Today is cleanup day! All food related and personal posts have been moved off to their own blog. Categories have been consolidated and removed as needed.
updated: Jan 18, 2009
life
Vitamin D deficiency
Vitamin D deficiency is a huge problem in GCC countries where women are traditionally covered up when they go out during the daytime. What exacerbates the issue is the heat during the day which makes going out an unpleasant experience to start off with, and a cultural desire to be lighter skinned (considered more beautiful).
In a nutshell, few women get the recommended amounts either through diet or sun exposure. This post highlights some of the dangers of Vit D deficiency. Weak bones, osteoporosis, muscle aches, joint pain, increased risk of cancer are all possible results.
Have yourself checked out by your doctor! Take cod liver oil (or other supplements) and don’t forget to let your skin enjoy the sun several days a week (it does not work through glass or with a very strong sunscreen).
Images of Riyadh: Fast food mania
Junk food is considered the cheap (albeit non-healthy) food that is available for all within the US. In other parts of the world the US prices are converted into the local currency so it tends to be more uppity and is not affordable by all.
Interestingly, almost all fast food chains offer home delivery. Some think it is so women in KSA do not have to leave the house however that does not explain why they also offer it in Singapore. Needless to say, it is a uniquely Asian phenomenon. The picture below is the Hardees delivery car.
Road rage 2
We recently saw a fight on one of the side streets in Riyadh. It was at a small busy intersection in front of a large hospital. The traffic on one side was held up and a crowd had gathered. People were yelling and pushing. We did not see what had caused the altercation but it involved several locals and at least one foreign driver.
Pedestrians were stopping to watch and cars were slowing down. Then a little old lady got annoyed at a car that didn’t stop for her (he was too busy watching the fight) and kicked the car! 
Go Granny!
It reminded me of the little old ladies on buses in Switzerland. If a teenager did not get up to offer them their seat they would give dirty looks, grumble and once in a while shake their umbrellas at the person. Let’s just say they made sure their displeasure was known to the whole bus until the teenager would get up in shame!!
nablopomo
National blog posting month is over! They say it takes 3 weeks of doing something continuously before it becomes a habit. After 30 days of daily posting let’s see if my daily blogging will continue. Of course I will be taking a week off for Hajj when I won’t have email access at all- my excuses are starting already…
Qutb
Saudi Arabia recently removed two books related to Qutb from it’s school libraries. One is written by him, and one is apparently about him. Extremist ideas and deviant ideology is the given reason. IT’S ABOUT TIME SOMEONE PAID ATTENTION!!
Many Muslims consider Qutb’s writings to be the bastion of Islam without care or worry. They encourage young impressionable minds to read certain books without regard to the content and the context. Banning his books (or any book for that matter) is not the solution; however Qutb’s books need to be read with a full understanding of the context and life circumstances of the author (which is true for all authors).
Some works are particularly insidious in today’s world. Written by authors who hate the “West” and broadly stereotype everything and everyone, persecuted in their own countries, these bitter individuals are/were trying to bring about change through the only means they had available, revolution. Their writings embed the seed of revolt and encourage action, even (especially) if violent. In today’s increasingly divided world, with “us vs them” mantras, disenfranchised masses, and easy access to improvised tools of destruction, violence is becoming the first option rather than the last.
Several years ago I spoke at a gathering of 700-800 people about the need to revise Islamic school curriculums in the US. I mentioned that we have to be aware when an author is writing for political objectives, regardless of how familiar we are with his writings. Some authors teach “hate the West” philosophies which are very problematic for our youth because they too are the West! We should not be encouraging self-hate. If we want our youth to learn about social activism we need to point them towards Malcolm X, not Qutb. They need to accept who they are and work towards changing systems- not hate who they are and lash out against the world. Instead of always allocating blame we need to take responsibility for the places where we are deliberately or inadvertently part of the problem.
Not surprisingly I was the most controversial speaker on that panel. The responses and questions fell along a generational divide. Roughly speaking, immigrants forty and older disagreed with my critique of their favorite authors; first generation youth thirty and younger agreed with what I said.
Just don’t get me started on Ibn Tahmiyah 
Arab music videos
While channel surfing through our free line-up (we do not have cable) I discovered Melody Arabia. I have not seen music videos for more than 15 years (not since high school, with the exception of “fix you” by coldplay on youtube 2 years ago). Let me just say it has been a surprise… no a shock is more like it.
I do not know if these videos actually represent Arab culture in 2008. Some have a great beat, some are funny, but the vast majority are just plain odd. There are a few that have shower scenes, except these are the male singers/actors expressing despair while standing fully clothed under a shower, or sometimes showing water trickling down a hairy shoulder. Do grown men really do this? Who is the target audience of these things?
The majority of Arabs I know have dark eyes and dark hair. In fact the stereotypical “exotic eastern beauty” has dark almond -shaped eyes, olive skin and black hair. So why is it that so many of the female singers have light eyes and light (lightened) hair?
Based on these videos, it would also seem that long hair and two-day stubbly chins are en vogue for men. Which raises the question, how do people continuously maintain a 2-day stubble?
Typealyzer
For all the Myers- Brigg fans and critics amongst us, the Typealyzer web-site analyzes the author of a blog based on their writing.
The results for my blog (not at all what Myers- Brigg says I am on regular tests):
The analysis indicates that the author of http://ruhsa.wordpress.com is of the type:
ISTP – The Mechanics
The independent and problem-solving type. They are especially attuned to the demands of the moment are masters of responding to challenges that arise spontaneously. They generally prefer to think things out for themselves and often avoid inter-personal conflicts.
The Mechanics enjoy working together with other independent and highly skilled people and often like seek fun and action both in their work and personal life. They enjoy adventure and risk such as in driving race cars or working as policemen and firefighters.
Analysis
This show what parts of the brain that were dominant during writing.
Sometimes typecasting can be fun
P.S. I ran my old blog (which has my research and more professional writings on it) and this time the results were slightly different
INTP – The Thinkers
The logical and analytical type. They are especially attuned to difficult creative and intellectual challenges and always look for something more complex to dig into. They are great at finding subtle connections between things and imagine far-reaching implications.
They enjoy working with complex things using a lot of concepts and imaginative models of reality. Since they are not very good at seeing and understanding the needs of other people, they might come across as arrogant, impatient and insensitive to people that need some time to understand what they are talking about.
Analysis
This show what parts of the brain that were dominant during writing.
