Erratic Vacation
Please forgive me, dear blog-friends, but we are traveling and I am not always able to connect. I know, I know, you are wondering, as I did “is that even possible? Are there places where you cannot connect in the whole world anymore?” and the answer is yes. There are times and places and circumstances where you cannot connect – or where you are just too absorbed in life itself. We are moving from spot to spot and I won’t know about connections until I get to each location.
I know many of you will also be travelling soon, or enjoying the new “Staycation,” where you stay at home for your holiday. The weather in Kuwait could not be more perfect for exactly that kind of vacation! Lucky, lucky you! Visiting friends and family, celebrating Eid with all those delicious foods! Maybe a little shopping, with gold down to around $743/oz.
We will also be celebrating with family and friends along the way, and I will keep you informed as best I can. Meanwhile, I will check in on you, too, when I can, to find out how you are doing.
Man Jumps to Save His Honor
From today’s Arab Times. Rape is despicable, whether committed on man, woman, or child, daughter, sister, son, brother, neighbor, domestic or wife. Despicable. It’s a crime of power, of humiliation, of ownership and it is robbery as well as assault.
Man dies saving ‘honour’
KUWAIT CITY : The Court of Appeals Monday set Nov 19, 2008 to issue a verdict in a case of four Kuwaitis and two Bedoun, who have been convicted of causing the death of a Kuwaiti man after they kidnapped him and tried to rape him.
Case papers indicate on April 20, 2007, five of the six men agreed to kidnap and rape the victim. One of the accused talked to the victim from the Internet chat room and pretended to belong to the third gender.
The man invited the victim to his place to have sex. He went, along with another accused and took the victim in the car of the latter to a flat which was rented by yet another accused for the purpose of prostitution.
When they arrived at the place, one of the accused locked the door of the apartment and others who had been hiding in the apartment showed up. When they tried to rape the victim, he jumped out from the ninth floor window and fell to his death.
On June 18, 2008, the Criminal Court sentenced the first, second, third and fifth suspects to 15 years in jail. The court sentenced the fourth suspect to seven years in jail. The court sentenced the sixth suspect to three years in jail and ordered the deportation of the fifth and sixth suspects after serving the sentence.
The session was presided over by Judge Faisal Khuraibet.
By Moamen Al-Masri
Special to the Arab Times
Larger Waist Size Predicts Early Death
This is from today’s BBC Health News
‘Love handles’ raise death risk
A thickening girth can be a sign of type 2 diabetes
Carrying extra fat around your middle dramatically increases your risk of early death, even if your overall weight is normal, say researchers.
A study of almost 360,000 people from nine European countries found waist size a “powerful indicator” of risk.
Each extra 2ins (5cm) raised the chance of early death by between 13% and 17%.
The New England Journal of Medicine study stressed GPs should regulraly measure patients’ waists as a cheap and easy way to assess health.
The link between waist fat and health problems has been established for some time, but the sheer size of the study gives scientists a far more accurate picture.
The researchers, including some from Imperial College London, followed the volunteers, who were an average of 51 years old at the start of the study, for the next 10 years, during which time 14,723 of them died.
The standard measure of obesity, body mass index (BMI) remained a reasonable predictor of health problems, with those with a high reading more likely to die from cardiovascular disease or cancer.
However, the ‘hip/waist ratio’, a number produced by dividing the waist size by the hip measurement, and just the waist measurement on its own, were both good ways of sorting out those at highest risk.
Some people who had a completely normal BMI score, but a larger than average waist, were at significantly higher risk of early death.
At the extremes, men with waists exceeding 47ins (119cm) had a doubled rate of death compared with those with waists under 31.5ins (80cm), and a similar statistic was found when women with waists over 39ins (99cm) were compared to those under 25.5ins (64.7cm).
An increase in risk of death could be plotted every time the belt was let out by another two inches – for two people with the same BMI, every additional 2ins (5cm) on their waistband added up to a 17% increase in risk for men, and 13% for women.
