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! 🙂
600 Speeding Tickets Issued over Eid Holidays
600 speeding tickets issued over Eid
From today’s Al Watan staff
KUWAIT: Highway Traffic Police launched a campaign against reckless and speeding drivers during the Eid holidays, which was aimed at eliminating tragic car accidents. According to instructions passed by Major General Mahmoud AlÙ€Dousari, Highway Traffic officers set up surprised checkpoints along the King Fahed Expressway.
They succeeded in handing out over 600 speeding tickets and seized 20 violating vehicles.
A reliable source said: “A reckless motorist driving a German car was speeding on the safety shoulder of the highway bypassing all other vehicles, which were lined up at a security check point. Highway patrols pursued the speeding driver before arresting him.”
I wish they had the police out regularly. The roads yesterday were full of people weaving in and out, too fast. We watched one car clip another entering the speedway, neither of them slowed a bit.
Cough! Cough!
I was out enjoying the weather yesterday, when I noticed around noon I had a little tickle in my throat, and I was sneezing a little, too. Thought it was just the dust. By evening, I had a deep-chest cough, the kind that makes you sore after you cough a few times.
I don’t know if I picked something up or if it was just the dust. I am hoping it passes quickly, and inconveniences me very little.
Is there something going around in Kuwait? Is this just the time of year for health challenges?
Kuwait Adopts Islamic Jurisprudence?
From today’s Kuwait Times:
KUWAIT: MP Dr. Waleed Al-Tabtabae said that several MPs plan to amend the second Article of the Kuwaiti Constitution and adopt Islamic jurisprudence as the main source of legislation in Kuwait. They will also push for amending other laws in accordance with the Islam as they feel that Islamic laws can effectively ward off crimes, theft, alcohol, drugs, adultery and sexual assaults.
Give to Everyone Who Begs From You
Months ago, I wrote a post about people asking for money in Kuwait, and when should you give and when should you not. It’s a problem that bothers all of us from time to time – when to be generous, and when are you throwing your money away?
Here, the instructions are clear – give to everyone who begs from you.
To me, that means keeping money on hand that I am comfortable will feed someone for a day – half a dinar to a dinar. Bread, beans, water . . .
When we lived in Tunis, my husband had his own beggqr – a man who came by the house from time to time. One time my husband followed him home, and when he came back, he said no matter how much we give this man, it will never be enough, he and his family live in a hovel. When the man came to us with a wound on his arm, my husband took him to the clinic and saw that he was cared for properly. The truth turned out to be that it benefited my husband, and our family, in the long run to be in a relationship with this beggar.
I’ve been taken by cons – the dripping medical bag, the fake leg gash – and I still believe it is better for us to error on the side of compassion.
Luke 6:27-38
27 ‘But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 29 If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. 30 Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.
32 ‘If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again.
35 But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return.* Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
37 ‘Do not judge, and you will not be judged; do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.’
Running Red Lights (3)
I first blogged about this on April 14 and then again in July. I was on this road again yesterday, and oh look – nothing has changed, except the one remaining red light has become even dimmer in the 6 months. I have seen other lights changed – and cleaned (part of the problem here is the humidity and the sand gumming up the lights) but c’mon, this should be a part of nightly traffic maintenance! This is a disaster waiting to happen at a busy intersection:
Can you even see the red light? You have to know it is there, I think. It is the top right light. Now – can you see it?
Traffic department: These lights are at the intersection of the southern Gulf Road/ 7th Ring Road/ 209 and Highway 30. Please, clean up these lights and put in fresh bulbs!
International Medical Corps Thanks YOU
This announcement was in the e-mail this morning. I love it when a striving non-profit finds a cost-effective way to spread the word and compete for the funding they need. Smart non-profits get grants, get corporate donations and use the least costly ways to raise additional funds from individual donors. They maintain a very low expenses rate and a high services rate.
Hi again,
I am so excited and wanted to thank you so much for your help! There were more
than 87,000 votes cast and thanks to you & everyone who blogged & voted, our
project, “Saving the Lives of Malnourished Children,” is now in the Top 5 of
American Express Members Project. It got pretty close at the end and we only
made it by 147 votes. We really couldn’t have done it without you!
We are now guaranteed at least $100,000 in funding, but we still need your help.
The second round of voting has begun and the project with the most votes will
receive $1.5 million. Your vote and the votes of your readers will determine how
many lives we can save. I would be so grateful if you could repost to keep the
conversation and awareness out there and if you could thank your readers for
voting for us too.
http://internationalmedicalcorps.smnr.us/
Please let me know if you can post and please vote again for “Saving the Lives
of Malnourished Children.” Voting ends October 13th. Thank you so much.
Chessia
—
Chessia Kelley, International Medical Corps
ckelley@imcworldwide.org
http://imcworldwide.org
Who Has the Disability?
My good friend sent me this today, and I want to share it with you, on this, hopefully the last day of Ramadan:
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Loneliness Makes You Cold
A recent study presented on BBC Health News shows that those who are excluded or left out feel colder than those who are included.
Loneliness ‘makes you cold’
Turning up the thermometer could lighten your mood
Loneliness and coldness are often associated in everyday language, but psychologists have found that social isolation does make people feel cold.
The University of Toronto team found people feeling excluded said a room was colder than those feeling included.
And people who felt left out also chose comforting hot soup, rather than an apple or soft drink.
A UK psychologist said the findings could help people feeling isolated, particularly in the winter months.
‘Unpopular’
In the first study, 65 students were divided into two groups.
One group recalled a personal experience in which they had been socially excluded and felt isolated or lonely, such as being rejected from a club.
The other group recalled an experience in which they had been accepted.
The researchers then asked everyone to estimate the room’s temperature.
The estimates varied from about 54F (12C) to 104F (40C) – with those who had thought about an isolating experience giving lower estimates of the temperature.
In the second experiment, the researchers asked 52 students to play a computer-simulated ball game.
It was designed so that some of the volunteers had the ball tossed to them many times, but others were left out.
Afterwards, all the volunteers were asked to rate the desirability of hot coffee, crackers, soft-drinks, an apple, or hot soup.
The “unpopular” participants were much more likely than the others to want either hot soup or hot coffee.
The researchers suggest their preference for warm food and drinks resulted from physically feeling cold as a result of being excluded.
‘Coping mechanism’
Dr Chen-Bo Zhong, who led the research, which is published in the journal Psychological Science, said: “We found that the experience of social exclusion literally feels cold.
Sweet Friday Sunrise
It’s a temptation to linger outside on my balcony this morning. At 0700, it is a sweet 84°F / 29°C, there is a breeze blowing and look! There are sweet little clouds in the sky! Winter is coming! There is a chop in the surf, the air smells clean, and that band on the horizon is down to a thin wispy layer . . . if only the whole day could be like this.
Yesterday I ended up spending a lot of time outdoors. Early in the day, it wasn’t bad, it was even pleasant, but by mid-day, it was barely bearable.
Ramadan is the season of drawing closer to God / Allah, and thinking on those who are poor, and are not fasting to deprive themselves, but fasting because they have nothing to eat. As I found myself outdoors, unshaded, in the midday heat, I found myself thinking of you who are fasting, and how very difficult this year has been with the heat and humidity. The days of dry heat just leach the moisture right out of you; the days of humidity you drip, losing moisture either way that you can ill afford to lose when you must get through the day without drinking.
It is truly sacrificial, and my prayers are with you, that you find satisfaction in your fast, and draw closer to God.
For myself, at the end of the day, AdventureMan and I found ourselves exhausted and with that little dehydration headache you can get. I am feeling very thankful for the coming of cooler weather, insh’allah.
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