Some art is not made to last, and such is the case with playing card sculptures that seemingly defy the laws of physics. Carefully stacking playing cards to form a structure is difficult enough when you’ve got a modest goal, but some playing card art masters can build entire villages including buildings that reach an amazing 25 feet into the air. Playing cards also appear as a theme or a medium in works by a variety of artists, from painters to the architects of the always-creative structures at Burning Man.

See more: >>> Read more...

Guest Passes let you share your photos that aren't public.

Anyone can see your public photos anytime, whether they're a Flickr member or not. But! If you want to share photos marked as friends, family or private, use a Guest Pass.

If you're sharing photos from a set, you can create a Guest Pass that includes any of your photos marked as friends, family, or private. If you're sharing your entire photostream, you can create a Guest Pass that includes photos marked as friends or family (but not your private photos).

Learn more about Guest Passes![.

Americano the best top 10 >>> Read more...

- Cool Hunting and Trend Hunting isn’t the search for what’s popular. It is the search for what’s NOT popular – yet. In fact, cool hunters and industry professionals typically refer to cool as the NEXT big thing. Once trends becomes mainstream, the novelty and appeal is lost. As a result, you must seek inspiration from the fringe. This means exposing yourself to the extremes of luxury, bizarre and excess. By construct, this means micro-trends have a lower probability of becoming mainstream. However, the purpose is to build a composite of trends for inspiration.

Americano top 10 >>> Read more...

If you read my earlier posts you'll know that I had a relatively easy run getting my ID card.

Frustration with the website, but I eventually got the necessary pages printed. It was easy, almost pleasant, at the EIDA Al Barsha registration office. The card has been delivered as promised.

But.

My family name isn't on the card. Instead it has my first name and my father's name.

Both are correct, it has my photo and I assume it has my fingerprints linked to it. But I'm sure it's going to raise problems when I give organisations my surname, which differs from what they're going to see on the ID card.

So I'm off to Al Barsha again next week to talk to someone.

And while I'm on the subject, the ID card debacle continues for most people.

Once again a fiasco is caused by the two things I complain about endlessly. Bad planning and bad communication.

The syndrome blights so many things, whether it's creating a development like Dubai Marina, introducing the Salik toll system, creating the road network, introducing the national ID system.

The way it works is that the big announcement is made and a deadline/delivery date is given.

The work begins but it was badly planned and the faults start to appear. For real estate and roads that means digging it up and rebuilding to a new plan.

With initiatives like Salik and ID cards various officials start by denying there are any problems, then begin to give contradictory statements to the media. The media plays it's part by simply repeating the confusing statements. This goes on for days or weeks, with ever-changing 'information' appearing each time.

The media doesn't even seem to ask for clarification. You know, stuff like: "Official A yesterday said the opposite, would you please clarify the position. I'll hold the story until you can come back with the definitive answer. Thank you."

The ID card fiasco follows the pattern.

I'm absolutely certain the originally announcement was that the December 31 2008 deadline was for Emiratis. Expats had longer and I'm almost sure that I remember it as being 2010.

It was in the back of my mind and I was waiting for the announcement that we expats should start to register.

Then an official suddenly announced a few weeks ago that the deadline for 'expat professionals' is also December 31. There were dire threats of not being able to access government services and the freezing of bank accounts. (Denying people access to their legally obtained money is an interesting idea).

Officials maintained we all knew months ago about the deadline. In fact it transpires that some ads had run in some Arabic media - which supports my memory of the deadline applying only to Emiratis.

News >>> Read more...

glittering copy that promotes local development efforts.
In the following piece, Iacob discusses how three well-regarded Chinese publications, Caijing, Southern Weekly, and The Economic Observer, reported on the US credit crisis in late September, following the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