BODY MASS INDEX
Calculated by dividing weight in kilograms by height in metres squared
Normal: 18.5 – 24.9
Overweight: 25 – 29.9
Obese: Above 30
Professor Elio Riboli, from Imperial College London, said: “We were surprised to see the waist size having such a powerful effect on people’s health and premature death.
“There aren’t many simple individual characteristics that can increase a person’s risk of premature death to this extent, independently from smoking and drinking.”
He added: “The good news is that you don’t need to take an expensive test and wait ages for the result to assess this aspect of your health – it costs virtually nothing to measure your hip and waist size.”
Fat message
The reason for the link is not entirely clear, but another researcher, Dr Tobias Pischon, from the German Institute of Human Nutrition at Potsdam-Rehbrucke, said that abdominal fat was not like other fat reserves, but could directly influence the development of chronic disease by releasing “messenger substances”.
A British Heart Foundation spokesman welcomed the findings, saying they supported previous research which found the risk of heart disease to be higher when fat was concentrated around the waist area.
“It is important a variety of measurements are used to assess body weight and shape. – as well as BMI (Body Mass Index), waist circumference and waist-hip ratio can help to provide a better assessment of health risk.
“If you tend to gather weight around your middle, increasing the amount of activity you do and watching what you eat will help to reduce your risk of heart disease and of dying early.”
Alternatives to Statin Drugs
I found this article through Google News at US News and World Report.
I know statins work – many of my friends testify to their having lowered cholesterol through use of statins. But doesn’t it make you nervous that most of the tests proving their efficacy are done by the very drug-merchants who are selling them? For me, it is that way with most medications. I watch people lining up their pills, lowering their blood pressure, lowering their cholesterol, and it makes me very nervous.
My father stayed alive using cortisone. He tried to get off cortisone, but his body was so addicted to it that every time he tried, he suffered horrible pain. By the end of his life, you could barely touch him without injuring his skin, thinned by many years of cortisone usage. We pay a price for the drugs we take – I want to know the price – and the alternatives – before I choose a pill I have to take every day for the rest of my life.
6 Ways to Reduce Inflammation—Without a Statin or a Heart Test
By Deborah Kotz
Posted November 11, 2008
There’s been a lot of hoopla this week over research showing that the cholesterol-lowering drug Crestor lowers the risk of heart attacks and strokes in those with normal cholesterol but high levels of inflammation—measured by a marker called C-reactive protein, or CRP. The Jupiter study, which involved nearly 18,000 people and appears in the current issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, found that people taking the statin Crestor for two to five years cut their risk of having a heart attack or stroke by 50 percent during that period. They also had a lower risk of bypass surgeries and angioplasties.
Experts predict that as a result of the study, many millions of seemingly healthy people will be screened for inflammation using a blood test called high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) and that millions of them will be put on statins to combat inflammation. While statins certainly are lifesaving for those with high cholesterol or established heart disease, their benefits are more modest for those at fairly low risk of heart disease: About 0.72 percent of the statin takers in the trial had a heart attack or stroke compared with 1.5 percent of those taking placebos.
So, some experts say, if you have high CRP but are otherwise healthy, “go slow,” and consider all the benefits and risks of statins before you decide to take them. Where that hs-CRP screening test might come in handy is to spur you to make lifestyle changes that will naturally lower excess inflammation—and your heart disease risk. Try these six measures:
1. Stop smoking. Smoking hardens the arteries and could send CRP levels surging. But research shows you can reverse all the damaging effects to your arteries within 10 years of quitting. (For help quitting, you can click here.)
2. Think olive oil, fish, and nuts. Researchers have shown that overweight folks who stick with a Mediterranean-style diet—based on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and olive oil—can lower their levels of inflammation. “An anti-inflammatory diet is about reducing saturated fat and trans fats and eating more foods rich in alpha-linolenic acid—like flaxseed, walnuts, and canola oil—and omega-3 fats, which fight inflammation,” says Evangeline Lausier, a staff physician at Duke Integrative Medicine. On the flip side, scientists have shown that the typical American fast-food diet increases heart attack risk by 30 percent. (Here’s the latest on four healthful diets and on 11 easy ways to load up on omega-3s.)
