The Great Kuwait Sunset Challenge Poll
I have to tell you honestly, I didn’t think this through. One day, I realized I did not have one single sunset shot from Kuwait. I took one, and it was awful and it got me started. I had no idea when I started how much fun it was going to be – for me – and I sure hope for you, too.
As the submissions started rolling in, I found great joy in the recognition you were all getting with your beautiful, sometimes funny, often soulful contributions. I was delighted with your enthusiasm, and your graciousness in participating. And I also struggled with “Holy Smokes, how do I end this? How do I choose a winner?”
If I tell you what I really think, you will think I am copping out. I think we all ended up winners. I felt like a winner, seeing all those beautiful sunsets through your eyes. I felt such joy seeing the compliments you paid one another’s photos. I loved spotlighting your talent, and I know there are a lot of non-photo-takers out there who enjoyed checking in every day to see what had been posted. But how to resolve the question: who won the challenge?
Then, a few days ago I started seeing an orange ball I didn’t recognize on my write-a-new-post page, and yesterday there was an announcement about something new at WordPress, PollDaddy, which means I can now put a poll right on my blog (this is new for WordPress; I know some of the others of the Kuwait bloggers have had this capability for AGES) but I am thankful to have it now, just when I need it.
You get to vote. YOU get to choose the winner of the Great Kuwait Challenge Poll. You will have one week to vote (and hurry! I already have an idea for the next challenge!)
I don’t really care who wins; the fun for me was in seeing all the photos that came in, seeing such beauty through your eyes. In my eyes, we are all winners – you who submitted beautiful shots and we who got to see them.
But – just because I can – I am going to turn the vote over to you: Who took the best Kuwait Sunset photo? (Go to The Great Kuwait Sunset Challenge and click through to other’s blogs, also visit individuals posted who sent me photos):
Poll is closed!
You will note – because I can – I chose a very sunset-y polling device to help you make your choice.
I truly hope I have included everyone who submitted a photo (of a KUWAIT sunset!) and forgive me if I have made a mistake. I think I got you all. My initial photo doesn’t count; it was just to show you how bad my sunset photo was and to encourage you to do better.
Thank you, WordPress, for showing up with a polling device, like a Deus ex machina to solve the dilemma of how I was going to give bragging rights for the best Kuwait sunset.
Ready? Set? VOTE!
Blogging About AdventureMan
AdventureMan and I were having dinner out and I was telling him how a friend had mentioned reading something in my blog. I was surprised, because although I told her a long time ago – when I first started blogging – she had never mentioned the blog. She has a lot on her hands and I always thought she might have forgotten about it. We always have a lot to talk about and it had never come up.
“It’s not like people who know you blog HAVE to read your blog.” AdventureMan said.
“I totally agree,” I agreed.
“I don’t have any expectations that anyone read just because they know I write it. Even YOU!” I said to AdventureMan.
“But I do read it, most of the time!” he said, and I am glad, because he keeps me honest, more or less, and he also keeps me from saying anything too inflammatory, or giving away too much personal information.
But his eyes were laughing.
“What’s so funny?” I asked, and he couldn’t answer, he was laughing so hard. His eyes started watering, you know how when you are laughing and can’t stop.
“I can’t tell you!” he gasped. I just kept silent and kept looking at him expectantly with a big smile on my face, because I was pretty sure he would give in if I just gave him a chance.
“OK! OK! I’m just so embarrassed to tell you this!” he started, but again, he was laughing so hard he could barely continue.
“OK, OK, I know your blog is YOUR thing, it’s not all about m – m – m – m . . . ” He could not continue, he was laughing so hard.
“It’s not about m – m – me!” He choked out thinly, breathless from so much laughing.
“But the first thing I do. . . . (laugh laugh laugh, swipe at eyes) . . . the first thing I do when I go to your blog is to do a quick scan to see if you mentioned ME!”
At his point we are both laughing. It really is funny. He loves being AdventureMan.
So, AdventureMan, here is one whole entry, entirely about YOU. 🙂
Gigantic Sunrise
It must be an accident of atmospheric refraction or some other optical illusion – I did not photoshop this photo, the sun just turned out huge. I took others where the sun is smaller, but this one made me laugh out loud, and I hope it will brighten your day, too.
