We Look, But We Don’t See
It was a long phone conversation. As I sat there, I saw this house/compound straight ahead, right on this very busy road, but all walled off, with a big gate in front. I saw the lattice-work around the top – this is not the oldest stuff, but this, I would guess, is from the fifty’s or sixty’s, pre-gas wealth. There are villas like this all over poorer areas of town, now, many have been converted for commercial uses.
I lived in a villa a lot like this in Tunisia. It was long and low. Inside, the ceilings were high, I think it helped keep the place cool in the long hot summers. It was all white. All the bedrooms were off in one area, and the public areas off in another – a very handy way of living, I have found.
It also has that nice big tree growing inside, providing a shaded place for a picnic. I wonder if they also have some little gardens inside? It looks to me like maybe there are still people living here – there are a lot of vehicles parked in front.
Cops Find Motorists Beating Point System in Qatar
Motorists trading penalty points
Web posted at: 8/14/2009 7:42:18
Source ::: THE PENINSULA
DOHA: Some motorists have hit upon a novel idea to escape being penalised for traffic violations under the current points system, which many find deterring.
They look for people with a valid driver’s licence who are willing to get the points transferred to their name for a fee.
There is no dearth of those who are offering such services and they, obviously, are low-income foreign workers, reports Al Sharq. The going rate for a penal point transfer is around QR100.
Since traffic violations are recorded against the number plates of the vehicles, traffic officials ask the owners who was driving the vehicle when the violation took place. All an owner needs to do is provide the name of the “paid volunteer” with his driver’s licence.
“This is a new phenomenon which has come to light after the traffic authorities put stringent rules in place to check violations,” said the daily.
The points system was introduced after the authorities realised the rate of accidents was not coming down despite hefty penalties being slapped on violators. Cash-rich motorists were undeterred as they gladly paid heavy fines for violations.
But in the current points system, a motorist accumulating 14 points for traffic violations in a year can see his driver’s licence suspended for three months.
The next year, if he accumulates 12 points, his licence is suspended for two months, while in the third year it is suspended for a month if the points add up to 10. In the fourth year, a motorist needs to join a driving school and undergo tests afresh to seek a driver’s licence if he accumulates 10 points for violations as his existing licence is revoked.
According to Al Sharq, a number of people have been calling for doing away with the points system and reintroducing the old penalty system.
Jumping traffic lights attracts the maximum points at seven, while wrong parking of a car or breaching the speed limit can see some three points credited into the driver’s account. Minor violations attract fewer points.
Doha Hazard
I’m driving along, getting ready to get in the right turn lane, when all of a sudden ahead of me, I can see a change in grade: Roadworks. Only in my lane. Here is the hazard – I can get in the lane now, and bump along, or I can stay in my curent lane and switch later, but I don’t know how many other drivers are adopting that strategy, and if I don’t make the right turn, I have to go many blocks out of my way. I signal and get in the raw, bumpy lane.
There just isn’t any good time to do roadworks. Some of the roads have serious potholes, many of the side roads have other serious defects. They have to be fixed, but oh the mess, the inconvenience. It’s the same in Kuwait, it’s the same in Seattle. I think of the bureaucrats who have to raise the funds (at least in Kuwait and Doha, it’s not taxes!), hire the companies, make the decisions and bear the howling complaints of the inconvenienced while the necessary work takes place.
At least on this day traffic is flowing smoothly and drivers are making allowances for one another. Things could be a lot worse.
Not Good News: More Foreclosures in USA
U.S. home foreclosures set another record in July
Thu Aug 13, 2009 12:11am Reuters
By Lynn Adler
NEW YORK (Reuters) – U.S. home loans failed at a record pace in July despite ongoing federal and state programs to avoid foreclosures, which have severely strained housing and the economy.
Foreclosure activity jumped 7 percent in July from June and 32 percent from a year earlier as one in every 355 households with a loan got a foreclosure filing, RealtyTrac said on Thursday.
Filings — including notices of default, auction and bank repossession — have escalated with unemployment.
“July marks the third time in the last five months where we’ve seen a new record set for foreclosure activity,” James J. Saccacio, RealtyTrac’s chief executive, said in a statement.