3. Get active. No one wants to exercise, but it’s a great way to lower inflammation without any side effects associated with medications. An ideal amount? Not too much (which raises inflammation) and not too little. Aim for five days a week of steady exercise (brisk walking, swimming, biking) for 30 to 45 minutes. (You can read up on how to make your workout quick and sweaty.)
4. Shrink your waist size. Take a tape measure and measure your waist, right around the point of your bellybutton. If you’re a woman with a waist measurement of over 35 inches or a man with a waist of over 40 inches, you probably have high inflammation. Whittling a few inches off the waist by reducing your portions and increasing activity can go a long way toward solving that problem. (Here’s a dietary technique that might help you lose weight.)
5. Get enough sleep. A new study out this week shows that elderly people with high blood pressure who sleep less than 7.5 hours a night have dramatically elevated chances of having a stroke or heart attack or suffering sudden cardiac death. Other research has shown that too little sleep (less than six hours) or too much (more than eight hours) results in more inflammation. The American Academy of Sleep Medicine says most adults need between seven and eight hours of shut-eye a night. (Not convinced? Consider these 10 reasons not to skimp on sleep.)
6. Reduce stress. High levels of stress hormones can lead to the release of excess inflammatory chemicals, so try each day to pencil in 15 minutes of relaxation—deep breathing, meditation, or a bubble bath that lets you leave the world behind.
Veteran’s Day Sunrise
This is for you, AdventureMan, your own Veteran’s Day sunrise.
To anyone who has ever served in a nation’s armed forces. We salute you. Today and every day, we honor the service you gave to your country.
If you talk to any Kuwaiti veteran of the Gulf War and Liberation in Kuwait, you will learn that even a very short time in service can be a transformational experience. Those memories are vivid, and last the rest of your life.
Have a great day, Kuwait.
Pomegranate in Quinoa Pilaf
Hot off the press, from the New York Times:
Quinoa Pilaf With Chick Peas, Pomegranate and Spices
By MARTHA ROSE SHULMAN
Published: November 7, 2008
Considered by many nutritionists to be a superfood, pomegranate juice is loaded with antioxidants and appears to lower blood pressure. This quinoa pilaf is based on a Turkish pilaf that is traditionally made with rice or bulgur.
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
3/4 teaspoon coriander seeds
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup quinoa, cooked (4 cups cooked quinoa)
1 cup cooked chick peas (canned are fine), rinsed
1/4 cup pomegranate seeds
For garnish (optional):
1 cup thickened yogurt
1 small garlic clove, pureed (optional)
1. Heat a large, heavy frying pan over medium-high heat and add the cumin seeds and coriander seeds. Toast in the pan, stirring or shaking the pan, until they begin to smell fragrant, and transfer to a spice mill. Allow to cool for a few minutes, then pulse to crush or coarsely grind. Set aside.
2. Return the frying pan to medium heat and add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Add the onion and cook, stirring often, until tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and salt, stir together for about half a minute, and stir in the cumin seeds, and coriander seeds. Add the remaining olive oil and stir in the quinoa, chick peas, and 3 tablespoons of the pomegranate seeds. Stir over medium heat to heat through, several minutes. Taste and adjust salt. Transfer to a platter or wide bowl and decorate with the remaining pomegranate seeds. You can also mold the pilaf into 1/2-cup ramekins or timbales and unmold onto the plate, then decorate with pomegranate seeds.
3. Stir the garlic into the thickened yogurt. Serve the pilaf topped with the yogurt.
Yield: Serves 6
Variation: Some people like to drizzle a few drops of lemon juice over the top of this pilaf.
Advance preparation: This can be made a day ahead and reheated.
Blood Spatter and Persephone’s Pomegranates
This morning I was hulling pomegranates. I’m not very good at it, and I was imagining the cooks at someplace like Shebastan could make quick work of what took me quite a while. My hands were thoroughly stitcky, but I had a nice healthy bowl of seeds, which I now know are called Aril, that I will eat like candy, and pop into my morning oatmeal – makes it edible and it tastes like health in a bowl.
Pomegranate - Just look at that beautiful color!
