Qatar: “We Are a Nation That Does Not Read”
This is one of the saddest articles I could read, a Nation that Does Not Read.
There is a secret to teaching your child to read. The secret is: be readers.
When a child grows up surrounded by books and magazines, when she grows up seeing her parents with books, magazines and newspapers in their hands, guess what happens? The child also grows up to be a reader.
YOU are the key to your child’s reading. Do you read to your children before bed every night? Do they already have their favorite books? Do you use books to reward good behavior?
There is a world of wonderful children’s books out there for children of every age. I commend Qatar for taking these first steps to create a nation of readers, and I urge that this be a long term project, with continuing support.
There are several bookstores in Qatar – the Jarir has a large number of children’s books. Virgin has books. The Dar ath Thaqafa stores have children’s books. There is a store in City Center called Eye Spy which has all kinds of children’s educational resources, it is up on the third floor, I believe. Buy books when you are travelling abroad and give them out during the year as special treats. You CAN create a nation of readers. đ
From the Gulf Times
Club will nurture rare âbook wormsâ
By Ourouba Hussein
The Childhood Cultural Centre is to launch an ambitious project that aims to inculcate the reading habit among children in Qatar.
Called the âBook Clubâ, the project was conceived after a study found that children in Qatar read only a quarter of a page per year.
Book Club project manager Abdullah Hamid al-Mulla said that children in Qatar read almost nothing outside their syllabus while children in the US read 11 books a year and their counterparts in the UK 8 books.
âWe are a nation that does not read,â he stated.
According to the study, the number of books published in the Arab world is eight for every 12,000 children, al-Mullah said, adding âwe know why Arabs are lagging in many fieldsâ.
He said the project, under the slogan âa trip into the minds of peopleâ, targeted children in the age group of 6-18 years and aimed at expanding their perceptions, as well as creating a reading culture.
He noted that since statistics showed that Arabs did not read more than six minutes per year and experience proved that children did not go to libraries or book clubs, the centre decided to reach out to them, in schools and âwherever they areâ.
âWe will work out agreements with schools and provide the books in schools also.â
Al-Mullah said incentives associated with the project that will be launched in conjunction with the Doha Book Fair 2009, featured excursions inside and outside Qatar, awards and cultural publications. The book fair opens at the Doha International Exhibition Centre today.
He explained that once a child is registered with the club, he will earn points according to participation in activities organised by the forum.
âPoints are earned according to the level of the childâs usage of the free library, reciting stories for reading groups or attempts to write on his own, as well as participation in workshops,â he said.
According to the number of points earned, the child will be rewarded.
Al-Mulla also pointed out that experts would be available to help children select the most appropriate books.
He noted that the clubâs pavilion at the Doha Book Fair will introduce many interactive educational projects for children.
Stieg Larsson and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
I needed some escape time, so I started The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, a mystery by Stieg Larsson, set in Sweden. I love these detective stories set in other countries; I can learn something as I pass the time reading an exciting mystery. And part of my heritage is Swedish, so I thought this should really be fun.
It wasn’t, at least not at the beginning. At the beginning, I didn’t like any of the characters, and they were always eating sandwiches that sounded awful, like liverwurst and egg. I felt like the characters didn’t have any moral center, like they drifted from day to day without neither conscience nor a plan. The main character, Mikael Blomkvist, is about to go to prison for libel; he printed a story about a major industrialist which turned out to be false, and he protected his source. We don’t really know the whole story, not until the end, which makes it hard to evoke a lot of sympathy for Blomkvist.
He is contacted by another industrialist, and asked to solve a mystery, if possible, about the disappearance, 40 years ago, of his niece, Harriet Vanger. Blomkvist would investigate under the cover of writing an autobiography of his employer and his family. There are members of the family who object. In many ways, it isn’t a very nice family.
Blomkvist gets an assistant, a deeply troubled and flawed young woman, Lisbeth Salander, with a gift for investigation. There is a lot of violence, sexual violence, and mutilation of animals. One of the points I credit Larsson with making is the amount of violence against women in Sweden, which goes on under a seemingly civilized veneer. The truth, as I see it, is that there is violence against women in every society; in some it is better documented than in others. In some, it is better punished that others. It exists in all societies, in all countries.
