Monthly Archives: November 2006

How High?

Rising construction equals rising profits.  The Dubai Tower, or “Burj Dubai”, is slated to become the world’s tallest tower.  Located in downtown Dubai,  it reaches 79 floors so far.  By the end of 2008, it will extend at least 700 metres, and cost 1 billion dollars.

 burj_dubai.jpg

However, Emaar Properties, the company promoting the tower, refuses to reveal the end goal.  Only when construction is finished will the general public find out how high the tower reaches.  “At the moment, we are not answering. We’ll say it (will be) more than 700 metres and more than 160 stories … The people who need to know, know,” says Greg Sang, the Emaar official in charge of Burj Dubai.

Every week, two stories are added to the tower.  It is expected to be the centerpiece of a 20-billion-dollar venture featuring the construction of a new district, “Downtown Burj Dubai”.  This new community will have 30,000 apartments and the world’s largest shopping mall.

Currently, the world’s tallest inhabited building is “Taipei 101” in Taiwan, which is 508 metres tall.

Yoga Is AWESOME!

class_image.gifYoga practioners everywhere are finding amazing improvments in their health and happiness through their weekly yoga classes. More and more research is being done on yoga lovers and are showing that regular yoga classes can help such things as

HEART HEALTH, WEIGHT CONTROL, INSOMNIA, ANXIETY AND DEPRESSION, STAMINA, DIGESTION, FLEXIBILITY and CIRCULATION.

To name a few.

Yoga is also much more than just a physical exercise practice. Yoga, meaning ‘yoke’ in Sanskrit, is a family of ancient spiritual practices originating in India. It is one of the six schools of Hindu Philosophy and has been called a ‘science’ or ‘technology’ of liberation. This is because, unlike purely theoretical philosophies, yoga seeks to provide the student with a practical path (or indeed many possible paths) towards the common goal of liberation.

Feel like getting a little liberated? Or at least a bit more flexible? Try some yoga! It’s good!

Canadians Want to be Taxed

The idea of the carbon tax is gaining momentum here in Canada, which is great to see. Unfortunately the federal government is so out of touch with reality that it doesn’t realize that Canadians want to protect the planet. The environment minister, Rona Ambrose, is continually receiving criticism from all Canadians.

Canadians are vocalizing their concerns that Prime Minister Stephen Harper is embarrassing Canada.

Now here’s the purely good news:

“Most Canadians — including a majority of Albertans — believe the federal government should levy a tax on carbon-based energy sources, according to a new poll.

Surprisingly, the country’s top oil, gas and coal producing regions — Alberta, British Columbia and Atlantic Canada — showed the most support for a carbon tax.”

Yes, this may have to do with a lack of outdoor hockey rinks starting to trouble people.

I’m not even going to attempt to hide the fact that I despise Harper.

China Hearts Wikipedia

Ever since the Chinese government uncensored Wikipedia, people in China have been visiting the site in droves. Explosive growth of the site’s content is a great sign for freedom in China.

“Activity on nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation’s Chinese Wikipedia site has skyrocketed since its release, which Internet users in China first started reporting on Nov. 10. Since then, the number of new users registering to contribute to the site has exceeded 1,200 a day, up from an average of 300 to 400 prior to the unblocking. The number of new articles posted daily has increased 75% from the week before, with the total now surpassing 100,000, according to the foundation.”

UN Pledges Help for AU

The United Nations has announced that it is pledging $77 million for the African Union to continue it’s peace work in the troubled Darfur region.

“The aid has been offered because of Sudan’s refusal to allow a UN peacekeeping force in Darfur, Annabi told reporters.

“That (willingness) is not there today (for a United Nations peacekeeping force), so in the meantime we are looking at ways in which we can move forward by reinforcing (the African Union Mission in Sudan) to enable it to go on with its tasks effectively,” Annabi said.

The UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations in New York said the Sudanese government initially agreed to allow the United Nations to provide the AU troops with a support package worth about $22 million. Annabi was able to secure the government’s agreement to allow the rest of the $77 million aid package to go through in the last few days.”

Thanks, Shealyn