My very cool Mom bought me my first pomegranate – here in Kuwait, they are called Roman’, which my husband said is because they came in with the Romans, but that seems very strange to me because clearly they are Iranian in origin. It took me forever to dig the seeds out. Now I know to just lightly cut the skin in a few places, tear off a hunk and start separating. I read on Wikipedia that it goes faster in water, the seeds sink and the pulp floats. I’ll have to try that next time.
Pomegranate seeds - again - look at those colors!
Mom bought me the pomegranate because I was crazy about Greek mythology, and Persephone had to spend six months in hell every year because (it’s a long story, this is just the short version) she had been tempted to eat and she ate just six pomegranate seeds, and so when she was freed from hell she still has to go back for six months and that’s why we have winter (well, I was just a kid and it made sense to me) but I always wondered what a pomegranate would be like.
I’ve loved them ever since. But when I was done, I noticed I had spots and streaks like something out of Dexter all over the walls. I think I have it all cleaned up, but I keep finding places I missed!
But you know how one thing leads to another, and then leads to Wikipedia. I wanted to make sure I got the legend of Persephone right, but instead, I learned that pomegranates have symbolism in all three religions of the book – Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Click on the blue type above and you can learn more about Pomegranates. Read below for what Wikipedia tells us about the pomegranate’s symbolism in different religions:
Pomegranates and symbolism
[edit]Judaism
Exodus 28:33–34 directed that images of pomegranates be woven onto the hem of the me’il (“robe of the ephod”), a robe worn by the Hebrew High Priest. 1 Kings 7:13–22 describes pomegranates depicted on the capitals of the two pilars (Jachin and Boaz) which stood in front of the temple King Solomon built in Jerusalem. It is said that Solomon designed his coronet based on the pomegranate’s “crown” (calyx).[31]
Jewish tradition teaches that the pomegranate is a symbol for righteousness, because it is said to have 613 seeds which corresponds with the 613 mitzvot or commandments of the Torah. For this reason and others, many Jews eat pomegranates on Rosh Hashanah. However, the actual number of seeds varies with individual fruits.[32] It is also a symbol of fruitfulness.[33] The pomegranate is one of the few images which appear on ancient coins of Judea as a holy symbol, and today many Torah scrolls are stored while not in use with a pair of decorative hollow silver “pomegranates” (rimmonim) placed over the two upper scroll handles. Some Jewish scholars believe that it was the pomegranate that was the forbidden fruit of the Garden of Eden.[33] Pomegranate is one of the Seven Species (Hebrew: שבעת המינים, Shiv’at Ha-Minim), the types of fruits and grains enumerated in the Hebrew Bible (Deuteronomy 8:8) as being special products of the Land of Israel.
[edit]Christianity
For the same reasons, pomegranates are a motif found in Christian religious decoration. They are often woven into the fabric of vestments and liturgical hangings or wrought in metalwork. Pomegranates figure in many religious paintings by the likes of Sandro Botticelli and Leonardo da Vinci, often in the hands of the Virgin Mary or the infant Jesus. The fruit, broken or bursting open, is a symbol of the fullness of his suffering and resurrection.[33] In the Eastern Orthodox Church, pomegranate seeds may be used in kolyva, a dish prepared for memorial services, as a symbol of the sweetness of the heavenly kingdom.
[edit]Islam
According to the Qur’an, pomegranates grow in the gardens of paradise (55:068). According to Islamic tradition, every seed of a pomegranate must be eaten, because one can’t be sure which aril came from paradise. The Prophet Mohammed is said to have encouraged his followers to eat pomegranates to ward off envy and hatred.[33] The Qur’an also mentions (6:99, 6:141) pomegranates twice as examples of good things God creates.
[edit]Greece and Greek mythology
The wild pomegranate did not grow natively in the Aegean area in Neolithic times. It originated in eastern Iran and came to the Aegean world along the same cultural pathways that brought the goddess whom the Anatolians worshipped as Cybele and the Mesopotamians as Ishtar.
The myth of Persephone, the chthonic goddess of the Underworld, also prominently features the pomegranate. In one version of Greek mythology, Persephone was kidnapped by Hades and taken off to live in the underworld as his wife. Her mother, Demeter (goddess of the Harvest), went into mourning for her lost daughter and thus all green things ceased to grow. Zeus, the highest ranking of the Greek gods, could not leave the Earth to die, so he commanded Hades to return Persephone. It was the rule of the Fates that anyone who consumed food or drink in the Underworld was doomed to spend eternity there. Persephone had no food, but Hades tricked her into eating four pomegranate seeds while she was still his prisoner and so, because of this, she was condemned to spend four months in the Underworld every year. During these four months, when Persephone is sitting on the throne of the Underworld next to her husband Hades, her mother Demeter mourns and no longer gives fertility to the earth. This became an ancient Greek explanation for the seasons.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s painting Persephona depicts Persephone holding the fatal fruit. It should be noted that the number of seeds that Persephone ate varies, depending on which version of the story is told. The number of seeds she is said to have eaten ranges from three to seven, which accounts for just one barren season if it is just three or four seeds, or two barren seasons (half the year) if she ate six or seven seeds. There is no set number.
The pomegranate also evoked the presence of the Aegean Triple Goddess who evolved into the Olympian Hera, who is sometimes represented offering the pomegranate, as in the Polykleitos’ cult image of the Argive Heraion (see below). According to Carl A. P. Ruck and Danny Staples, the chambered pomegranate is also a surrogate for the poppy’s narcotic capsule, with its comparable shape and chambered interior.[34] On a Mycenaean seal illustrated in Joseph Campbell’s Occidental Mythology 1964, figure 19, the seated Goddess of the double-headed axe (the labrys) offers three poppy pods in her right hand and supports her breast with her left. She embodies both aspects of the dual goddess, life-giving and death-dealing at once. The Titan Orion was represented as “marrying” Side, a name that in Boeotia means “pomegranate”, thus consecrating the primal hunter to the Goddess. Other Greek dialects call the pomegranate rhoa; its possible connection with the name of the earth goddess Rhea, inexplicable in Greek, proved suggestive for the mythographer Karl Kerenyi, who suggested that the consonance might ultimately derive from a deeper, pre-Indo-European language layer.
Pomegranate — opened up
In the 6th century BC, Polykleitos took ivory and gold to sculpt the seated Argive Hera in her temple. She held a scepter in one hand and offered a pomegranate, like a ‘royal orb’, in the other. “About the pomegranate I must say nothing,” whispered the traveller Pausanias in the 2nd century, “for its story is something of a mystery.” Indeed, in the Orion story we hear that Hera cast pomegranate-Side (an ancient city in Antalya) into dim Erebus — “for daring to rival Hera’s beauty”, which forms the probable point of connection with the older Osiris/Isis story. Since the ancient Egyptians identified the Orion constellation in the sky as Sah the “soul of Osiris”, the identification of this section of the myth seems relatively complete. Hera wears, not a wreath nor a tiara nor a diadem, but clearly the calyx of the pomegranate that has become her serrated crown.
The pomegranate has a calyx shaped like a crown. In Jewish tradition it has been seen as the original “design” for the proper crown.[31] In some artistic depictions, the pomegranate is found in the hand of Mary, mother of Jesus.
In modern times the pomegranate still holds strong symbolic meanings for the Greeks. On important days in the Greek Orthodox calendar, such as the Presentation of the Virgin Mary and on Christmas Day, it is traditional to have at the dinner table “polysporia”, also known by their ancient name “panspermia,” in some regions of Greece. In ancient times they were offered to Demeter[citation needed] and to the other gods for fertile land, for the spirits of the dead and in honor of compassionate Dionysus.
When one buys a new home, it is conventional for a house guest to bring as a first gift a pomegranate, which is placed under/near the ikonostasi (home altar) of the house, as a symbol of abundance, fertility and good luck. Pomegranates are also prominent at Greek weddings and funerals. When Greeks commemorate their dead, they make kollyva as offerings, which consist of boiled wheat, mixed with sugar and decorated with pomegranate. It is also traditional in Greece to break a pomegranate on the ground at weddings and on New Years. Pomegranate decorations for the home are very common in Greece and sold in most homegoods stores.[35]
The photos, by the way, are of Indian pomegranates, but I bought Indian ones, Iranian ones and Egyptian ones; some are great big and very red, some are more orangey-red. These Indian ones are delightfully sweet!