Another think I ended up liking about the book was that the main character, Blomkvist, who writes financial analysis, takes the press to task for printing what passes for financial news without critically reading and evaluating, which he feels is a responsibility of the press. At one point, as people quail with fear that the stock exchange will drop dramatically, he is interviewed and explains that the stock market is based on perceptions, while the Swedish economy is based on production and services; that while the markets may fail, the economy can still be going strong.
Slowly, the book tightens up. Actually, by the end, I was hooked. The only question in my mind is – did I like it enough to read another?
The book is available, new, from Amazon.com at $6.00 plus shipping.
New Qatar Traffic Violations and Fines
Update: LLOOLL, I went to QatarLiving.com and discovered that these “new” laws came out in 2007. These are great laws, deterrents to bad driving and aggressive driving, but the laws mean nothing without enforcement. Do I still see many many children sitting in the front seat? Are people driving while talking on their mobile phones? And not a word about one of the worst offenses these days – texting.
A recent study showed texting is even more dangerous while driving than talking on a mobile phone:
The crash risk attributable to texting is substantial. One possible explanation is that drivers who text tend to decrease their minimum following distance and also experience delayed reaction time. For example, in the Drews et al. study, drivers’ median reaction time increased by 30% when they were texting and 9% when they talked on the phone, compared with their performance in a driving-only condition.
Notwithstanding the safety risk of texting while driving, previous research by Drews and colleagues at the University of Utah — not to mention crash data and widespread legislation — makes clear that using a phone while driving is dangerous.
(To check my source, just click on the blue type, above)
We were talking about people who were saying “Qatar is the most dangerous place to drive in the world” and wondering where this is coming from? Most of us have driven in more dangerous places, but this is the new quote floating around, with no foundation, no statistics, no studies, at least not any I can find with a simple Google.
The topic of new laws came up next over Christmas dinner. New laws? New fines?
“I never saw a word about this in the paper,” I said, peevishly.
“Oh, didn’t I tell you?” said AdventureMan.
People who have been married a long time will understand the urge to kill . . .
Someone else jumped in,
“I think the different companies are passing it around. The Education Foundation has it. Some of the universities have it. That’s the way it is in Qatar, news of new laws filters out.”
LLLOOOLLL. News of new laws “filters out?”
I found it online HERE, at Team BPH and it looks exactly like the copy AdventureMan brought home yesterday, but there is no attribution. Who put this out? There is no kind of official marking on it at all.
IF ENFORCED, these laws would have a serious effect on Qatar traffic.
In theory, these went into effect in November 2009, just last month. Who issued these? Has there been any coverage in the newspapers? TV? How can people be held accountable for violating laws of which they are not aware? Or is this something one of the companies printed up, anticipating new laws?
Mixed Forecast
Interesting article from today’s Peninsula Business Section on rising mortgage trends in the United States. The views are so mixed; is the economy recovering? Are there going to be buyers for all those houses on the market? Will they find a way to forestall the next round of foreclosures as ARMs come due and new rates kick in?
US mortgages on upward trend
Web posted at: 12/27/2009 11:52:57
Source ::: LAT-WP
WASHINGTON: After hitting an all-time low in early December, the average rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage rose to 5.05 percent this week and could climb to 6 percent by the end of 2010, if not sooner, according to giant mortgage financier Freddie Mac.
The results are noteworthy because rates have not topped 5 percent since the last week of October, when they reached 5.03 percent, based on the results of this closely watched survey, which polls lenders during the first three days of every week.
Many firms regularly track interest rates and come up with slightly different numbers because they survey different lenders at different times of the day or week. But several have reported the upward trend in recent weeks. They attribute it in part to the effects of the holiday season, when demand for buying and refinancing homes dies down and financial markets coast through the end of the year.
âHowever, this is also a glimpse of what weâre going to see in 2010,â said Greg McBride, a senior financial analyst at Bankrate.com, a personal finance Web site.
The key catalyst for interest rates going forward will be the end of a Federal Reserve program that buys a sizable chunk of mortgage-backed securities issued by firms such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. That program succeeded in immediately pushing mortgage rates well below the 6 percent mark when it was announced last year.
But the Fed has committed to winding down the program by March. The central bank is betting that by gradually tapering its purchases, private buyers of mortgage-backed securities, who have largely been absent from the market, will return and rates wonât rise much.
But Amy Crews Cutts, deputy chief economist at Freddie Mac, said interest rates are bound to rise to six percent by the end of 2010 because private buyers will demand a higher rate of return on the securities than the Fed did. Lenders may have to raise the rates they charge to consumers in order to make that happen.
