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From time to time we read positive notes about constructive developments in the United Arab Emirates. This is parallel to the goal of the government headed by the President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to make the country the global capital for tolerance. As such, 2019 is declared as the Year of Tolerance. In an article published by Gulf News , the headline brought joy to readers -- "22 UAE prisoners jailed over rent dispute to be freed for Eid Al Adha". Surely the happiness of those inmates and their families will be beyond measure. "This generous activity" , according to the authority, "is the first of its kind in Dubai." (Read more here .) It is dubbed as "Eid in Your Home" . Mr. Abdullah Ahmed Al Ansari is mentioned as a young Emirati businessman who unselfishly donated money,  to cover a large proportion of claims issued by the governing office. It is really very touching to know that despite what is happening a

'Za' is a slang word for 'pizza'. When you play scrabble and you get a 'z' tile you always look not only for the TL box which means triple point value of 10, but you also look for the letter 'a'. Many players know 'za'  but they do not know that is is a clipped word for 'pizza'. My beloved niece who works in a call center of a food and beverages holdings company usually invited me to dine in a pizza house here, where she got something like 20% employee discount for purchases. She is the type of person who wants to be 100% familiar with what she sells in the real world and via BPO (business processing office), so she can talk from the mind and heart. It is amazing to know that she is familiar with all the ingredients combinations. When there are new products not even fully promoted in the stores but are discussed in their meetings, she would be the first to order to have a taste of them.  Being a baking enthusiast, she knows when

Sometimes we call a number in our contact list and another person answers. This happens when a telephone number is deactivated and recycled, meaning, the same number is given to another person. A husband asked his wife who was the man who answered his calls. They had a phone fight as he did not believe that a phone number could be reassigned to another. There are some reasons a phone number is deactivated. If one's visa or ID expires, he gets a notice that the number will be deactivated. If the phone with/or simcard is lost, the owner notifies the telephone company to have it deactivated for security reason. If the owner will relocate to another place, or for whatever reason, he will have his phone number deactivated. If the owner agrees to swap the current simcard with another telecommunications company's simcard for some benefits/added values/perks. After some time, it is recycled by the telephone companies. The challenge here is if the new owner has a bad intent to

Today in history, 1932, according to On-this-day.com ,  Italian  Enzo Ferrari retired from racing and in 1950, at 52 years old, he launched a series of cars under his name.  Everybody knows the global brand 'Ferrari' -- it symbolizes luxury everyone dreams of, extraordinary speed and unquestionable durability of cars.  "It is the most famous automaker in the world," says Myautodrift.com . On 14 August 1988, Enzo died at the age of 90, but he left his mark, and his name lives. "Ferrari became the first Formula 1 team to achieve the result of one hundred victories in the Grand Prix,"  per  Myautodrift.com , Ferrari's very expensive cars are not the only source of revenues for the company. We can see the Prancing Horse logo in many items like clothes, apparels, sports goods, toys, perfumes, etc. In 2010, the World of Ferrari was built in Abu Dhabi, the capital emirate of United Arab Emirates (UAE). It is a themed park -- a Ferrari World b

A few years back I created a group in FB open to those who have the same interests in a certain hobby. I put the brand of a machine and a noun on an emotion that will attract and bind us all online. I have three (3) membership questions and if the interested netizen does not answer all, I do not approve the membership. Those questions include their reason/s of joining my social media group and the rest two (2) are answerable by a simple 'yes' or 'no' -- that he agrees there will be no commercial advertisement posting and that he understands that not all posts can be approved nor be replied to immediately by me as an administrator or by any member because I am not in any way connected to the company of the brand of machine I wrote in the group name. I send a private message if I do not approve so they can answer the questions properly and completely. As of now it has 3,000 +/- members with 300+ pending membership approvals. The number grew organically. I did not