Google can help you find all kinds of pomegranate recipes, but there is actually an organization called Pomegranates.org that lists lots of recipes in one easy location. 🙂 This must be pomegranate season, because they are plentiful, and reasonably priced, and oh, what luxury!
Here is one of their recipes:
Chicken with Pomegranate and Walnuts
2-3/4 pound fryer chicken
2 cups walnuts, finely chopped
3 tablespoons shortening
3-1/2 cups water
1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 cup fresh pomegranate juice
3 teaspoons butter
2 teaspoons tomato sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
Prepare chicken for frying. Saute chicken with poultry seasoning in shortening until light brown, set aside. In a large pot saute the onion in 3 teaspoon butter until golden brown. Add tomato sauce and saute for a few minutes. Add walnuts to the onions and saute over meduim heat about 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Add water, remaining seasonings, lemon juice, and pomegranate syrup. Cover and let cook on low about 35 minutes. Taste the sauce and add sugar if needed. Arrange browned chicken pieces in the sauce, cover and let simmer 20-25 minutes. Serve over white rice.
Serves 6.
Drive Safely in Kuwait – or Anywhere
This popped up this morning on AOL News:
Defensive Driving 101
Why defensive driving is so important.
By CRAIG HOWIE | AOL AUTOS
Data from the National Highway Transportation & Safety Administration (NHTSA)
Someone got cut off. They bleeped their horn. You bleeped back. They gesticulated, you gesticulated. And now you’re stuck with a lunatic on your back, tailgating and swerving, keeping up with you with a crazy grimace on his face and trying his best to force you off the road. Whoa there. Not everybody lives in Orange County, Calif. Or Miami, Fla. And maybe you’re the lunatic, who knows? Or perhaps you take a more considered path of action. We’ve chosen eight often overlooked defensive driving tips that hopefully will help ensure situations like this one don’t develop, and which come with the added bonus of avoiding an expensive insurance payment or minimizing the risks of injury or death in a serious crash.
Tip 1: Don’t do unto others
So the crazy-driver pursuit is unlikely to occur, but remonstrating with another driver can not only prove dangerous to your health and wellbeing — remember you may be inflaming a road-rage situation — but perhaps more crucially, it distracts a driver for a split second or longer. The entire event could adversely affect their driving for the rest of the day. Remember: Don’t take it out on others. And though I usually don’t subscribe to the fractured logic of bumper stickers — mean people, and in particular mean drivers, really do suck.
Tip 2: Stay out of the way
One of the first defensive driving tips listed by Dr Leon James, a professor at the University of Hawaii who publishes DrDriving.com, is: “Stay out of the way. Give aggressive drivers plenty of room to get around you.” If another driver is endangering you or his actions are threatening to cause a smash, the best tactic is avoidance, usually by slowing down (with one caveat: always check mirrors before hitting the brakes).
He tells AOL Autos: “One thing to remember is that there is a diversity of drivers on the road. They have different goals for being there — some are in a hurry to get somewhere, others are just looking around or don’t know where they are going exactly and have plenty of time. Others are challenged by sickness, age, drugs, anger, depression, etc. So the best defensive driving advice is to give them more latitude. Let them do what they want at all times.”
Tip 3: Yield
Dr. James also says it is never a given that other drivers will follow the rules of the road, and to never insist on your own right of way if another driver is challenging you. Mark Sedenquist, the publisher of RoadTripAmerica.com, agrees, advocating a “yield anyway” strategy. He says: “Even if the right of way is yours by law, custom, or common sense, always remember that the real object is to get home safely. So when someone barges out ahead of you when it’s not their turn, put your ego and irritation in the back seat and … yield anyway.”
