With no appreciable amounts of oil or natural gas, Jordan, like Syria is a Middle East anomaly when it comes to its fossil fuel rich neighbours like Saudi Arabia and Israel. But new energy is blowing into Jordan.
9 Arab and Jewish Israelis Talk Change at TEDx Hiriya
Some people talk about change and others actually make it. At the TEDx Hiriya event held yesterday at the Recycling Park, nine leading Arab and Jewish Israelis gathered to showcase social change in action.
Gaza’s First Lion Cubs Die Soon After Birth
Last week, the Gaza Strip and its zoo witnessed the unprecedented birth of two African lion cubs at the Beesan Zoo, a facility in the northern part of the densely populated Strip that was built and opened by the Islamist Hamas movement. But just three days later, the cubs died, from unknown causes.
Egypt Recycling Gets $340,000 Boost from Tetra Pak
Tetra Pak sold roughly 1.625 billion packages in Egypt in 2011, of which only 20 percent were recycled. That’s a lot of untreated waste, but now the company has pledged $340,000 to boost the country’s recycling capacity. They want to make their business more sustainable.
Hundreds of Xerox Paper Strips Make Extraordinary Recycled Curtains
Israelis are well known for being industrious – especially when it comes to turning innocuous every day materials such as tomato cans, or in Naama Arad’s case, paper into beautiful works of art.
Healthy Herbed Zucchini Fritters For Hanukkah: RECIPE
It’s that frying time of the year again.
Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights which lasts for eight days. The holiday commemorates the victory of the Jewish people against Antiochus IV Epiphanes in 165 B.C, and the restoration of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, which had been ransacked and desecrated.
The light in the Temple, which was to burn through every night, had been put out. The sealed vessels of consecrated olive oil for the light had been opened and defiled. But one unbroken vessel of pure olive oil, enough to burn for only one day, was discovered among the wreckage. It miraculously burned for eight days, until a new supply of oil was pressed.
So the tradition of eating fried foods on Hanukkah began, which Jews all over the world gladly observe. Traditional savory pancakes like potato latkehs are a familiar treat. Sweet sufganiyot donuts appear in all the markets and bakeries. But we overlook the significance of the fried goodies. It’s really all about the olive oil. So we offer this healthy, herby, version of zucchini fritters, from the wonderful Delights From The Garden of Eden cookbook, by Nawal Nasrallah (author of Dates).
And while the author’s intention wasn’t to celebrate Hanukkah, there is another traditional Hanukkah food in this recipe: cheese.
Cairo Sustainably Manages Garbage with Unionized Pigs and Ragpickers
Efforts to find solutions to Cairo Egypt’s mounting garbage problems have ranged from allowing hundreds of thousands of pigs to eat the city’s organic wastes’ to using rag pickers to sort through the mountains of garbage that have accumulated.
Israel’s Iconic Sabra Cactus Endangered by Invading Aphids
Israel, being on the “land bridge” that links it with Africa and Asia Minor, has always been well known for a number of biblical fruits. These include: the multi-seed pomegranates, grapes from which superb wines are now made; and of course several varieties of dates and olives. Another iconic fruit, although not native, comes from the genus opuntia and is known as the prickly pear or “Sabra” cactus.
Comparing Qatar Stadium to a Vagina is “Ridiculous” Says Zaha Hadid
I never thought that I would agree with Zaha Hadid, the Iraqi starchitect who has failed time and again to support the green building movement. But her dismissal of claims that the Al-Wakrah stadium looks like a vagina has my support.
Afghanistan’s Skateistan Skater School for Girls Not Allowed to Ride Bikes (video)
The Skateistan skateboarding school first established in Kabul shelters girls and street kids from Afghanistan’s harsh realities. Since then, it has been so successful, the non-profit NGO has established two more locations.
Many do-gooders go to countries like Afghanistan, where culture prohibits girls from certain activities common in the west, in an effort to save them, but Australian skater Oliver Percovich took his mission one step further by consulting with the local community and government to establish a facility that fits in with the prevailing cultural ethos.
Although girls are not permitted to ride bicycles in Afghanistan (like Saudi), skateboarding is considered a perfectly modest activity.
So when Percovich first showed up on the streets of Kabul with three skateboards and found himself surrounded by happy faces eager to learn what to do with them, he faced few obstacles upon opening a skateboarding school.