Good Morning, Kuwait!
For my non-Kuwait, non-Gulf readers, today is like Thank-God-it’s-Thursday. Tomorrow is the holy day (even many Christians go to church here on Friday) and some people also have off Saturday, some don’t.
At 0800 in Kuwait, it is 82°F / 28°C – my favorite temperature conversion, because it is easy to remember, same backwards and forewards. Yesterday, I even saw my first laborer wearing a neckscarf because of the cooler temperatures, LLLLOOOLLLLLLLLLL!
Blogger Mathai, at Just Blog It posted four sunsets, which are lovely, but scroll down his page to the October 6th entry for one of the most beautiful photos of downtown Kuwait I have ever seen. Taken during the Eid, the skys are SO blue!
Seven Day Warning: Blog Action Day October 15
Only one week to go! Today is Wednesday, October 8th – just one short, sweet week before Blog Action Day.
They sent this reminder today:
7 Days to Go – Have you Registered?
Hello Bloggers!
We’ve got just 7 days to go before Blog Action Day 2008 – and we want to make sure everyone who participated in 2007 has had a chance to register their blogs to post up on October 15th and join us once more in shaking the internet!
Register at: BlogActionDay.org
In 2008 we’re discussing Poverty and we’re all set for a huge year with thousands of bloggers registered to participate, including dozens of top bloggers like TechCrunch, LifeHacker and more!
Additionally we have members of both the Spanish and English parliaments planning on participating, a ton of great organisations including the United Nations Millenium Campaign, Friendster, MySpace, Kiva, BlogTV, Blog.de, and lots more.
Head over to BlogActionDay.org for all the updates and news!
We have a lot of material here in Kuwait. I see we already have a lot of Kuwait bloggers registered! Wooo HOOOO on Kuwait! 🙂
AbdulAziz’s Sunset Entries: Great Q8 Sunset Challenge
Wow! The Kuwait Sunset Challenge is up and running, and our first entrant sets a very high standard! AbdulAziz has his own Flikr page with other gorgeous photographs; he takes his photography skills very seriously, as you will see.
Now for the impossible – the photos are all gorgeous. Which one is your favorite?
(This one was disqualified because it was shot in Lebanon)
(This one is disqualified because it was shot in Lebanon)
Thank you, AbdulAziz, for your beautiful entries! Anyone else who wants to send photos to me, you are welcome, please send them as attachments to your e-mail!
Great Kuwait Sunset Challenge
The votes are in – based solely on sheer volume, I am crowned Queen-of-the-Sunrise. It’s a question of location – I am presented with the perfect opportunity almost daily (not, like today, when it is haze from horizon to horizon) and I take it.
Sunsets, however, are another matter. I rarely see the sun go down and think “oh! I have to get a photo of that!”
For example:
How pathetic is that?
Here is my challenge to you, Kuwait bloggers. Find a Kuwait sunset. Shoot a photo. Post it on your blog and come back to tell us here that it has been posted. I want to see Kuwait sunset through your eyes. Make it speak!
Statistical Spike
As many of you have figured out, I get online early in the morning, then I get through my day – and sometimes it is a long day – before I can get back to answer any comments, etc. Yesterday was one of those super-busy days, and it was night before I was able to check the blog.
Something strange was happening. The stats were way high . . . and for what?
As it turns out, it was a post written a month ago – Moonsighting, and yesterday, that post alone got 539 hits. 539 – it hasn’t been that long since I would never have thought I would get 539 hits in one day, total. I think a lot of people were trying to find out whether Ramadan had ended, if that tiny thin crescent of a moon had been spotted. It gives me great joy to tell you that I also had a lot of hits, I am guessing from the Seattle area, on the Northgate mosque, and how to get to the Northgate mosque. Maybe this blog is doing some little bit of good in the world, helping just a little. It’s all I ask.
And it remains a totally humbling thought to me that the posts that live on, and on, and on – are posts greatly written by or inspired by fellow bloggers and commenters, in this case Fahad, at his blog Salmiya to whose blog I am totally addicted. He is also a little bit here there and everywhere. 🙂
I am only sharing this with you because it gave me a shock this morning to see the spike in statistics, and because I suspect I will never see the likes of it again.