âExtraordinary resources have been put into keeping the rates down and supporting the mortgage markets and itâs hard to imagine that the rates can go much lower than they are,â Crews Cutts said. âAnything we get at or below five percent is a gift at this point.â
This weekâs Freddie Mac survey found that the 5.05 percent average on 30-year fixed-rate loans (with an average 0.7 point) was up from 4.94 percent the previous week but down from 5.14 percent at the same time last year. The all-time weekly low since the firm started tracking the numbers in 1971 was in the first week of December, when rates fell to 4.71 percent.
Many borrowers have not been able to secure the best rates because they lack the stellar credit scores and hefty down payments that many lenders now demand. Some who have tried to refinance have not been able to qualify because their home prices have plummeted to the point where they now owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth.
But anyone who can secure a loan should not wait much longer, especially if they are looking to refinance, McBride said. Homeowners are more sensitive to interest rates when they refinance than when they buy a home. âThe difference between 5 percent and 5.5 percent could mean the difference between refinancing or not,â he said.
But the interest rate is less critical to people who want to buy a home, McBride said. In that case, price and affordability should trump interest rates.
Christmas Eve Hilarity
All of a sudden, life slows down and friends can gather, relax, share stories and share laughter. We were full of hilarity as we sat down to make Christingles, which, as it turns out, none of us have ever made before and none of us have a clue what they are supposed to look like.
Here is an explanation of a Christingle from NationMaster.com encyclopedia:
A Christingle is a symbolic object used in advent services in churches of many Christian denominations. It has its origins in the Moravian Church , with the first recorded use, in Germany, in 1747.
This is the story of the first Christingle:
One Christmas time back in 1747 at a town in Germany, Pastor John sat at home in front of his fire. He was thinking how he could explain the love of Jesus, and what Christmas really meant to the children in the church. He decided to prepare a simple symbol to help make the message of Christmas fresh and lively for them. Pastor John gave each child a lighted candle wrapped in a red ribbon, with a prayer that said “Lord Jesus, kindle a flame in these dear children’s hearts”. This was the first ever Christingle service.
Many years later, in 1968, Christingle services were introduced to the Anglican Church in Britain, and the custom spread quickly; each year there are more and more Christingle services in England and Wales, although today’s Christingles are a little different.
The Christingle consists of:
- an orange representing the world with
- a red ribbon around it representing the blood of Jesus
- fruits and sweets (usually dolly mixtures) are skewered on 4 cocktail sticks which are pushed into the orange representing the fruits of the earth and the four seasons
- and a lighted candle is pushed into the centre of the orange representing Christ, the light of the world
Here are some illustrations I found online:
Here is where the hilarity begins – have you ever tried to tie a red ribbon around a sphere? Have you ever tried to determine the proper “Anglican angle” for the fruit filled cocktail picks? Worst of all, how can such a simple assignment end up looking more like Sputnik than an object to teach children lessons in holiness? We struggled to meet the challenge, and, in the end, had fulfilled our mission, but not one of us was confident that we had produced the real thing. Our results:
After so much stress and hilarity, we needed to unwind, so off to the Ritz Carlton once again, where we discovered that the disappearing Christmas Tree is back in all its glory:
You can opt for a plate from the Ritz Carlton Christmas food yummies buffet:
Or you can order the Ritz special Christmas Tea, which comes in towers (and you can actually order coffee with it if you prefer coffee to tea)
A lovely beginning to Christmas.
We wish you a Merry Christmas, and unexpected joy in the coming year.
Souk al Waqif: Men’s Souks
AdventureMan and I have a tradition, and that is we like to go shopping together before Christmas, helps him help Santa Clause with things to put in my Christmas stocking, and gives us precious time together in a relaxed setting.
So of course, we headed to our favorite place, the Souk al Waqif, where I discovered that the place I love the most to buy scarves – he always has things no one else has – was totally out of scarves! Well, he had six hanging up, but they were not special. I said “Where are the scarves??” and he laughed and said “Sold out!” and I said “Well that is good for you but not so good for me!” and we both laughed. He said he will be getting more early in January, but that is no help to Santa!
Then we wandered over into the older area of the souks, closest to Grand Hamad street. There is a new shop with beautiful misbah (worry beads) and unusual treasures. We wandered further, and came upon the falcon souk.
