I just read Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s “Le Petit Prince” (The Little Prince). It’s very different from what I got from it when I was a child.
This is so deep!
Here’s the one I read (in french, he also has a spanish translation).
And here’s Wikipedia’s entry about the book, it includes a short synopsis of the story.
I just added my books to librarything, I already had a CSV file created with a barcode scanner, so I Just imported it…
I have noticed that some companies do not put the telephone numbers that the customers need to call.
Regency
For example, when I wanted to reserve a ticket (before the electronic ticket problems) I wanted to call Regency Travel, Q-Tel’s information directory at 180 usually takes a long time to respond so I visited their website, clicked on Contact Us, where it lists many numbers:
The problem here is that I was at the office, and my mobile’s battery was dead (my office phone does not call mobiles).
I called the General Manager’s office, got an answering machine and hung up, I remember they used to have an easy to remember number, so I called directory assistance. The number they gave me 4344444 is not listed on the website!
Qatar Airways
I wanted to reconfirm my return flight to Doha, I had a ticket on Qatar Airways and visited their website,
I scrolled to the bottom of the page, clicked on the tiny Contact us link at the page footer, then clicked I want to contact a local Qatar Airways office: click here, then chose Egypt from the list. then clicked the almost invisible link Cairo, then I get 7 different phone/fax numbers sales? cargo? airport? and some cryptic information about check in closing time (yes I know what it means but the average traveler would not).
That’s 4 clicks from the homepage.
Qatar Airways has a 5 digit short number in Cairo 19950, this number is not on their website, and there are no numbers labeled confirmations or reservations, you can only see it on billboards in Cairo.
I just called their main number in Doha.
I went to Chilli’s the other day for lunch/dinner (it’s a meal I try to have once a day), it was packed and no tables were available, I agreed to sit at the bar.
I ordered a Quesadilla Explosion Salad, and a diet coke, the server asked me if I wanted it Kenz or Normal.
The word Kenz is Arabic for treasure, and I gave him an expression full of question marks, so he repeated the question.. ???? and then he repeated again … kanz (also gestured with his hands) or from the machine… he meant do you want the diet coke as a Can or from the Draft machine….
I told him to forgive me, my English is not that good … and I could not understand him…. Give me Kenz! 
The people here in Egypt always use fancy names, I don’t know what they tell people who speak English (do they just say Sir?), but in Arabic,it’s more complicated your Sirness, your Excellency, your Excellency the Pacha … and many elaborate titles… I’m sure someday, someone will call me your majesty…
A funny thing happens in cinemas here in egypt, something I have never seen in cinemas in Qatar, Dubai, Bahrain, France, USA (where I’ve been to a movie theatre)…
In the middle of the movie, while your concentrating on the story, the screen says “We now pause for a break” and the lights turn ON!
Some people go out, and when they return they smell like smoke.
The movie continues like nothing had ever happened.
This is bizarre!
I had a problem right now renewing a few domains on godaddy, whether I used paypal or my credit card number the system refused to continue, saying “unable to process, click here to go back “.
I saw their support phone number on the page, and decided to call them using skype (it’s much cheaper than by normal phone).
Press 1 for existing customer, enter account number followed by #, sorry all our reps are currently busy, if you prefer to wait without music, please press # now…etc.
I then got a reply by a friendly guy named chris, he reconfirmed my account number, name, and last 4 digits of my CC number and asked about the problem.
He asked if he could test it from his side, and if I’d like to use my credit card on file, yes.
He asked if he could check the “I agree with the terms and conditions checkbox”, yes.
It worked from his side, maybe it has something to do with me connecting through my hotel Internet connection?
Anyway. within 5 minutes, the problem was solved. Thanks, Chris.
Today, I took a long walk in Cairo, Egypt.
I have a training course here, and I want to exercise by walking instead of using taxis for anything nearby.
I have my Garmin eTrex Venture Cx GPSr with me, and used both Google Earth, and Wikimapia to store waypoints for the training center as well as nearby restaurants, supermarkets, and computer shops.
Yesterday evening I walked to a McDonald’s close to my hotel, and found a supermarket on the way, Today I went to my training center and stopped on the way at chilli’s for lunch.
I was wandering around, and saw I was 2km NE of my Hotel, so I used “Find Waypoint” to navigate my way back… Walking around in a city you know nothing about with a GPSr is easy!
Do you speak Chinese? Arabic? English? French?
The internet is full of content that you may or may not understand, and google has found a solution to this problem, Google’s Translation Search is impressive.
What it does
You choose the language you want to read, and the language you want to search in, Google will translate your search query, and search for it, it will then translate the search results, as well as the sites themselves to your chosen language (it’s extremely difficult to explain it… just go there and you’ll understand)
I think the people who will get most benefit from this are:
1. People who don’t speak English
Many Arabs for example (this also applies to many others) do not speak (ok, I mean read) English, and most of the content online is in English, for example:
2.People who speak English
This is the second group of people, Some possible uses are:
Current limitations
The limitations of this service are bearable (at least to me, I speak Arabic, English , and French) and this allows me to search in many more languages, but some people will not like these limitations: