Happy Halloween
This is from the New Yorker
We love their cartoons. This one, unfortunately, is more true than funny.
Aware Center: November Schedule
If you are feeling a little clueless in Kuwait, the Aware Center is a great place to get started. They offer classes in Arabic, in addition to multiple opportunities to understand the culture and all that Kuwait has to offer.
AWARE Center November Calendar
“Advocates for Western-Arab Relations”
The AWARE Center is a non-profit and non-governmental organization that was established in 2003 by a group of Arabs and Westerners whose aim was to promote positive relations between Westerners and Arabs through dialogue and friendship. Since our opening in 2003, individuals from more than 50 countries have visited AWARE to take part in our cross-cultural activities.
We hope you will join us as we share the culture of the Arabs and Muslims through a variety of programs scheduled during the month of November.
For further details on any of our programs, you may contact our staff by telephone at
2 5335280 or by email at info@www.aware.com.kw or delores.aware@gmail.com or view our webpage atwww.aware.com.kw
November at AWARE:
Nov. 2-8
Tues. 4th Nov. Diwaniya: “The Status of Women in the World and Islam’s Response”, by Dr Teresa, 7:00pm
Wed. 5th Nov. Cultural Orientation Course: “Cultural Clothing of Kuwait” by Iman Martin, 7:00pm
Thurs. 6th Nov. Arabic Winter Courses Begin (Please refer to the attachment for a full schedule of class offerings)
Nov. 9-15
Mon. 10th Nov. Tour: Tareq Rajab Museum Please note: This tour meets directly at the Museum at 5pm. For directions and further details, contact amina@aware.com.kw
Tues. 11th Nov. Diwaniya: “What is the Real Jihad?” by Shayma Mahmoud, 7:00pm
Wed. 12th Nov. Cultural Orientation Course: “Etiquette when visiting Kuwaiti Homes” by Wadha, 7:00pm
Thurs. 13th Nov. International Friends Film and Coffee Social: “Inside Mecca“, A National Geographicdocumentary film, 7:00pm
Sat. 15th Nov. Tour: Grand Mosque 9.30am Please note: This tour meets directly at the Grand Mosque at 9:15am. For directions and further details, contact amina@aware.com.kw
Nov. 16-22
Tues. 18th Nov. Diwaniya: “Globalization Vs Universalism“ by Kevin Stoda, 7:00pm
Wed. 19th Nov. Cultural Orientation Course: “Kuwaiti Weddings & Islamic Married Life” by Iman Martin, 7:00pm
Nov. 23-30
Tues. 25th Nov. Diwaniya: “Why are human beings different?”, by Hassan Taha, 7:00pm
Thurs. 27th Nov. Carpet Exhibition & Lecture, “The Art of Persians Carpets”, by Nazi Riasati Al-Dashti, 7:00pm
“Illusions Driving Market Havok”
A fascinating article in today’s BBC News sheds light on our cascading stock markets. . . it isn’t rational, but it is explainable:
‘Illusions driving market havoc’
City traders may be seeing patterns that ‘aren’t really there’
The mind naturally creates illusions and superstitions at times of stress – and this could be adding to the global financial crisis, say scientists.
US researchers say feeling “out of control” makes us more likely to misinterpret information as we search for signs of order.
The study in the journal Science found investment decisions of volunteers were adversely affected by these feelings.
Simple psychological techniques might improve their performance, they said.
The researchers, from the University of Texas and Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, believe that humans cope with feeling out of control by trying to impose order subconsciously – even in situations where there is none.
At a simple level, they demonstrated the principle by asking volunteers to look for images embedded in “snowy pictures”.
Those whose feelings of control had earlier been undermined were more likely to claim to have seen an image, even where none existed.
However, the researchers believe that other kinds of illusion, from conspiracy theories to superstitions, stem from the same basic subconscious problem, and that it may be contributing to the current havoc on the world’s financial markets.
Read the entire article Here.
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:
Prosper the Work of Our Hands
This is from today’s Psalm 90, the very last verse:
17Let the favour of the Lord our God be upon us,
and prosper for us the work of our hands—
O prosper the work of our hands!
My wish for you today is that Mightly God prosper the work of your hands, and mine. 🙂
For my non-Islamic friends, in this culture there is a greeting I love – God bless the work of your hands! (Sounds like: Allah ya teek’ ala fee ah) (If that is not quite right, I welcome correction; that is how it sounds to me.)
This verse reminds me so much of that.
