Google Image Search Games

The Cars of the Beast

The full story is found here

Google is playing games with you.

People from all over the world are arriving at this post from a Google Image Search for "The Cars of the Beast" or similar. Folks click on the thumbnail image of one of the photos you see in the slideshow. But instead of the pictures in my post, Google sends them to a picture of my granddaughter or to a Bob Dylan Video. Not exactly what they were looking for.

It's all part of the Great Google Conspiracy and now I'm on to them. Follow the link under the slideshow to see the post and learn a bit more about the cars. Or, depending on how you got here, pull your scroll bar down two posts.

Watch Google search play games with the Cars of the Beast at Search Me, WTF? Google

The Cars of the Beast ?

Seen on opening day at the Dubai Autodrome

Bad in Black, Lamborghini 666

I was told that these cars are owned by Dubai's Sheik Maktoum. He drove a U.S. made Viper in the feature race on that opening day. I don't recall where he finished. I thought it was a bold and gutsy, in your face move, to put the "Number of the Beast" on the cars. Classy. And the Viper was nice too.

Porsche Carrera GT 666

In Dubai auto “number plates” are sold by auction. Highly sought after low numbers and auspicious numbers can bring more than a million dollars.

Millions Spent on UAE Car Number Plates 18 February 2008

In Dubai more than $US7m was spent on the car number plate bearing the number 98. Of course that was small change compared to the $US14m spent by one Emiriti in Abu Dhabi on a number plate bearing the number 1.

Porsche Carrera GT 666-2

It's my guess that the license plate numbers costs as much as the cars. American's might pay an extra $100 for a vanity plate. In the U.A.E. it's a much bigger deal. Millions can be spent for that special number. Check out these articles from Dubai's Gulf News:

Dubai number plate auction generates Dh41m ($11.162 million U.S.)

A number of two-digit numbers, 89, 43, 61 and 78, were on offer, 43 and 61 toping the list by generating Dh2.3 million ($626,ooo U.S.) each. The four numbers were sold for a total of Dh11,14 million. ($3.033 million U.S.)

Dubai holds special number plate auction

Dubai: Number Plate G 16 broke all records of Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) special number plates auction when it was sold for Dh5 million ($1.36 million U.S.) Friday, according to RTA.

You can read an earlier post about my day at the Dubai Autodrome in A Day at the Races Check it out.

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Update: April 16^th, 2009

As of this date, this post has now been viewed by folks from 100 different countries. Check it out at And Haiti makes 100 on LostBob's Blog.

See why this post is the most popular on this blog at Search Me, WTF Google?

Wadi Shis

The green jeep of the story below.

That's Sregei on the rocks.

Dubai Dhow Docks

Loading Oil in Dubai

I used to describe Dubai in two contrasting ways. Dubai was the Singapore of the Middle East and also the New Orleans of the Middle East. This was before Hurricane Katrina.

The Singapore reference is fairy obvious. Dubai is the business and shopping hub of the Middle East. Dubai’s rapid five star development has received a lot of recent attention. Michael Jackson shops there now.

The New Orleans reference is less obvious. Friends have suggested Las Vegas of the Middle East. I disagree. It’s not a “What happens in Dubai stays in Dubai” kind of place. And it doesn’t have the decadence of Las Vegas. It’s much more discreet. For the Middle East, Dubai is a New Orleans kind of city. It’s a place to go to relax, unwind a bit and enjoy life. Dubai is a place where the rules are just little more relaxed than at home. It’s not that the rules don’t apply; it’s more that people are just a little more forgiving, just a little more tolerant. A place where it’s just a little bit easier to see people as just fellow human beings trying to get by. Dubai is the New Orleans of the Middle East and that’s a good thing.

With all the glitter of modern Dubai, a place not to be missed is the Dhow docks. Right in the heart of the city on the banks of Dubai Creek, the Dubai Dhow docks are a part of maritime transportation network that anchors this city to the Arabian Gulf.

Strolling along the Dhow docks was a favorite thing to do in Dubai. If you are visiting Dubai you shouldn’t miss it. Dhows come from all over the Arabian Gulf and the Arabian Sea; Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Oman. You will see every imaginable type of cargo being loaded and unloaded. The crews lounge onboard or relax in small groups by the docks. Stop and enjoy shawarma and a fresh fruit cocktail. Relax and watch life on the creek. It’s a world away from Emirates Tower and the glitter of Sheikh Zayed Road.

I have posted some pictures taken on the Dhow docks in Dubai and Sharjah in Dubai Dhow Docks a PhotoSet on Flickr. Please check them out

A Day at the Races

Porsche Carrera GT 666

Taken at Dubai's Autodrome in October of 2004 on the day of the inaugural race for the newly opened track. It was a typical warm and sunny Dubai day. I was there with my friends Wageh who is Egyptian and Stephen from Scotland. Sergei was home in Kazan on paternity leave enjoying his recently born son.

Stephen honeymooned in Cuba and now lives in Mexico. Wageh is married to a Moroccan woman. We used to smoke sheesha and watch the Dhows and Abras (Dubai’s water taxis) at the creek side Lebanese restaurant in Bur Dubai.

I was told that this car is owned by Dubai's Sheik Maktoum. He drove a U.S. made Dodge Viper in the feature race on that opening day. I don't recall where he finished.

My friend Amos Anon says "The world is a very strange place" I think he is right.

You can read another post about the Sheik's cars in The Cars of the Beast Check it out.

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