May your day be full of unexpected blessings, and may you have the eyes to see them!
Blog Action Day – October 15th
Last year, Kuwait bloggers were amazing in their support of Blog Action Day, which is October 15th. This year the theme is POVERTY. This is just a reminder, we still have time to think about our blog action day articles. Please go to their website (click on the blue type above) and sign up, indicating you will participate. So far, over 4,500 bloggers worldwide have committed to participate this year.
This is reprinted from their Blog Action Day 2008 page:
How to Make Blog Action Day 2008 Unforgettable
September 23rd, 2008 by Easton Ellsworth
1. Ponder.
Think about poverty.
Ponder the plight of the world’s poor and your place in the grand scheme of things.
Consider the things you have that others have not.
Let the numbers appall you. Let the images disturb your sleep. Let the complexities of the causes and solutions vex you.
Let the depth and emotion of this sensitive subject rock you to your core.
2. Believe.
Do you really think that you can make a difference in the global conversation this October 15 just by blogging about poverty and doing something about it?
We believe you can.
Do you?
3. Dream.
There is no such thing as a lack of opportunity – only a lack of vision.
This is not a pointless exercise. This is a chance to grab the world by the ears for one day.
You have the power to rally hundreds of people around you in your family, friends and community to do something on October 15 that calls attention to the issue of poverty.
There is no limit to what you can do – unless you think there is.
So dream up a brave, original way to make the world a little richer, even if only in knowledge, through your participation in Blog Action Day 2008.
4. Act.
Make Blog Action Day not just a day of blogging, but also a day of action.
Our worldwide impact will be great if we all talk about this issue, but far greater if we do something about it and talk about what we are doing.
5. Share.
Let the world know your true thoughts and opinions about poverty on October 15.
Use your blog, your social media accounts, and any other means you can to spread your ideas.
Join with other Blog Action Day participants to generate a collective noise far louder than any you could could muster on your own.
6. Change.
Decide to care a little more about poverty from now on. When it comes up in conversation, take it seriously. Changing the conversation is the first step toward changing the people in it.
Please join us in making Blog Action Day 2008 an unforgettable experience for thousands – maybe millions – of people across the world.
Your Turn
What other ideas do you have? How can Blog Action Day 2008 actually make a real difference to the world of tomorrow?
photo by Franco Folini
Kuwait Lifts YouTube Block?
Reports that the ban has been lifted are unconfirmed, according to this morning’s Al Watan. So if the ban is lifted, who countermanded it?
Kuwait reportedly retracts YouTube block
Nancy Oteifa
Al Watan staff
KUWAIT: Unconfirmed reports indicated on Monday that a decision to block the online videoÙ€sharing Web site YouTube has been revoked by the Ministry of Communications. According to a blogger writing under the name of ”Falantan” who claims to work for a local Internet Service Provider (ISP), officials at the Ministry of Communications held a meeting Monday morning to discuss the issue and consequently decided to revoke the decision.
Sources stated on Sunday that a memo had been issued by the Ministry of Communications to all local ISPs ordering them to block the Web site Youtube.com.
However, speaking to Al Watan Daily, local ISP Arab Telecom denied having received any memos from the Ministry of Communication asking them to block this site. “We didn”t get any orders from the Ministry of Communication about blocking YouTube but the minute we receive the memo we will immediately block YouTube,” a company representative stated.
Reports that the Web site was to be blocked generated heated reactions from many people in Kuwait, some of who stated that this is a blatant disregard of freedom of speech, while others claimed that any site that displays material that is disrespectful to Islam and the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) should rightfully be blocked.
Keeps Me Humble
The very few people who know that I blog sometimes ask me “How do you get such high statistics?”
The simple truth is, my very highest attracting post, even one year later, gets the most hits. It isn’t about the content, it’s about the birthday cake photo. How humbling is that?
WordPress allows us to look at our posts in terms of the last seven days, the last 30 days, the last quarter, the last year and all time. Because I love statistics and trends, and what numbers can tell us and how they can mislead us, I love it that WordPress has added all these features. (They have also added technical features that outstrip my abilities and my desire. I want to keep it simple – just writing on some days can be hard enough for me.)
So here is a look at my all time high scoring articles:
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