Saving the Lives of Malnourished Children
I received this e-mail this morning:
Hi there,
My organization, International Medical Corps, has the ability to save the lives
of malnourished children around the world and we just received some very
exciting news. We have been nominated to be one of the Top 25 in American
Express’ Projects, “Saving the Lives of Malnourished Children.” Our project was
chosen out of 1,190 projects and is now eligible to receive up to $1.5 million
to help feed hungry children. Because your blog, here there and Everywhere, has
a loyal following, I thought this would be an issue you would want to share with
your readers. I’ve put together this microsite explaining everything.
http://internationalmedicalcorps.smnr.us/
If you could post about this on your blog it would really help to spread the
message and potentially could save many lives. At the minimum, please vote for
“Saving the Lives of Malnourished Children.” Please let me know either way.
Thanks.
Chessia
—
Chessia Kelley, International Medical Corps
ckelley@imcworldwide.org
http://imcworldwide.org
I googled the organization and it is legitimate. Here is what Wikipedia has to say:
International Medical Corps (known also as IMC) is a global humanitarian nonprofit organization established by volunteer doctors and nurses. The organization provides disaster relief, delivers health care to underserved regions, builds clinics, and trains local health care workers with the goal of creating self-reliant, self-sustaining medical services and infrastructure in places where that had previously been lacking.
IMC’s focuses include primary and secondary health care, prevention and treatment of infectious diseases such as malaria, cholera, dysentery, and HIV/AIDS, supplemental food for malnourished children, clean water and hygiene education, mental health and psychosocial care, and microfinance programs that allow people to earn their own income.
International Medical Corps is a founding member of the ONE Campaign and a member of the Clinton Global Initiative.
Psalm 37: Do Not Fret Because of Evil Men
I think I have published this Psalm before, but I am going to post it again because it answers that question we all ask – why is it that the evil ones appear to prosper and bad things happen to those who seek to do God’s will?
This is a Psalm of David / Daoud, and something to think about in this Ramadan time of contemplation, and seeking closeness to The Almighty One.
Psalm 37
Of David.
1 [a] Do not fret because of evil men
or be envious of those who do wrong;
2 for like the grass they will soon wither,
like green plants they will soon die away.
3 Trust in the LORD and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
4 Delight yourself in the LORD
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
5 Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in him and he will do this:
6 He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn,
the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.
7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him;
do not fret when men succeed in their ways,
when they carry out their wicked schemes.
8 Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
do not fret—it leads only to evil.
9 For evil men will be cut off,
but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.
10 A little while, and the wicked will be no more;
though you look for them, they will not be found.
11 But the meek will inherit the land
and enjoy great peace.
12 The wicked plot against the righteous
and gnash their teeth at them;
13 but the Lord laughs at the wicked,
for he knows their day is coming.
14 The wicked draw the sword
and bend the bow
to bring down the poor and needy,
to slay those whose ways are upright.
15 But their swords will pierce their own hearts,
and their bows will be broken.
16 Better the little that the righteous have
than the wealth of many wicked;
17 for the power of the wicked will be broken,
but the LORD upholds the righteous.
18 The days of the blameless are known to the LORD,
and their inheritance will endure forever.
19 In times of disaster they will not wither;
in days of famine they will enjoy plenty.
20 But the wicked will perish:
The LORD’s enemies will be like the beauty of the fields,
they will vanish—vanish like smoke.
21 The wicked borrow and do not repay,
but the righteous give generously;
22 those the LORD blesses will inherit the land,
but those he curses will be cut off.
23 If the LORD delights in a man’s way,
he makes his steps firm;
24 though he stumble, he will not fall,
for the LORD upholds him with his hand.
25 I was young and now I am old,
yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken
or their children begging bread.
26 They are always generous and lend freely;
their children will be blessed.
27 Turn from evil and do good;
then you will dwell in the land forever.
28 For the LORD loves the just
and will not forsake his faithful ones.
They will be protected forever,
but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off;
29 the righteous will inherit the land
and dwell in it forever.
30 The mouth of the righteous man utters wisdom,
and his tongue speaks what is just.
31 The law of his God is in his heart;
his feet do not slip.
32 The wicked lie in wait for the righteous,
seeking their very lives;
33 but the LORD will not leave them in their power
or let them be condemned when brought to trial.
34 Wait for the LORD
and keep his way.
He will exalt you to inherit the land;
when the wicked are cut off, you will see it.
35 I have seen a wicked and ruthless man
flourishing like a green tree in its native soil,
36 but he soon passed away and was no more;
though I looked for him, he could not be found.
37 Consider the blameless, observe the upright;
there is a future [b] for the man of peace.
38 But all sinners will be destroyed;
the future [c] of the wicked will be cut off.
39 The salvation of the righteous comes from the LORD;
he is their stronghold in time of trouble.
40 The LORD helps them and delivers them;
he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
because they take refuge in him.
Footnotes:
Psalm 37:1 This psalm is an acrostic poem, the stanzas of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
Psalm 37:37 Or there will be posterity
Psalm 37:38 Or posterity
Streets of Gold
Because it is a time to be considering holy things, and because I was sent this in the mail this morning, and because we have been talking about the prophet Job/Ayoub, I will share this morning devotion with you:
Job 22:24-25. Assign your nuggets to the dust, your gold of Ophir to the rocks in the ravines, then the Almighty will be your gold, the choicest silver for you.
A story tells about a rich man who pleaded with God to let him bring into eternity one suitcase full of his most valuable possessions. God finally conceded, and the man packed as much gold as he could into his biggest suitcase. When he arrived at heaven’s gates he was met by St. Peter, who opened the suitcase, curious to see what the man valued most.
“What!” St. Peter was incredulous; “You brought pavement?”
(For my Moslem readers: I don’t know why, it doesn’t say this anywhere in the Bible, except that Peter is given the responsibility for the building of the church and is often shown holding keys – like in the keys to the kingdom. Peter is often pictured in cartoons as the keeper of the gate into Paradise; he is portrayed as an old, bearded man with a long list in front of him, like who is naughty and who is allowed in. I know it might seem strange to you, but this is not considered offensive; it is an affectionate portrayal.)
Building 7 Collapse Solved, No Mystery
Feds Say They’ve Solved 9/11 Mystery
By DEVLIN BARRETT, AP
GAITHERSBURG, Md. (Aug. 21) – Federal investigators said Thursday they have solved a mystery of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks: the collapse of World Trade Center building 7, a source of long-running conspiracy theories.
The 47-story trapezoid-shaped building sat north of the World Trade Center towers, across Vesey Street in lower Manhattan. On Sept. 11, it was set on fire by falling debris from the burning towers, but skeptics have long argued that fire and debris alone should not have brought down such a big steel-and-concrete structure.
Federal investigators said Thursday they have resolved a lingering question from the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks: What caused World Trade Center 7 to collapse? They determined the building, which sat north of the World Trade Center towers, was brought down by fire started by debris from the twin towers.
Scientists with the National Institute of Standards and Technology say their three-year investigation of the collapse determined the demise of WTC 7 was actually the first time in the world a fire caused the total failure of a skyscraper.
“The reason for the collapse of World Trade Center 7 is no longer a mystery,” said Dr. Shyam Sunder, the lead investigator on the NIST team.
Investigators also concluded that the collapse of the nearby towers broke the city water main, leaving the sprinkler system in the bottom half of the building without water.
The building has been the subject of a wide range of conspiracy theories for the last seven years, partly because the collapse occurred about seven hours after the twin towers came down. That fueled suspicion that someone intentionally blew up the building in a controlled demolition.
Critics like Mike Berger of the group 9/11 Truth said he wasn’t buying the government’s explanation.
“Their explanation simply isn’t sufficient. We’re being lied to,” he said, arguing that there is other evidence suggesting explosives were used on the building.
Sunder said his team investigated the possibility that an explosion inside the building brought it down, but found there was no large boom or other noise that would have occurred with such a detonation. Investigators also created a giant computer model of the collapse, based partly on news footage from CBS News, that they say shows internal column failure brought down the building.
Investigators also ruled out the possibility that the collapse was caused by fires from a substantial amount of diesel fuel that was stored in the building, most of it for generators for the city’s emergency operations command center.
The 77-page report concluded that the fatal blow to the building came when the 13th floor collapsed, weakening a critical steel support column that led to catastrophic failure.
“When this critical column buckled due to lack of floor supports, it was the first domino in the chain,” said Sunder.
The NIST investigators issued more than a dozen building recommendations as a result of their inquiry, most of which repeat earlier recommendations from their investigation into the collapse of the two large towers.
In both instances, investigators concluded that extreme heat caused some steel beams to lose strength, causing further failures throughout the buildings until the entire structure succumbed.
The recommendations include building skyscrapers with stronger connections and framing systems to resist the effects of thermal expansion, and structural systems designed to prevent damage to one part of a building from spreading to other parts.
A spokeswoman for the leaseholder of the World Trade Center, developer Larry Silverstein, praised the government’s work.
“Hopefully this thorough report puts to rest the various 9/11 conspiracy theories, which dishonor the men and women who lost their lives on that terrible day,” said Silverstein spokeswoman Dara McQuillen.
In discussing the findings, the investigator Sunder acknowledged that some may still not be convinced, but insisted the science behind their findings is “incredibly conclusive.”
“The public should really recognize the science is really behind what we have said,” he said, adding: “The obvious stares you in the face.”
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
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