OK, I get it, the rest of you knew all about it, but I think because I usually go early in the morning, maybe this area isn’t open when I go – I have seen the seats outside, the majlis area, but I never saw the falcons before, not in the new souks. What fun! But aside from tourist women, there are no women in this area – the falcon souk, the camping souk, the hunting souk – these are very masculine domains, Guy Souks.
And they are equally lovely:
In this hallway, everything is giant. Hanging up above is a giant falcon glove, a giant falcon hood, and at the end of the hall, where the men with falcons are entering, are two gigantic falcon stands.
Look at this beautiful space! I think there are some offices around this space, as well as shops:
The camping and hunting souks have all kinds of tentings, bedrolls, washing up fixtures, etc, not so good for camping in the Pacific Northwest, but great for desert camping and hunting:
When the hardware souks and shoe repair souks were cleared out of the main street, I wondered where they had gone, and last night we found them. To my joy, I also found the scribes! I had been told they dispersed, went to various police stations to do their translations, fingerprints, etc. but last night I found them here! Right next to the police station! How have I missed them, all these evenings in the souks? I didn’t see them!
When first in Doha, where there is not one single modern hardware store, and before I had discovered my neighborhood hardware area, (remember, my secret vice is that I love hardware? and hardware stores?) I would go to the Souk al Waqif and start at one store saying “I need 3/4 inch masonry nails” and I would show them one. The man would leave his shop and take me to whichever of his buddies carried those nails. Or chains. Or bungee cords – they always had what I needed, or something close I could use. I’m glad to see the hardware shops are still there, along with the fishing and boating supply stores, and those huge pot and griddle stores.
Did you know Souk al Waqif had it’s own fire truck? Neither did we!
Shaking Things Up
First, you have to understand how quietly AdventureMan and I live. He works long hard hours. He gets home, we eat dinner. Most nights we watch some TV together, usually some season of a program we enjoy.
But after dinner last night, we decided to take a walk, instead. While our family in the states is braving out a variety of winter storms, the weather here has become – WONDERFUL! There is a hint of freshness in the morning and evening, and while days are warm, they are comfortable. We walked our compound, enjoying ourselves thoroughly, looking at all the Christmas decorations, and Eid decorations still up. It was a great walk.
Once we came home, we settled in – or so we thought. We were about 15 minutes into the newest season of Lost when our doorbell rang, and a group arrived to give us a very special caroling session. It was so much fun – and thank goodness, I had some cookies on hand to share with the people who came caroling! It was a delightful and moving evening.
We settled down once again, and once again the doorbell rang, neighbors coming to tell us some very good news, a miracle, really, something we had all prayed for, and that they were going home briefly, and would see us in a week or so. We had a wonderful visit with them, were able to send them off with joy.
We looked at each other and grinned. All this was so totally out of the ordinary for our usual week-day nights, but wonderfully out of the ordinary. We like it when things get shaken up a little bit. đ
Defense: It’s The Cops Fault; He Was Chasing Me!
Court asks motorcycle rider to pay blood money
Web posted at: 12/19/2009 2:30:29
Source ::: THE PENINSULA
DOHA: A young man who rode a motorcycle and killed a pedestrian in a bizarre crash has been asked by the court to pay QR200,000 as blood money to the family of the deceased.
The court fined the convict QR10,000 for violating traffic law. But how the man was caught by the law-enforcement agencies is quite interesting.
It so happened that the Police Patrol saw two men riding motorbikes with tremendous speed. They gave the duo a chase but in vain. They vanished in think air. But soon the police was informed that a pedestrian was hit by a speeding motorbike.
When a police party reached the spot of the crash it saw a motorbike lying near the body of the victim.
The cops were quick to realize that this was one of the two motorbikes they had given a chase sometime ago.
With help from its registration plate they zeroed in on the culprit and referred the matter to the court after investigation.
The defense lawyer argued in the court that the crash occurred because they motorbike was chased by the cops. The court, however, did not buy the argument and convicted the man.
QR 200,000 sounds like a fortune, but it is $55,000 for taking a man’s life. For a young man who was running from the cops and then tries to claim their chasing him as a defense! This case sounds like a perfect opportunity to give a community service penalty in addition to the blood money; expose this young man to the consequences of motorcycle accidents, and accident victims, allow him to see with his own eyes, and serve, the victims. It could change his life, and change his callous attitude.
Qatar National Day Fireworks Video
So my friends, this is the very first video I have ever uploaded to YouTube, three minutes of the twenty minute spectacular fireworks display on the Corniche last night for Qatar National Day:
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