“I always like to go high on the ramps,” said Hanifa, a 14 year old Afghan skater. “When I’m up there I feel free, like I’m flying. I like that feeling a lot.”
In fact, the Afghan National Olympic Committee donated the 5,428 square meters of land on which the first school was built, though certain cultural exigencies have to be observed, such as keeping girls and boys classes separate, and girls have to be instructed by females only.
In addition to teaching skateboarding, the facility offers educational classes, including environmental science, so that children between the ages of 5 and 18 are developing their minds along with their confidence and physical dexterity.
It is the first international development initiative to combine skateboarding with educational outcomes, according to its website.
Several years down the road, Skateistan has uplifted hundreds of children. Roughly 40 percent of them are girls, and 50 percent of them are either street kids or refugees. And after experiencing such great success in Kabul, they opened two more branches – first in Cambodia and most recently in Mazar-e Sharif, Afghanistan’s fourth largest city.
They have also established a grassroots street-level program in Pakistan.
“The students themselves decide what they want to learn – we connect them with a safe space and opportunities for them to develop the skills that they consider important,” according to Skateistan.
Since many of the children live in dangerous areas, the school even provides transport to ensure they are able to attend classes safely. Even so, a few children were once killed in a bombing attack, underscoring the devastating context in which this beautiful program uplifts our precious youth.
:: Skateistan
Surprising Reason Big Butts Are Healthy
Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates have all ranked among the world’s top 10 fattest nations with ballooning obesity rates and an explosion of associated diseases.
But there’s an upside to oversize:scientists from Britain’s University of Oxford have discovered that – no buts about it! – women with larger than average backsides are increasingly resistant to chronic illness.
Now data gleaned from 16,000 women found that those with daunting derrieres tend to have lower cholesterol levels and are more likely to produce sugar-metabolizing hormones, lessening the likelihood that they’ll develop diabetes or heart disease.
Maintaining a rump of Kardashian proportions also requires an excess of Omega 3 fats, proven to catalyze brain development. Researchers discovered that this “smart-ass” phenomenon extends to the offspring of wide-hipped women, the kids tested as intellectually superior to the children of skinny-boned moms. (Save Beyonce’s Blue Ivy a seat at the front of the class. Heavy money that J-Lo’s twins will be Nobel Laureates. )
Turns out that junk in your trunk comes with higher levels of leptin, a hormone that regulates weight, and dinopectina, a hormone with anti-inflammatory, vascular-protective and anti-diabetic attributes. In addition, the butt’s adipose tissue helps trap harmful fat particles, further preventing cardiovascular disease.
Similar studies conducted by universities in California and Pittsburgh that discovered that women with bigger butts, wide hips and smaller waists may even live longer.
The world’s adult population is getting increasingly fatter, with scientists warning that rising numbers of obese people will stress world resources as much as another billion people would, causing a major threat to global food security.
According to a research report published by BMC Public Health, “Increasing biomass will have important implications for global resource requirements, including food demand, and the overall ecological footprint of our species.”
Putting a leash on population fatness will be critical to ecological sustainability and food security.
Seek the balance in these contradictory facts and strive for Rubenesque curviness, not corpulence.
Jordan’s Queen Alia International Airport Upcycled by Anees Maani, Artfully
Amman’s old Queen Alia International Airport (QAIA) terminal will live on in a new artwork commissioned by airport operator Airport International Group (AIG). The permanent installation near the majestic new passenger terminal will be a symbolic nod to the proud history of Amman’s premier aeronautical gateway.
Saudi Arrested for Offering “Free Hugs” (video)
With a plan to take to the streets with cuddles, the police decided it was better to arrest a Saudi man and his friend before their “plot” to give out free hugs began.
Japan’s Sou Fujimoto Re-Imagines Doha with Modular Stacked Arches
Qatar is undergoing a massive change, and many of the world’s top architects are hoping to become a part of the action. Zaha Hadid and AECOM have weighed in with the Al-Wakrah stadium, and now Sou Fujimoto has re-imagined Doha with a series of modular stacked arches.
Polio in Syria, Israel and Egypt Puts Middle East on Edge
Polio,or Poliomyelitis has not been a serious medical issue ever since the first wide scale vaccines were developed by Dr. Jonas Salk in the early 1950s. Within the past few years, however, the often debilitating virus has began to return to epidemic proportions in many parts of the world. This includes the Middle East.