“Despite continued efforts by the federal government and state governments to patch together a safety net for distressed homeowners, we’re seeing significant growth in both the initial notices of default and in the bank repossessions.”
More than 360,000 households with loans drew a foreclosure filing in July, a record dating back to January 2005, when RealtyTrac started tracking monthly activity.
Notices of default, auction or repossession have reached nearly 2.3 million in the first seven months of the year — with more than half a million bank repossessions, the Irvine, California-based company said.
Making timely payments keeps getting more harder for borrowers who have lost their jobs or seen their wages cut.
The unemployment rate is 9.4 percent and President Barack Obama has said he expects it will hit 10 percent.
Obama’s housing rescue is gaining traction in altering terms of loans for struggling borrowers, but slowly.
Earlier this month the U.S. Treasury Department detailed the progress of the top servicers in modifying loans and prodded them to step up efforts to stem foreclosures.
SUN BELT STILL SUFFERING
States where sales and prices surged most in the five-year housing boom early this decade remain hardest hit.
California, Florida, Arizona, Nevada accounted for almost 57 percent of total U.S. foreclosure activity in July.
Illinois had the fifth-highest total filings, spiking nearly 35 percent from June, in an example of how moratoriums often delay rather than cure an inevitable loan failure.
Default notices spiked by 86 percent in July, from artificially low levels the prior two months. A state law enacted on April 5 gave delinquent borrowers up to 90 extra days before foreclosure started, RealtyTrac said.
Michigan’s foreclosure activity fell 39 percent in July from June, mostly due to a 66 percent drop in scheduled auctions. A state law that took effect July 6 freezes foreclosure proceedings an extra 90 days for homeowners who commit to work on a loan modification plan.
Other states with the highest foreclosure filing totals last month included Texas, Georgia, Ohio and New Jersey.
Nevada had the highest state foreclosure rate for the 31st straight month, with one in every 56 properties getting a filing, or more than six times the national average.
Initial notices of default fell 18 percent in the month, with a new Nevada law taking effect on July 1 requiring lenders to offer mediation to homeowners facing foreclosure. Scheduled auctions and bank repossessions each jumped more than 20 percent, however, boosting overall foreclosure activity in the state by 4 percent from June.
California, Arizona, Florida, Utah, Idaho, Georgia, Illinois, Colorado and Oregon were the other states with the highest foreclosure rates.
(Editing by Kenneth Barry)
Things are turning around in the USA, but these foreclosures were already in the pipeline, and more are coming due principally to people borrowing more money than they could really afford, and people who have lost jobs and can no longer pay their mortgage.
Now I am going to sound like your MOTHER: Do not take an adjustable rate mortgage. Fix your credit, get a good score, and take the very best 15 or 30 year FIXED mortgage you can get, and before you buy, make sure that you figure taxes and insurance as well as the monthly mortgage and interest when figuring your monthly payment. Make sure you can still eat, and have a little left over for emergency car repairs. It is so much better to live in a house that you can afford than to lose everything you have invested in a house you can’t afford.
If you get into trouble, talk to your lender right away. Lenders do not want to foreclose; it is in their interest as well as your own to find a way to allow you to reduce payments for a while to keep the relationship on track. There is some flexibility. Negotiate.
Vietnamese Salad Rolls (Woo HOO on ME!)
OK. They may not look like much to you, but these are my very first Vietnamese Salad Rolls, one of my favorite eats in the whole world.
And I am giving myself a BIG WOOO HOO for doing them.
You all think I am much braver and more experimental than I really am. I have loved these for probably 15 years, but on my own I could never figure out how to make them, and I really didn’t want to try. I told myself I couldn’t get all the ingredients, anyway.
“Oh yes!” said my French friend, mistress of the kitchen, nothing she couldn’t do, and she invited us for dinner and the first course was Vietnamese Salad Rolls, made in her own kitchen. “They have the rice wrappers at all the Phillipino stores in Kuwait.”
Who knew? My French friend knew ALL these little secrets.
She carefully explained how to make them, but my mind shut down when she said “There is one part that is a little tricky – the rice wrapper has to soak for ONE SECOND in a pan of hot water, but only one second!” To me, that sounded very scary and daunting.
Then she gave me two packages of the wrappers.
I took them out now and then and read the instructions and put them back in the cupboard. I even shipped them from Kuwait to Doha with me. I read detailed instructions on the internet. I printed some out.
Yesterday, I found more wrappers at the MegaMart and bought two packages and now, with plenty of back up and with an unanticipated energy and hopefulness, I thought “why not give it a try tonight?”
The secret to making these is to have everything ready in advance – a bowl of cooked shrimp, sliced in half down the spine (so both halves look like a shrimp), a bowl of basil leaves, a bowl of mint leaves, a bowl of chopped parsley, a bowl of thinly sliced lettuce, a bowl of julienned carrots, a package of the rice wrappers, the cooked vermicelli in a strainer (it stays flexible because these go together fairly fast) and a flat round pan of hot water to soften the rice wrappers.
Once you have the ingredients assembled, the assembly – which for some reason was the part that daunted me – goes fairly easily and rapidly. If you soak the thin, brittle wrapper for exactly one and a half seconds, and lay it on a cutting board, it becomes very flexible and exactly the right texture. I started 3 inches from the top with the shrimp, then lay the rest of the ingredients in a row vertically, but almost on top of each other. Then I pulled the bottom up over the ingredients and tucked it in – not too tightly, but very snugly, folded in the sides, then wrapped the top over the already-rolled up section, and wow – a salad roll!
Vietnamese Salad Rolls
INGREDIENTS
• 2 ounces rice vermicelli
• 8 rice wrappers (8.5 inch diameter)
• 8 large cooked shrimp – peeled, deveined and cut in half
• 1 1/3 tablespoons chopped fresh Thai basil
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 leaves lettuce, chopped
•
• 4 teaspoons fish sauce
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic chili sauce
• 3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped peanuts
DIRECTIONS
1. Bring a medium saucepan of water to boil. Boil rice vermicelli 3 to 5 minutes, or until al dente, and drain.
2. Fill a large bowl with warm water. Dip one wrapper into the hot water for 1 second to soften. Lay wrapper flat. In a row across the center, place 2 shrimp halves, a handful of vermicelli, basil, mint, cilantro and lettuce, leaving about 2 inches uncovered on each side. Fold uncovered sides inward, then tightly roll the wrapper, beginning at the end with the lettuce. Repeat with remaining ingredients.
3. In a small bowl, mix the fish sauce, water, lime juice, garlic, sugar and chili sauce.
4. In another small bowl, mix the hoisin sauce and peanuts.
5. Serve rolled spring rolls with the fish sauce and hoisin sauce mixtures.
FOOTNOTE
• The fish sauce, rice vermicelli, chili garlic sauce, hoisin sauce and rice wrappers can be found at Asian food markets.
These are so fresh-tasting and light, perfect for a hot summer evening, perfect for a special Ramadan breaking-the-fast appetizer. Once the rolls are made, seal them on a plate under a couple layers of saran-type wrap to keep the wrappers from drying out. You can make them a couple hours in advance and wrap them good and store them in the refrigerator; they keep well for a couple hours. Don’t make more than you can eat the same day; they don’t keep well overnight.
The recipe above uses a different sauce than we use. The Vietnamese in France use this sauce, which is more of a vinaigrette, but the Vietnamese in Seattle and in St. Petersburg, Florida, use a peanut sauce:
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 Tbs Thai sweet chili sauce (sometimes called chili pepper sauce for chicken) it is that thick, sticky sweet orange-y red sauce with pepper flakes in it)
2 Tbs soy sauce
2 Tbs rice vinegar
1 Tbs sugar
1 Tsp finely chopped ginger
1 Tbs tahina
Cook one minute in microwave and stir until all the peanut butter is dissolved. Then add liquid – can be water or orange juice or pomegranate juice or chicken broth or sake (!) to thin to a thick salad dressing consistency.
AdventureMan was so amazed and delighted when he came home and saw I had been able to make these all by myself! I am so amazed and delighted that I can do it! Wooo HOOOOOOO! We didn’t eat them as an appetizer; we like them so much, we ate them as the main course, with some finger-food veggies – snow peas and carrots – as side dishes.
Where to Find the Perseids in 2009
I’m getting so many hits on my Perseids article today, that I thought I would tell you how to spot them. This is from earthsky.org, where you can learn a lot more about the night sky.
What is WAY cool is that they suggest a camp out as the best way to watch the Perseid showers. 🙂 No better place than the desert, so pack those tents and head out of town, away from the ambient light. One problem – moonlight.
With the 2009 Perseid meteor shower due to peak on the mornings of August 12 and 13, people are asking, How can I find this constellation in the night sky, so that I can see the meteors?
One note before the excitement starts to build. This year, there will be a waning moon in the sky during the peak hours for the Perseids. So 2009 is not the best possible year to see this shower. You might try watching for meteors in the early part of the night. Or you might see some Perseids in bright moonlight – in the peak hours between midnight and dawn – on the mornings of August 12 and 13.
Moonlight is just a local problem. The meteors will be raining down as always, even if moonlight drowns them from view. The Perseid meteor shower is named for the constellation Perseus the Hero. It’s from this part of the sky that the meteors will appear to radiate. Today’s chart shows Perseus ascending over the northeastern horizon around midnight. That’s why this meteor shower is better after midnight: because after midnight, the radiant point for the shower is above the horizon. Just remember, the glare of the waning gibbous moon will wash out some Perseid meteors during the peak hours of 2009.
Notice the W-shaped constellation Cassiopeia just above Perseus. The constellation Perseus is faint, but Cassiopeia is noticeable and can help you find it. If you do see a Perseid meteor in 2009, and trace its path backward, you will find that it radiated from a point in the sky within the boundaries of the constellation Perseus. When the moon is out of the way, a meteors are raining down in all parts of the sky, you don’t need to know the whereabouts of a shower’s radiant to enjoy the shower. But people always ask! So here you are.
Many people look forward each summer to the Perseids. This shower always peaks at this time of year, and it reliably produces 60 or more meteors per hour at its peak, or an average of about one a minute. It’s great fun to give meteor-watching a try! It’s a chance to go to a dark site with friends and family – a chance to see some stars and enjoy the night air – and see some meteors. The 2009 shower will be troubled by the moon, but there’s still fun to be had, if you and your friends and family want to try a camp-out on the peak nights.
WeatherUnderground has an entire section devoted to the night sky specific to YOUR area; this is what the one looks like for Doha, Qatar:
How cool is that?
You will see Perseus on this map in the bottom left sector.
I thought there was a night sky thingy on Google Earth, too, but I can’t find it. Anyone know how to do that?
The Perseids Are Coming
August is always a wonderful month for sky-watching. The Perseids are coming, and Wednesday should be prime time!
Skywatchers set for meteor shower
From BBC: Science and Technology
Skygazers are getting ready to watch the annual Perseid meteor shower, which peaks on Wednesday.
The Perseid shower occurs when the Earth passes through a stream of dusty debris from the comet Swift-Tuttle.
As this cometary “grit” strikes our atmosphere, it burns up, often creating streaks of light across the sky.
This impressive spectacle appears to originate from a point called a “radiant” in the constellation of Perseus – hence the name Perseid.
“Earth passes through the densest part of the debris stream sometime on 12 August. Then, you could see dozens of meteors per hour,” said Bill Cooke of Nasa’s meteoroid environment office.
You can read the entire article on BBC News: Science and Technology by clicking on the blue type.
Qatari Divorcees and Widows More Likely to Marry
This caught my eye for a couple reasons – one of which is that Qatar has the second largest divorce rate after Kuwait. Second, while it is mentioned in the article, it is not mentioned at the end that the women have other options in Kuwait and Qatar, are more able to care for themselves financially, and are not bound to stay in unhappy marriages for reasons of financial dependency.
It is delightful to think that one unhappy marriage while young will not doom a still-young woman to a life of celibacy. 🙂
More Qataris tying the knot with divorcees and widows
Web posted at: 8/11/2009 2:41:41
Source ::: The Peninsula / By MOHAMED SAEED
DOHA: Qatar has the second largest divorce rate in the Gulf region after Kuwait, but a welcome development has been that now an increasing number of citizens prefer to marry divorcees and young widows.
