The worlds best 10 airports

The worlds best 10 airports, and shock horror that Perth Int Airport did not make the list.

The World Airport Awards have announced the world’s best 10 airports based on the results from 8.6 million questionnaires completed by airline passengers.

Covering more than 190 airports worldwide, the survey evaluated traveller experiences across 39 different airport service and product factors – from check-in, arrivals and transfer through to departure at the gate.

So which airline is the best?

Results

Picture Gallery

Posted by Posted in: General Stuff No Comments » June 2009

Governor terminates textbooks for schools

The Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger, has unveiled a plan to save his state money by phasing out school textbooks in favour of learning over the internet.

Facing a budget shortfall of $US24.3 billion ($30 billion), the former actor said that converting to online study would also keep pupils more up to date.

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Posted by Posted in: General Stuff No Comments » June 2009

How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live

The one thing you can say for certain about Twitter is that it makes a terrible first impression. You hear about this new service that lets you send 140-character updates to your “followers,” and you think, Why does the world need this, exactly? It’s not as if we were all sitting around four years ago scratching our heads and saying, “If only there were a technology that would allow me to send a message to my 50 friends, alerting them in real time about my choice of breakfast cereal.”

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Source: Time

Posted by Posted in: General Stuff No Comments » June 2009

Dubai’s Sand Castles

As the manager of a Dubai real estate brokerage, Imran Mohamed, a Scot of Pakistani descent, had a front-row seat at one of the most incredible property bubbles ever. Early last year, a few months before the height of the emirate’s boom, he fought his way through the lines at the opening sale of a new waterfront condominium development. Such launches always attracted crowds of investors eager to get the first shot at a new offering, but the buzz that day was especially intense, remembers Mohamed.

(He asks that his real name not be used because his company is in financial difficulty and he may leave the country.) Helicopters circled the event “as if David Beckham had arrived at the airport,” he says. Inside, Mohamed put a down payment on an apartment, walked out the door, and sold the unit to a Russian man on the street for double his purchase price. The man paid cash. In just 20 minutes Mohamed had made $408,000. The lesson: “In Dubai, you can throw your ethics and economics textbooks right out the window, because the rules just don’t apply.”

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Source: Time

Posted by Posted in: General Stuff No Comments » June 2009

Aussie cities on world’s most-liveable list, Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2009 Liveability survey finds

Australian cities occupy five of the top 20 places in a British survey ranking the liveability of 140 of the world’s major centres.

Melbourne ranked third in the world, behind Vancouver in Canada and the Austrian city of Vienna in the Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2009 Liveability survey.

It assessed 140 cities based on stability, health care, education, infrastructure and culture and environment, giving each one a rating out of 100.

Perth was equal fifth with Calgary in Canada, with Sydney sharing ninth place with Zurich in Switzerland, Adelaide in 11th place and Brisbane 16th on the list.

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Posted by Posted in: General Stuff No Comments » June 2009

Dubai’s new behaviour guidelines

SKIMPY shorts, bikinis and kissing in public could soon be banned in Dubai, say authorities.

The glitzy Gulf city has laid down new behaviour guidelines in the local media in an attempt to tame public behaviour.

The outlines of the possible new restrictions appeared in Al Emarat al Youm, an Arabic-language newspaper with close ties to Dubai’s ruling family.

Dancing and playing loud music in public will be banned, while couples kissing, holding hands or hugging could face fines or detention.

Miniskirts and skimpy shorts would no longer be tolerated outside hotels, while bikini wearers could be forced off public beaches and only permitted on the fenced-off sands of luxury resorts. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted by Posted in: General Stuff No Comments » March 2009

ANZ to sack 500 workers, send jobs to Bangalore

This is just another example of how we are just selling of this country to the lowest bidder, at the detriment of all hard working Australians. As companies continue search for more profits, to help the share price and ensure the fat cats get thier huge saleries and bonuses, we are slowly but surely losing our identity. Its just disgraceful that all these so called Aussie companies promote that they are “Aussie” yet shaft the workforce at any opportunity. If any business decides to take any form of assistance during the current crisis and then decides to offshore jobs they should be held accountable. I think the words shame, shame, shame just about say it all.

ANZ  will sack 500 back-office workers and shift the jobs to India. The move comes as finance workers demand the Federal Government guarantee only the deposit accounts of banks that keep employment in Australia. A spokesman for ANZ said 500 back-office jobs would be shed by the end of this year.

“In 2008, the size of the operation in Bangalore grew by around 500 people and it is reasonable to expect there will be some further growth in 2009,” he said.
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Posted by Posted in: General Stuff Comments Off March 2009

Woolworths, Coles and IGA employees slag off customers on Facebook

This is very interesting and makes me laugh, but the feelings of some of these people might be the same as in many industries, people need to vent somewhere. Thanks to ivyclark on twitter for the link.

* Supermarket employees rant on Facebook
* Say customers are lazy, dirty dumb
* Some threaten payback to mean customers

SUPERMARKET shoppers are lazy, dirty, dumb, smelly and nasty, according to vitriolic online posts by Coles, Woolworths and IGA employees.

Disgruntled staff publicly accuse shoppers of theft – and threaten payback if customers aren’t friendly.
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Posted by Posted in: General Stuff No Comments » January 2009

Swan River foreshore wheel – eyesore on the foreshore

As Perth’s newest tourist attraction gets ready for its first paying passengers, it interesting to compare it to two other wheels that i have seen while on holiday in the UK. Firstly there is the The Wheel of Manchester and then the really impressive London Eye. The wheel of Manchester has 42 capsules which are lifted to a height of 60 meters and the London Eye has 32 capsules which are lifted to a height of 135 meters. The new Perth wheel has 36 capsules which are lifted to a height of 50 meters.  View more wheels around the world on the World Attractions website.

Read the NEWS BLOG on the west.com.au – Will you ride the Wheel?

There are some very interesting comments on the blog below. Here are a few of my favorites.

“What a pathetic bunch our politicians and mayor of Perth must think we are that we need to be ammused and sit on a wheel to look at the view of Perth.”

“Measure the wheel it will be more like 44 then 50 meters. Small gondola’s you can not even stand up in them. To compare this baby wheel with the London eye or the Singapore flyer is simply a joke.”

‘Just when I thought I couldn’t be more embarrassed.’

For me i think it is just another eyesore on the foreshore that joins the Bell Tower and that shocking Convention Centre. I agree that the Perth city council is totally out of touch to come up with this idea. It also makes me remember that episode of the Simpsons called Marge vs. the Monorail, particularly the closing sequence.

As the camera pulls away from the scene, Marge’s voice narrates: ‘And that was the only folly the people of Springfield ever embarked upon.  Except for the popsicle stick skyscraper.  And the 50-foot magnifying glass.  And that escalator to nowhere.” The magnifying glass focuses the sun’s rays on the skyscraper, igniting a fire.  Meanwhile, people rise to the top of a huge escalator, only to fall off when it reaches the top.

PS: want a great view of Perth, simply go to Kings Park and the best part is, it’s free!

Posted by Posted in: General Stuff, Griffs View No Comments » January 2009

Giant Swan River foreshore wheel ready to roll next week

The first passengers should be able to ride the Wheel of Perth on the Swan River foreshore next week.

Construction began on the 50m high attraction just before Christmas and a team of Dutch engineers has worked through the holiday season to erect the wheel. They expect to install the last of its 36 passenger capsules this morning. Jason Todd, a spokesman for World Tourist Attractions, which will operate the wheel, said that fully loaded with 284 passengers, the wheel would weigh 278 tonnes.
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Posted by Posted in: General Stuff Comments Off January 2009

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