The term “Persian Gulf” is used as the standard geographical designation for the sea area between the Arabian Peninsula and the Islamic Republic of Iran. The full term “Persian Gulf” is always used to designate that sea area when it is first referred to in a text and is repeated thereafter whenever necessary for the sake of clarity.
But Arab states still call it otherwise, upsetting Persians.
The assassination of Mahmoud al Madbouh is still captivating me. Doesn’t it seem like wacky Cold War shit – but twenty-five years too late? At the very least it feels like Daniel Craig James Bond. Spys sans tuxedos.
Perhaps I’m just into it because it’s Dubai, where I always felt rather surveilled to begin with.
Anyway, here’s a The Wall Street Journal article written by a senior military and intelligence analyst for an Israeli newspaper: “Israel and the Dubai Murder Mystery” (the site is gated, so I made a page for it on my site).
Here’s an interesting Los Angeles Times blog entry from the other day about the Studio side of Disney and the changes Bob Iger is making there. Tragically it’s title only reflects a portion of the content, so don’t be swayed by that: “Disney taking a pass on one of the most profitable movies of 2009?”
Key quote:
Disney chief Bob Iger is also busy transforming his studio into a Brand Factory, where nearly every film that hits the theaters will have built-in brand awareness, just like a new Procter & Gamble detergent.
We’ve had fun watching the Winter Olympics from Vancouver for the past two weeks. During the opening ceremonies I regaled Liz with stories about how Walt Disney and his artists worked on 1960 Winter Olympics held in Squaw Valley, California.
In fact, much of the pageantry of the ceremonies today is due to Disney’s influence fifty years ago.
Now that Boston Red Sox spring training is in full swing with pitchers and catchers reporting, I wanted to share a link with you.
Apparently Gordon Edes, former sportswriter for the Boston Globe and then national baseball writer for Yahoo! Sports has recently joined the new ESPNboston.com site. His new articles are here.
This is awesome and more than a little scary: “Holographic Emperor Stitch Figure Coming to Disney Parks“.
The Limited Edition Holographic Emperor Stitch, in honor of the 30th anniversary of Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, is limited to 1980 pieces.
We were talking about “what if Iran finished a nuclear bomb” at work the other day, and I was all over the map with what I was saying. Then yesterday I read this quote from a blog by Scott Thomas that sums up my point better than I:
That being said, the results of a Nuclear Iran would probably be a lot less spectacular than people making both pro and con arguments realize. Israel will always have its second-strike submarine based arsenal, and attacking Israel wouldn’t further the Iranian agenda in any way. And as North Korea has found out, having a nuclear strike capability isn’t a golden ticket into the First World or make you the baddest kid on the block. Of course, all this doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t keep trying to dissuade them diplomatically and economically from arming themselves.
So the Tokyo Disney Resort just announced they’re getting a Fantasmic night-time show, similar to the one Disneyland and Disney’s Hollywood Studios show now. It’ll be open in April of 2010 as part of the DisneySea park’s 10th anniversary.
What makes this show different than the one shown in the other two parks is that it’ll be performed in the round smack dab in the middle of the park, taking up the entire Mediterranean Harbor.
Mediterranean Harbor is the body of water right below the volcano, the first thing you’d see upon entering the park.
The Orlando Sentinel’s Disney blog just posted one of my favorite recipes from Boma, a restaurant at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge: Coconut Curried Chicken Stew.
The Dubai papers played up the fact that it took either 11 or 17 people to kill him, but I think regardless of the size of the team, this is the key quote:
“His murder in his hotel room near Dubai’s international airport took 10 minutes and early forensic tests suggest he was suffocated. The assassins left on flights to Europe and Asia before the body was discovered on 20 January.”
He was dead before the Police even knew they’d been to and left the country.
Just read an interesting fact over at the Opinionator blog at the New York Times:
Through immigration and high birth rates, the United States is expected to add another 100 million people by 2050. If you don’t believe me, consider that we’ve added 105 million people since 1970. This is more than the population of France. More than Italy. More than Germany. Currently, we have a net gain of one person every 13 seconds.
Josh finally lives in Maine again after four years at Boston University, a stint in Southern California with
Walt Disney Feature Animation,
and two years in Dubai, UAE,
where he created and wrote Newlywed in Dubai.
I missed this one, Adobe Photoshop 1.0 was released on February 19, 1990.
We’ve had fun watching the Winter Olympics from Vancouver for the past two weeks. During the opening ceremonies I regaled Liz with stories about how Walt Disney and his artists worked on 
Now that Boston Red Sox spring training is in full swing with pitchers and catchers reporting, I wanted to share a link with you.