Qatar being a conservative society, marrying divorcees and widows has been a taboo of sorts.So, since the largest number of divorcees is in the age group of 20 to 29 years, their remarriage is a healthy sign.
In 1986, for example, divorcees under 20 years of age accounted for 15 percent of the total. Their proportion has been declining and was down to 6.4 percent in 2007.
Studies conducted by the Permanent Population Committee (PPC) show the number of marriages breaking up in the country has risen from just 308 in 1986 to nearly a 1,000 in 2007.
And although the population of locals has also gone up in this period, the rates of marriage and divorce have risen at a larger rate than the population increase.
It is also interesting to note that nearly 85 percent of weddings ending into divorce are first marriages. In other words, a husband taking a second, third or even fourth wife has never been the cause for a wedlock to end.
With women having increasing access to education and employment, the number of married Qatari females asking for divorce (‘khula’ in Arabic) has been on the rise. The share of such divorces in the total is on an average between 16 and 23 percent.
The studies note that financial independence of educated women has much to do with the rise in the phenomenon.
And as for male citizens marrying young divorcees and widows, the number of such marital knots had increased to nearly 300 in 2007 as compared to barely 29 in 1986.
Among the Arab countries, Egypt and Syria have the lowest divorce rates, suggest the studies.
They point to erosion of social values, modern living, fading influence of families, as the major factors behind the rising incidence of divorce in Qatar.
Qatar Sizzles: Record High
I’m not saying my temperature gauge is correct. It’s made by Sharper Image, and the little measuring thing is in the shade on my windowsill. But while the Qatari weather station measured a high of 50°C (122°F), mine shows 62°C (144°F). Two of our air conditioning units stopped functioning yesterday. I cannot begin to imagine what it must be like for those who have to work outdoors. The air conditioning men don’t come until after sunset, because they have to go on the roofs, and they can’t touch anything without getting burned until after the sun goes down.
Qatar sizzles in record high temperature
Web posted at: 8/11/2009 2:38:39
Source ::: THE PENINSULA
The temperature outdoors as recorded by instruments in many cars in Doha yesterday. QASSIM RAHMATULLAH
DOHA: The mercury touched a record high for the season during the past two days in Qatar, with the temperature reaching 48 degrees Celsius on Sunday and yesterday. The thermometers in vehicles posted the temperature still higher, at 50 degrees Celsius.
The country has been experiencing a steady increase in temperature for the past few days. The maximum temperature had been hovering around 45 degrees Celsius for the past couple of weeks before it shot up to 48 degrees on Sunday. The minimum temperature has also gone up substantially, reaching 35 degrees Celsius yesterday.
Labourers working outdoors and families alike complained that the dry and extremely hot weather had been unbearable during the last two days. Doctors have advised people to take precautions against the weather.
The labourers who used to spend their day break in the shade in open areas have been missing from the Corniche these days. Many of them are spending the time inside nearby air-conditioned shopping malls. “The heat wave was so intense that we could not stand it”, an Asian worker said.
Compared to the same period last year, the maximum temperature is high this time. The country recorded a maximum temperature of 40 degrees and 43 degrees Celsius on August 9 and 10, 2008, respectively, against the 48 degrees Celsius recorded this year. The minimum temperature is also higher this year.
The daily weather chart issued by the meteorological department yesterday forecast a maximum temperature of 46 degrees Celsius today. The minimum temperature is expected to be 34 degrees Celsius.
The Met department forecast hot conditions with dust blowing during the daytime today and moderate temperatures at night. North-westerly winds may blow at a speed of 15-20 knots, reaching 25 knots at mid-day and 15-25 knots offshore.
According to some weather portals, the temperature of Qatar’s territorial waters touched a high of 34 degrees Celsius these past days. Last year, when Qatar’s maximum temperature reached 48 degrees Celsius, the temperature of the sea water stood at 37 degrees Celsius.
Experts point out that any increase in the temperature of sea water above 35 degrees Celsius is “abnormal.”
The year 2006 also saw the temperature of Qatar’s territorial waters cross the 35 degrees mark (36.5 degrees Celsius), and massive quantities of fish and invertebrates, including endangered species of turtle, had washed up on Qatar’s shores.
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