A story from the Friday the 13th 2023 Khaleej Times, a Dubai on line newspaper of little merit., reported that Dubai was building a mosque. It will not rival the Grand Mosque, located in Abu Dhabi, because it will be build of paper and will be built by a robot. What you say? How ridiculous? Whose idea might that be? Fortunately the Khaleej Times tells us.
But first, let us digress for a moment and discuss Friday the 13th. Friday the 13th is considered an unlucky day in Western superstition. It occurs when the 13th day of the month in the Gregorian calendar calls on a Friday, which happens at least once very year but can occur up to three times in the same year. Wikipedia tells us there are Christian associations.” The superstition seems to relate to various things, like the story of Jesus‘ last supper and crucifixion in which there were 13 individuals present in the Upper Room on the 13th of Nisan Maundy Thursday, the night before his death on Good Friday.
But back to the Khaleej Times. Now the identity of the man who had the strange idea that building a mosque of paper by a robot would be just “fine and dandy.”
Fine and dandy is informal, used to express agreement or approval. Where did the expression come from? “Dandy first made its appearance on the Scottish border and in the 1780’s became current in British slang. Its origin (most probably, dialectal) remains a mystery—a common thing with such words. Etymologists have grudgingly resigned themselves to the idea that dandy goes back to the pet name of Andrew.”Another way to say it: If thing’s are fine and dandy, then everything is going well.” I do love that it is Scottish in origin, near the border which is where Dryburgh Abbey is located. Dryburgh (my birth name) Abbey is the where Sir Walter Scott is buried, who said: “What a wicked web we weave when we practice to deceive.”
“Oh what a tangled web we weave/When first we practice to deceive’ means that when you lie or act dishonestly you are initiating problems and a domino structure of complications which eventually run out of control.”
So the originators of this idea thinks that everything going well ad it appears that the originator has the support of others.
To you the mystery has not as yet been revealed. I am keeping you waiting, on pins and needles. Pins and needles is in a state of anxiety or tense expectation. It is actually an American Idiomto be nervously waiting to find out what is going to happen..
You may get bored with all of this. I love this expression: You need to quit while you are ahead. It is, of course, an idiom. Don’t try to improve on something that is already accomplished. This idiom also implies that further action runs the risk of spoiling something. Also see leave well enough alone. Another way to put it: “To cease, end, or give up (doing) something in which one has found some amount of success, especially so as not to risk spoiling or reversing that success.” The exploration of this idiom shall have a comic ending. “As for the saying attributed to Schwarzenegger, comic George Carlin once commented, “If quitters never win and winners never quit, what fool came up with, ‘Quit while you’re ahead’?” Let’s call it quits on this item.”
The answer shall finally, and is about to, be revealed. Drum roll please. A drum roll is often used to show that someone important is arriving, or to introduce someone. It is used when you waitbefore telling people something that you think they will really wantto know.
However, at this point in time, you gentle readers could probably care less.When you say that you couldn’t care less about something, it means that you are not at all concerned about it; it doesn’t matter to you.
Here we go again!! That is said to indicate that the same events, typically undesirable ones, are recurring. It is said when something bad starts happening again. Something familiar, and often unpleasant or unwelcome, is happening again. The phrase usually emphasizes the speaker’s frustration or annoyance that this is the case.
The Khaleej Times reported: “Dubai will be constructing the world’s first 3D-printed mosque. The project, undertaken with the vision and directives of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, is scheduled to be completed in 2025.”
So the man supplying the vision and directives, the Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and the Ruler of Dubai. The man is at the very top, (well almost) of the United Arab Emeritus.
The Khaleej Times supplies more details: “The mosque will have a floor area of 2,000 square metres and will accommodate 600 worshippers. The construction of the mosque will begin in October this year.In the upcoming year, three workers will operate the robotic printer. The printer has the capacity to print two square meters of construction every hour with raw materials and a distinctive concrete mix. The Department of Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities (IACAD) will construct the structure using 3D printing technology in four months.”
This is sheer madness! It can accommodate 600 worshippers. That is nothing, nothing at all. Have you ever been to Mecca, Ruler of Dubai? Have you ever performed a Haji as required by the Islamic faith? Millions of Muslims gather at the Holy Place of Mecca to worship. I being one of them, and the awe experienced is recorded in a very amateur Instagram reel (I am Alexis McTwit on Instagram).
What is the problem with this 3-D printed mosque? I fear readers you now have homework. Go to my January 7, 2023 blog. I am now quoting myself: “To make an extremely long story short (for those of you with short attention spans) people have been trying to compete with Mecca and the wonder of the House that Abraham built for centuries, and centuries and more even centuries. Other countries are become unseeingly jealous and want those pilgrims, with their dollars and their gifts. But Mecca has won, hands down – they continue to win says this woman who has just returned from the wonders of Mecca….Do have to admit that, in my pre Islamic years , I did feel sorry for Saudi Arabia thinking that their major industry was Mecca and how could a country make any money from that? But by going to Saudi Arabia learned that it spends vast amounts of its oil revenue making sure that the pilgrims (and their own inhabitants) can worship in comfort and safety in Mecca. Not only in Mecca but also in Medina and other places where the Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him) walked and talked and bathed and knelt,. Perhaps, even upon places where he thought about waling and talking and bathing and kneeling. Saudi Arabia does not face stern competition from any of those other Middle East countries. Not Dubai with its lax standards, its ridiculous attractions like skiing (and perhaps dog sledding). Not Abu Dhabi with its Grand Mosque which had (at one point in time) turned itself into a Disneyland with a vast supply of shops and shopping underneath it. Not even Qatar with its World Cup and several prestigious museums. None are going to compare and to attract tourists in the vast numbers that come to the magical cities of Mecca and Medina. That Is the history that competitive Middle East Rulers should be reading and heeding.”
The January 7 blog continues informing everyone of history, the Year of the Elephant.
But there is another competing reason. There is a new addition to this blog, in the heading section. It is called Palestine. Do read it, comments about the unlikelihood of appearing on this blog will be discussed. But King Saud was asked a final question in 1943.
“What does your Highness think of Arab unity?
There are no differences between the Arabs and I believe, with Allied aid, they will be united after the war.”
There will never be Arab Unity unless this ridiculous competition between them ends. What makes this SO unlikely is that an old woman born in Saskatchewan, Canada; now living in Alberta, Canada should be speaking to Arab Royalty in this manner.
Read King Saud’s wise words about Palestine, which were never heeded and forgotten (or suppressed) until now. I shall discuss this in a later blog.
It is Saturday morning and the Dollorama Store is calling. That, come to think of it, is the proper vacation for an old lady born in Saskatchewan.
The photograph is of the omelet made for breakfast. All this and I can cook too. I did not have to share it with anyone. Being single and financially independent does have its advantages.