Tip 4: Be aware of your surroundings
Riding Chicago’s L train system to O’Hare Airport alongside the Kennedy Expressway, as I did recently in transit to Los Angeles, gives a great opportunity to observe what drivers get up to behind the wheel: text messaging, applying lipstick, talking on cell phones and reading (!), often at speed. Sedenquist advises keeping an eye out for others’ — and also your own — bad habits. He says: “One major key to safe driving is observing and responding to the unexpected things that other drivers do. Drivers should be scanning the road constantly, both ahead and (in a rear-view mirror) behind. Another strategy is the ‘two-seconds-plus rule,’ ensuring a safe following distance between your car and that car or truck in front of you.”
Tip 5: Overcome overconfidence
Russ Radar, of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, suggests overconfidence could be at the root of the problem and also offers a practical approach to safety. “We all think we’re good drivers and it’s all the other drivers out there that are dangerous. We need to examine our own driving behavior: Slow down, obey traffic laws, and always wear safety belts. If everyone did those things, our highways would be a lot safer.”
Tip 6: Take a refresher course
I attended a brief defensive driving course as part of an assignment a few years back and was shocked by just how much my road habits had decayed in a decade or so behind the wheel, perhaps as a result of overconfidence. One-hand steering wheel spins? Please no. Even crossing hands is frowned upon here. Quick to point out and work on combating bad habits, my instructor also offered valuable lessons on everyday road stuff that I’d forgotten, some as surprisingly basic as road position or safely approaching a stop sign or street entrance. It’s valuable in other ways, too: Any money spent on the course may end up saving larger payouts on speeding tickets or traffic misdemeanors — both of which will probably necessitate the taking of defensive driving course, usually in a class or online.
Tip 7: Rest and refresh
The National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration reports that more than 56,000 crashes annually are caused by drowsy drivers. It also suggests some startling characteristics of crashes involving a drowsy driver: The crash occurs late at night or early in the morning; it is likely to be serious; a single vehicle leaves the roadway; the crash occurs on a high-speed road; the driver does not attempt to avoid a crash; the driver is alone in the vehicle. A friend of mine, who crashed a Volvo 850 into highway safety barrels at 70 mph (and thankfully walked away without a scratch) will bear witness that all of these factors occurred in her early-morning smash when she fell asleep at the wheel. The NHTSA says that, young people (ages 16 to 29), especially males, are most at risk. Shift workers whose sleep is disrupted by working at night or working long or irregular hours also face the same risks. Sedenquist, who has tallied a half million miles in his 30 years on the road across America, says “Before you push on for ‘just another fifty miles,’ keep in mind that sleepy drivers can be just as dangerous as drunk ones.” Stay alert, it can save your life.
Tip 8: Take a Zen-like approach
Dr James advises: “The secret of being a “supportive driver” — the opposite of an aggressive driver. Facilitate what they are trying to do. Do not put your sail in their wind. Be a smart driver, a peaceful driver, and be safe and calm that way.
LOL at “Maybe you’re the lunatic – who knows?” 😉
Is There Still a Ban on Mobile Phone Usage While Driving?
Does anyone remember this:
For a while, I think the ban was enforced and I think I saw fewer people on their mobile phones. Now – it’s totally back to the way it was before the “ban.” Or do you see it differently?
No Sunrise in Kuwait
You will not find me complaining about the rain. I am imagining what a difference this steady downpour is going to make in very short time. People who think of “desert” have no idea of the life in the desert waiting to spring forth at the slightest sign of moisture. It doesn’t take much – and I believe we are going to see some amazing things soon in Kuwait.
I was up for the sunrise this morning . . . no sunrise appeared. This is about the best I could do:
I thought the heavy downpour last week had washed my windows clean, but I think some dust must have come and stuck to the wet windows. Or else the rain is not so clean . . . 😦 Please pardon my streaked windows!
Life interrupts blogging. We had an emergency that had us out on highway 40 to help out a friend in Eqaila. We was a terrible accident on 40; truck jacknifed and hit two cars. Traffic was totally gridlocked waiting for the ambulances and police to arrive. Folks, please be careful out there.
And please, mothers, fathers, protect your children. Anyone who doesn’t need to be on the roads should be at home. These kids, riding on the slick highways, barely visible, are taking a huge risk:
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