Socko, Mayor Isko Moreno, the newly elected mayor of Manila, the capital city of the Republic of the Philippines! Not only many Filipinos are impressed by his ways of remaking Manila but also foreigners. Within the short span of performing his duties and responsibilities after taking his oath as the new leader of the historic city, Mayor Isko showed that it is possible to rise from rags to power and privilege with an opportunity to serve his country. In my younger days, I remember him to be one of the good looking promising actors, taken care of then very popular TV host German Moreno. During and after the elections, I came to know more about him and indeed I must say that politicians must emulate him. Rappler has this Rappler Talk video on an interview on Mayor Isko's "Remaking of Manila" -- When he was just starting in his political career, he was always questioned as to his educational attainment. He got very hungry to learn more about the field he ha

These days many people want to be in business, knowing that one gets rich faster being an entrepreneur than being a regular employee. Starting and managing a business is quite challenging particularly in the first five (5) years, but it promises an exponential growth, compared to being an employee that gives one fixed income, with the hourly rate multiplied by the number of hours rendered for a particular service. To do business in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), one must get a trade license. It is very, very important. We see many products and/or services posted on social media, and behind them are people taking the risks of doing so without any trade license not realizing that if caught they would be fined with a big amount of money, much, much more than what profits they have generated from their sales, aside from other sanctions. According to Khaleej Times , "UAE residents risk a fine of up to AED500K for selling items on social media without a license , including

There are many good things happening in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Khaleej Times reports "Expatriates will no longer be hampered by their job titles to sponsor dependents after the new family sponsorship policy for UAE expats came into effect on Sunday." This means yesterday, 14 July 2019. This is in accordance with Cabinet Decision No. 30 for 2019. What a great news for those who want to bring their families here. This is very, very timely. As we all know, the family is the foundation of society. The family is supposedly the human rock of every person. Many people away from the family feel an emptiness inside them. I know that the readers can relate to this. Other matters particularly worldly things bring temporary happiness and after some time, the joy is gone. Atty. Barney Almazar (GulfLaw director), the pride of overseas Filipinos, remarked, "The provisions for sponsoring family members of an expatriate ease the requirements without compromising the i

Have you told someone, or has someone told you --  "I am rooting for you" ? There is this story published by the USAToday.com which touched my innermost soul. Former US President Barrack Obama wrote Danielle Metz  who was serving multiple life sentences and whom he granted clemency in 2016, this -- "I am so proud of you and am confident that your example will have a positive impact for (on) others who are looking for a second chance. Tell your children I say hello, and know that I'm rooting for all of you ." 'To root for someone or something'   means  'to encourage, support or cheer for someone or something; to wish the best for someone or something in an endeavor or activity',  according to  thefreedictonary.com Not all people can see the greatness inside us. But see how the president of a very powerful country saw the greatness inside a prisoner and gave her the gift of freedom so she would live according to her purpose on earth.

Here and there I see jaw-dropping price reductions of many consumer items. Sad to say, I observed that shops displaying signs showing "up to 90% OFF" later closed.  I see some establishments which had been here since I came in December 2005, stopping their operations. There is hyperconsumerism. We see many, many consumer products in physical stores and online market. The advertisements have call-to-action images and text moving people to buy for consuming purposes, normally appealing to one's emotions so that the items will be a part of personal identity. Almost everywhere advertisements 'dictate' our brains to let the money fly -- spend, spend, spend! I am wondering if time will come when there will be massive opportunities to earn money everywhere, too, so people will have enough resources to buy what they need and want with smiles in their faces. Why is it easier to spend than earn money? There are fewer rules when you spend money. You want this and

Smile is precious, and it is contagious as it is an instant mood lift. In a challenging world with countless people carrying tons of loads on their shoulders, it seems difficult to smile sometimes. But as Pope Francis said , Never forget to smile, even when life is hard. Last June I had some very good reasons to smile. My firstborn son established his home-based publishing business, and the book he authored was already released. My middle child (daughter) passed the nursing board examinations and now she is more than determined to redirect her career path as a registered nurse. The youngest daughter who is a medical research specialist specializing in stem cell therapy, took time out for a week to be with me. Glory to God. A mother's world revolves around her children, no matter how physically far they are away from her. They are in her heart until her last breath. They are her reason to live. Memories with them when they needed her in their childhood will definitely mak