Expensive petrol is cheaper for you

Surely if you're in the UAE, you've been following the petrol price hike here, due this Wednesday of 0.15 Dhs/litre. Personally I think the stupid and inefficient Sharjah toll on trucks at 100 Dhs a go is worse and will affect us more, but that is another matter, especially since increasing taxes during a recession is about the dumbest thing that you can do.

Anyway, so here's how you can save money by buying more expensive petrol.

First of all, in the UAE you have two types of petrol: 95 Octane and 98 Octane.. different companies call them different things, e.g. Eppco/Enoc calls 95 = Special, and 98 = Super.

Octane rating is how much heat you'll get when you burn a unit of fuel, so the higher the number the more efficient the fuel is.
Just to get an idea, back in the days, fuel was at 80 octane, and in most countries 90 or 91 octane is normal. However you can get up to 99 or 100 octane apparently.


So, back to the UAE, a full tank of 95 or 98 weighs exactly the same (as far as your car is concerned), however if we go with my car for example, a full tank of 95 costs about 110 Dhs and 98 at 130 Dhs. However, the more expensive petrol can take you about 25% farther on the same tank than the cheaper one.

This is amazing because it means that you waste less time during your short life to stop and fill up for petrol. You also burn fuel more efficiently. You're also saving the environment by making your engine live longer because it's a more efficient fuel and will limit wear more.

The funny thing is that these bastard petrol companies are smart, they do not say that they are increasing the price by a percentage, but instead they increase it by a fixed amount, which is 0.15DHS FOR BOTH GRADES, which means as a percentage the price hike hurts less when you buy the expensive 98. Hence another reason why you should only buy 98.

Here's my tip on how you can save money by spending more money, however the biggest saving for me is time, coz I hate to wait at petrol stations for my tank to fill up.

Sigma of posts equals ten

It's been busy lately, but here is my Sigma of posts.

I will try to keep it brief but these websites have been lurking on my browser for weeks, and here am I sharing them with you.


1- Sabbah History Lesson:

http://blip.tv/file/3467330

Click this link for a short video on the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

2- 21,000,000,000 Dhz is a lot of money:

This is actually very scary... to quote...

"Car crashes are robbing the country of as much as Dh21 billion a year, research has found...The Dh21bn (US$5.7bn) is equivalent to the value of one in eight barrels of oil the UAE exports, or almost half of Dubai’s tourism revenue each year."

http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100403/NATIONAL/704029790/1182/enewsletter

3- Court asked to define ‘Israeli’

"A group of Jews and Arabs are fighting in the Israeli courts to be recognised as “Israelis”, a nationality currently denied them, in a case that officials fear may threaten the country’s self-declared status as a Jewish state...Israel refused to recognise an Israeli nationality at the country’s establishment in 1948, making an unusual distinction between “citizenship” and “nationality”. Although all Israelis qualify as “citizens of Israel”, the state is defined as belonging to the “Jewish nation”, meaning not only the 5.6 million Israeli Jews but also more than seven million Jews in the diaspora...The interior ministry has adopted more than 130 possible nationalities for Israeli citizens, most of them defined in religious or ethnic terms, with “Jewish” and “Arab” being the main categories..."

http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100406/FOREIGN/704059795/1186/enewsletter Really merits reading!



Image Credit: Carlos Latuff http://latuff2.deviantart.com/gallery


4- Israeli Arabs urged to try 'reverse discrimination' against Jews:

The title kinda says it all..
http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100410/FOREIGN/704099830/1183/enewsletter

5- Bedouin leave city for their desert roots:

"Abandoning this lifestyle, in which English is rarely spoken and neighbours know each other intimately in these wide open spaces, for the city is out of the question, said Mr al Harthi, a Saudi who works as a policeman in Abu Dhabi."

Amazing eh? No jokes about camels please.

http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100415/NATIONAL/704149864/1184/enewsletter

6- Publish banned Gaza 'war crimes' report, says Arab Israeli MP:

Again, this is worrying news..

"The investigation by Uri Blau, who has been in hiding since December to avoid arrest, concerned Israeli preparations for the impending assault on Gaza, known as Operation Cast Lead. In a highly unusual move, according to reports in the Israeli media, the army ordered the Haaretz newspaper to destroy all copies of an edition that included Mr Blau’s investigation after it had already gone to press and been passed by the military censor. The article was never republished."

Surely, nothing is to be lost since Israel is the region's only democracy.

http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100415/FOREIGN/704149932/1186/enewsletter




7- BBC News Audio slideshow: Classic cars in Gaza:

You really have to see and hear this to believe it.. plus what an amazing surname..Mahfouz Caberetti.. which derives from Kibreet or a form of Sulfur I believe..
BBC website, click here

8- Is this where the holy land is headed?

"Jerusalem, April 31, 2027: The final segment from what was known as the Security Wall was torn down yesterday as street signs in the holy city were changed in preparation of the upcoming Unification Day of Israel-Palestine, four years after the Great Middle Eastern war of 2023."

Riveting reading here...

http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100411/OPINION/704109912/1080




9-Stranded leader runs country by iPad:

A big win for apple.. who by the way have delayed my new laptop by 3 weeks because of the iPad.. I want something with a keyboard that is touch-sensitive, and i can type with my eyes closed, so forget the iPad for now.. but until this.. read on..

"Running a country? There's an app for that.
When Norway's prime minister found himself stuck in New York as a volcanic cloud grounded flights to Europe, he fired up his new Apple iPad and did the job remotely."

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/TECH/ptech/04/16/volcano.ash.norway.ipad/index.html

10- Don't forget the children of Gaza:

This video makes me doubtful that any good is left on this earth, and specifically in countries like Israel and Egypt.

http://www.kalamullah.com/children-of-gaza.html

Notice how the occupiers are referred to by religion and not by nationality.

Really worth a watch, and a sob. The poor sods.

Peace. Salam.

Sheikh MBZ and Prez Obama

Cool picture of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed (AD Crown Prince) and President Obama in Washington, presumably yesterday 13/4/2010.



From WAM:

http://www.wam.org.ae/servlet/Satellite?c=WamPhoto&cid=1267001201230&pagename=WAM%2FWAM_E_Layout

RIP Sheikh Ahmad bin Zayed

Death is always painful.

Sadly it seems to strike when we least suspect it.

I won't say much except that it is painful to see a young son of the UAE and of Sheikh Zayed die suddenly like this.

I'm referring to Sheikh Ahmad bin Zayed, may his soul rest in peace.



Sadly, this reminds us of events that happened 2 years ago when the UAE lost yet another one of its sons, Sheikh Nasser bin Zayed.

Again, both seemed to have met their maker in aviation-related accidents.

Allah yer7amhum wo inna lillah wa inna ilayhi raji3oon.

The National and Gulf News

PS: please excuse my absence.. i realise i should have written this earlier, but better late than never.

She's got balls, and a finger!

For more details:

http://htmlgiant.com/web-hype/i-love-this-woman/