Seismic shifts are reshaping Wall Street this year, and the grim denouement of that process is unfolding as we speak. There is an overwhelming consensus — brought to the fore by the second Obama-McCain debate — that the sub-prime crisis marks an epochal change rather than a cyclical bust, and that its historical parallel lies more in 1929 than in 1987 or 2001.
For the media industry, that’s obviously a good thing. Countless articles have outlined a financial pathology of profit-mongering bankers, biased ratings agencies, exotic financial instruments, and outmoded regulatory systems. On the normative side, there has been plenty of contention to feed on as well: Can twelve-figure injections of taxpayer money restore confidence and liquidity? What does a return to statism portend for the future?
In China, the crisis has likewise been a hot topic. That is partly because the Chinese economy is starting to suffer. Capital and housing markets have been mercurial of late, and even in the real economy, profit and production forecasts are growing bleaker. Nevertheless, there is comparatively little to worry about for now, as GDP is still growing far above the global average, under the aegis of a trillion-plus current account surplus and a risk-averse state sector.
A more compelling reason why people in China want to read about the crisis, then, is because this is not just about finance. It is also about power and order. In an ideological sense, we are revisiting polemics between the profit-seeking and the regulated society. In that context, it is not surprising to see China’s (nominal) socialists gloat over the woes of their rival across the Pacific. During a CNN interview in September, Premier Wen Jiabao noted that the PRC’s state-led economy would not allow capital markets to put the real economy in such peril. When Wen visited Wall Street in September, ostensibly to help solve the crisis, it may also have been a symbolic gesture to show that the tides of power are shifting to the East.
Besides ideology, media coverage illustrates that this is a struggle between the “experts” and the man on the street. When society prospers, the circulation (and accumulation) of vast wealth is left unquestioningly to a caste of finance gurus. Yet when crisis hits, common sense regains currency, and labels like greed, arrogance, and herd behavior are used to simplify complex issues.
Following Lehman’s bankruptcy in mid-September, three publications in China issued in-depth features on the Wall Street crisis. When compared, they illustrate that some perspectives on the issue are quite unique to China. At the same time, they show that a stratified media industry always produces various versions of the truth. Southern Weekly (南方周末), a weekly paper from Guangzhou sold for an affordable 3 yuan, uses plain language to draw in the common reader. The Economic Observer (经济观察报), while also priced at 3 yuan, is a weekly paper that writes slightly more incisively for the business community. Caijing (财经), by contrast, is a 15-yuan magazine aimed at a highbrow audience. The meticulous account of the crisis that it offers, albeit Western-oriented and elitist, perhaps comes closest to objectivity.

Americano news >>> Read more...

This blog is a personal blog written and edited by me. This blog accepts forms of cash advertising, sponsorship, paid insertions or other forms of compensation. The compensation received will never influence the content, topics or posts made in this blog. All advertising is in the form of advertisements generated by a third party ad network. Those advertisements will be identified as paid advertisements. The owner(s) of this blog is not compensated to provide opinion on products, services, websites and various other topics. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the blog owners. If we claim or appear to be experts on a certain topic or product or service area, we will only endorse products or services that we believe, based on our expertise, are worthy of such endorsement. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.

See more: >>> Read more...

PeopleJar, a startup that hopes to help users with similar interests connect using a highly-customizable search engine, has soft launched to the public.
The site is very well done, sporting a clean and intuitive interface, an exhaustively customizable search engine, and generally high production values. After creating a detailed profile that includes information on their education, country of origin, and interests, users can browse through a number of Networks ranging from Science and Technology to Yoga. Each Network behaves much like a Facebook Group, allowing users to post public messages to a Wall, and connect with other members of the same group.
The sites most powerful feature is its robust search function, which allows users to search for others using many criteria. After creating a search, users can choose to have the site persistently monitor for any matches in the future.

More info about >>> Read more...

comScore maintains massive proprietary databases that provide a continuous, real-time measurement of the myriad ways in which the Internet is used and the wide variety of activities that are occurring online.
Mission-critical information relating to both offline and online activities is collected through comScore's innovative use of the Internet as a timely and powerful data collection medium.
comScore's products and services are utilized by many of the world's leading corporations to better understand, leverage and profit from the rapidly evolving worldwide Web.

All information >>> Read more...

All information >>> card

Awesome card from Affliction.

UFC might be in a little trouble this summer.  So many of their stars are getting injured.  Their HW division will be tied down with the TUF show, Andersion Silva seems more interested in calling out Roy Jones and hasn't scheduled any fights and the LW champ probably won't fight again till late 2008 after fighting this weekend.

The Rampage/Forrest and Lesnar/Coleman cards look REALLY weak vs. Affliction.

Americano the best top 10 >>> card