Amazing Burj Dubai.

The Burj Dubai is getting a lot closer to completion, It truly looks amazing.

Here are just a few of the milestones that have made it what it is today.

January, 2004 - Construction begins.
20 September, 2004 - The first concrete is poured for the foundation.
26 June, 2005 - Gulf News reports that the estimated total cost for the Burj Dubai complex rises to US$5,500,000,000.
16 July, 2005 - Construction Week magazine reports that the designers of the Burj Dubai are reconsidering their decision to use stainless steel on the exterior of the tower because prices have jumped from US$400 a ton to $2,200 in just two years.
March 23, 2006 - The Associated Press reports that 2,500 construction workers rioted because of low pay and poor treatment doing an estimated US$1,000,000 damage. Thousands of construction workers at other Dubai projects also went on a sympathy strike.
April 16, 2006 - AME Info reports that the Burj Dubai is going to be at least 200 stories tall.
September 1, 2006 - Construction reaches 70 stories.
October 1, 2006 - Construction reaches 75 stories.
October 31, 2006 - Construction reaches 80 stores and 850 feet / 259 meters. That height makes it taller than the tallest building in Europe.
October 1, 2006 - Construction reaches 75 stories.

November 11, 2006 - ITP Business reports that construction of the tower is being delayed by a shortage of exterior cladding material.
January 16, 2007 - Construction reaches 100 stories.
April 6, 2007 - The Burj Dubai reaches a record-breaking 120 stories.
August 29, 2007 - The Burj Dubai passes the CN Tower in height, making it the world’s tallest free-standing structure.
May 12, 2008 - This building reaches 2,063 feet and seven inches, making it the tallest man-made object on Earth.
September 11, 2008. Burj Dubai exceeds 700 meters.
December 30, 2008 - The original anticipated completion date.
September, 2009 - Anticipated completion date.
Read More......

September thanks.

Its the 1st of the month again, Here are my best of the month.

Software Outsourcing to China takes out my successful ad for the month and BMW Rules ... The world as I see it takes out my biggest commenter again.

Congratulations and thank you both.

Thank you also to everybody else ive advertised with and thank you to all the people who have dropped on me. Read More......

Entrecard taxes to high.

All these new rules that have been shoved down our throats on Entrecard are a bit pathetic. The one that really gets me are the rules set down for sending EC to another person. They are as follows:-

A transaction fee of 12.5%, which is deducted from the sender. Limited to14 transfers outside your linked blogs in a week. You cannot send more than 1000ec total outside your linked blogs in a week.

We are already taxed 75% for running ads on our blogs and now a further 12.5% for transfering EC. This is getting pathetic, I honestly had no idea that the state of the Entrecard economy was that bad. I would have thought banning the external sales of Entrecard credits would have been enough to increase the sale value of Entrecard.

I honestly don't think there is any appreciation to all of us for making Entrecard the success that it is (or was). Many of us have been with Entrecard for many months and have seen so many changes and most have been really good for the community, Now this.......

When sports go professional its all about money, Not the passion or the pride for your country/state etc. Same has happened to Entrecard unfortunately.

I can see future contests stating that you can win 50,000ec less a 12.5% transaction fee, Or potential sponsors sponsoring 875ec instead of 1000ec.

I like the new pricing structure though.

Read More......

Internet @ work.

I was reading an article the other day stating that most people spend over 25 per cent of their time online at work on personal activities, The most common online activities include online trading sites, instant messaging/chat services and peer-to-peer sharing sites (allowing movie, music and software sharing) and of course personal e-mails (80 per cent of emails sent by volume in the workplace are personal).

Some company directors and/or managers are often unaware what was happening on networks under their control, Then there are bosses that know what goes on and there attitude is a happy worker is a good worker, But then there are those bosses that just take and take from the workers and make assumptions that their staff are up to no good, because thats what they would do.

Is reading, writing and sending personal e-mails at work wasting company time? What about online banking? Is it more time efficient to let staff do their banking online than having them leave the office for half an hour?.What about illegal downloading?, Its the company (not the employee) that would face the legal implications if investigators tracked who was downloading movies and music, But im sure employers will get a lot tougher after the Copyright (New Technologies) Amendment Act is brought in to force later this year. The act says that internet service providers should think about implementing a policy providing termination for customers who have not respected copyrighted material.

I guess it all comes down to how much the boss respects his or her workers because studies have shown that social networking can be an asset to a company.
Read More......