“Flugtag” came to Dubai this weekend. It’s a Red Bull promotional notion, in which people/daredevils are invited to build a flying machine, push it off a 30-foot-high ramp and see how long they can remain airborne. Generally, less than five seconds. It’s a silly competition, but something you have to watch, like train wrecks — […]

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Our seventh Thanksgiving celebration since moving to the UAE, and our most Emirati version yet. Yes, the actual holiday was yesterday, but I was pulling a desk shift in the office … and people in the UAE can’t be expected to know that the dinner should have gone on the day before. When you’re out […]

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I am going to make a sweeping statement. Nobody loves Guinness world records as does the UAE … and, specifically, the people of Dubai. Dubai has some legit, significant world records. Absolutely. Led by the world’s tallest building — a record regular folks have paid attention to, probably going back to the Tower of Babel. […]

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Six years here, and we had not seen all seven of the emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates. Which was a wasted opportunity. Because the UAE encompasses only 32,278 square miles (a little smaller than Maine, a bit bigger than South Carolina, which are 39th and 40th among the 50 U.S. states) we […]

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Lord help us, when guys with money meet new gadgets or souped-up vehicles or other unneeded things — well, yes, toys. And where better to stage a show dedicated to Toys for Big Boys than the UAE? OK, it probably should have been held in Dubai, which has a hard-earned reputation for wretched excess, but […]

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It was a game that made UAE soccer supporters nervous, but the senior national team got out of Kuala Lumpur with an unimpressive, 2-1 victory, as reported in The National, over a Malaysia team the Emiratis beat 10-0 two months ago. It means the UAE “golden generation” — which makes up most of the current […]

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Like most individual sports, golf benefits from a rivalry at the top. Hogan versus Snead. Palmer versus Nicklaus. Woods versus Mickelson — which is not as lopsided as one might think. The next great rivalry? Looks like it will be between Jordan Spieth, the 22-year-old Texan, and Rory McIlroy, the 26-year-old Northern Irishman. And it […]

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I have been watching soccer/football for six years, here in the UAE. Seen lots and lots of matches. But very few big crowds. And very little passion. That changed tonight. Perhaps because the teams involved were imported from Egypt. Al Ahly and Zamalek, the two biggest and most successful clubs in Egypt, played the country’s […]

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This is the perfect sea vehicle for the UAE executive who has everything. The Seabreacher, which can dive about 16 feet below the surface but also come out of the water with sufficient energy to sail into the air before returning to the surface of the water.

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This has been something of a flashback for me. The first Abu Dhabi Tour … the first Redlands Bicycle Classic. What do they have in common? Two-wheel bikes, whippet lean men, strange terminology and the same sports editor covering each debut, albeit 30 years apart. Abu Dhabi being Abu Dhabi, it started its bike race […]

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