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.
Comparing Qatar Stadium to a Vagina is “Ridiculous” Says Zaha Hadid
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.Â
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.Â
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.
Gnrgy Buys Better Place for the Price of an Apartment in Tel Aviv
At a bargain basement price tag of only $450,000 the Israeli startup Gnrgy has bought the assets of the failed electric car company Better Place. Will the third time be the charm? Two other companies have tried to buy Better Place but failed. Gnrgy makes the most sense so far.
Bees Trained to Detect Cancer and TB on Human Breath
It turns out that bees are not only essential to global food production, they also make amazing sniffer “dogs.” Which is how Portuguese designer Susana Soares is able to train Apis mellifera to detect cancer and tuberculosis on human breath.
Arab Restaurant Offers 50% Discount When Cell Phone Is Off
An Arab-owned restaurant in Abu Ghosh, Israel has come up with a brilliant new Slow Food marketing campaign that may get people eating better: restaurant owner Jawdat Ibrahim has promised a whopping 50 percent off your bill if you turn your cell phone off when dining.Â
Ibrahim, 49, owner of the restaurant called Abu Ghosh, tells AP that smartphones have really destroyed the modern way people are eating.  An over the top and generous discount may sway people back to a more serene period of life when people came to his restaurant to eat, not to talk on the phone, text or surf while dining.
He told AP: “I’m changing something. It might be something small, but maybe in some small way I’ll be changing the culture of eating,” said Ibrahim, pictured above with satellite dish full of hummous.
Ibrahim’s restaurant in Abu Ghosh is a pillar of co-existence, drawing both Arabs and Jews to come to dine together in the Arabic village. He is no stranger to publicity. We interviewed him in the recent past when in 2010 he helped Israel earn the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest plate of hummous. The four ton meal was served on a satellite dish. And the record was fleeting.
Some say that Ibrahim is in a good position to be able to offer deep discounts: in the 1980s he won $23 million in an Illinois State lottery in the United States, and used some of the money to start up his successful restaurant which is located about six miles from Jerusalem.
This new stunt to offer discounts to people who turn off the phone should also be applied to people who can finish their meals at the restaurant – a place which serves hearty meals with meat and hummous, salads and the like. It’s a place where eyes are often bigger than the belly and where the staff like to spoil guests.
The Israeli society at large is trying to shake up prices in food items – a trend which started a few summers ago with tent protests around the country. A new chain on the market called Cofix is attempting to upstage Israeli coffee chains by charging about $1.25 for a cappuccino which costs about $3 or $4 at your every day cafe.
Solar Energy Women Wanted East!
Women in the Middle East are being encouraged to take up a career in renewable energy, thanks to a new initiative. The Women in Solar Initiative is aimed at engaging more women into roles within engineering, as significant growth and change takes place within the sector.
Oil-Rich Qatar Takes Eco Expertise to Philadelphia’s Famous Greenbuild
The Qatar Foundation is distinguishing itself as a leader at Greenbuild, the world’s largest gathering of green building pioneers in Philadelphia, where Hilary Clinton will deliver the 2013 keynote address tomorrow.
Obamacare: Amman, Jordan Style
Green Prophets burn lots of calories trying to make the planet a better place, but you can’t do much do-gooding if you’re dead. I’ll share a day in my week as a cautionary tale (and offer a peek into Amman’s excellent, and sometimes culturally surreal, medical system).Â
Better Place Investor Michael Granoff To Write Tell All Book
With almost a billion in financing and electric battery charge and change stations in place nationwide, at its critical hour Israel’s electric car company Better Place failed. It went bankrupt this year. One of its first investors, and biggest backers Michael Granoff will be writing a tell-all book. He speaks with Green Prophet.
Garden of Eden’s Mesopotamian Marshlands in Iraq May Get An Eco Uplift
Middle East architects Raya Ani and Zayad Motlib first told us about their plans for Mesopotamian Marshlands ecosystem and community earlier this year, and now they’re presenting their ideas to the first AIA Middle East conference in Dubai.Â