the consequences of speaking on mobile phones while driving, using indicators when changing lanes, the proper way to negotiate roundabouts, proper seat-belt use and so on?
The standard of driving here is very low. Everyone does what they think is right. The speed limit should be the least of anyone’s worries. We need to address the real problems.
John Paravalos, Dubai
There is utter confusion over speed limits. Remove the buffer but leave the limits at 140 kph or 80 kph, or whatever it is, then sign it as such. At present nobody has a clue to what the speed limits are. It’s time to put up signboards clearly mentioning the speed limits.
Phillie Hall, Abu Dhabi
Don’t remove the buffer. Add a couple of lanes like the German autobahn and make qualifying for a licence harder.
Zhann Jochinke, Dubai
I agree with the points made in the editorial. A speed limit is to be respected, and there should be no “grace”.
Urs Stohler, Dubai
How to define cybersquatting
How is any of this "cybersquatting" (Cybersquatting's role in new tech start-ups' bizarre, senseless names, October 18)? Everyone knows by now that domain names are valuable assets. Many have resale value, others have natural traffic that can earn money via PPC, others work well for email or URL shorteners, the rest might be good to hold for future projects. Just because some dreamer fancies himself as a start-up wizard and decides on a great name that he doesn't own doesn't mean that everyone before him that owned any variation of the name is a "cybersquatter".
Get on with the times. Buy a good name in the aftermarket and get moving with your project. Tackle the hurdles that will come with it. Capitalism is not synonymous with “cybersquatting”.
Name withheld by request
Museum in Sharjah a gem
Sharjah's Art Museum is a true gem both in terms of interior design and the quality of the works displayed (Women of the UAE: heritage is her inspiration, October 18). I wish like Dr Mona Al Ali more and more people will be inspired to visit it.
Anne Degiorgis, Sharjah
The museum is wonderful. It is one of those places that truly strives to preserve the country’s culture and history.
Ásyah Elisabeth Mel, Dubai
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
How Alia's experiment will help humans get to Mars
Alia’s winning experiment examined how genes might change under the stresses caused by being in space, such as cosmic radiation and microgravity.
Her samples were placed in a machine on board the International Space Station. called a miniPCR thermal cycler, which can copy DNA multiple times.
After the samples were examined on return to Earth, scientists were able to successfully detect changes caused by being in space in the way DNA transmits instructions through proteins and other molecules in living organisms.
Although Alia’s samples were taken from nematode worms, the results have much bigger long term applications, especially for human space flight and long term missions, such as to Mars.
It also means that the first DNA experiments using human genomes can now be carried out on the ISS.
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
Dubai works towards better air quality by 2021
Dubai is on a mission to record good air quality for 90 per cent of the year – up from 86 per cent annually today – by 2021.
The municipality plans to have seven mobile air-monitoring stations by 2020 to capture more accurate data in hourly and daily trends of pollution.
These will be on the Palm Jumeirah, Al Qusais, Muhaisnah, Rashidiyah, Al Wasl, Al Quoz and Dubai Investment Park.
“It will allow real-time responding for emergency cases,” said Khaldoon Al Daraji, first environment safety officer at the municipality.
“We’re in a good position except for the cases that are out of our hands, such as sandstorms.
“Sandstorms are our main concern because the UAE is just a receiver.
“The hotspots are Iran, Saudi Arabia and southern Iraq, but we’re working hard with the region to reduce the cycle of sandstorm generation.”
Mr Al Daraji said monitoring as it stood covered 47 per cent of Dubai.
There are 12 fixed stations in the emirate, but Dubai also receives information from monitors belonging to other entities.
“There are 25 stations in total,” Mr Al Daraji said.
“We added new technology and equipment used for the first time for the detection of heavy metals.
“A hundred parameters can be detected but we want to expand it to make sure that the data captured can allow a baseline study in some areas to ensure they are well positioned.”
South and West: From a Notebook
Joan Didion
Fourth Estate
How will Gen Alpha invest?
Mark Chahwan, co-founder and chief executive of robo-advisory firm Sarwa, forecasts that Generation Alpha (born between 2010 and 2024) will start investing in their teenage years and therefore benefit from compound interest.
“Technology and education should be the main drivers to make this happen, whether it’s investing in a few clicks or their schools/parents stepping up their personal finance education skills,” he adds.
Mr Chahwan says younger generations have a higher capacity to take on risk, but for some their appetite can be more cautious because they are investing for the first time. “Schools still do not teach personal finance and stock market investing, so a lot of the learning journey can feel daunting and intimidating,” he says.
He advises millennials to not always start with an aggressive portfolio even if they can afford to take risks. “We always advise to work your way up to your risk capacity, that way you experience volatility and get used to it. Given the higher risk capacity for the younger generations, stocks are a favourite,” says Mr Chahwan.
Highlighting the role technology has played in encouraging millennials and Gen Z to invest, he says: “They were often excluded, but with lower account minimums ... a customer with $1,000 [Dh3,672] in their account has their money working for them just as hard as the portfolio of a high get-worth individual.”
Kathryn Hawkes of House of Hawkes on being a good guest (because we’ve all had bad ones)
- Arrive with a thank you gift, or make sure you have one for your host by the time you leave.
- Offer to buy groceries, cook them a meal or take your hosts out for dinner.
- Help out around the house.
- Entertain yourself so that your hosts don’t feel that they constantly need to.
- Leave no trace of your stay – if you’ve borrowed a book, return it to where you found it.
- Offer to strip the bed before you go.
