A banner for Ramadan

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I came just at the right moment today to witness four Jewish students putting up a banner that says in Arabic 
HAVE A GENEROUS RAMADAN, ACCEPTABLE FASTING, AND A DELICIOUS IFTAR
And the Hebrew parts says
tsom kal -- HAVE AN EASY FAST.  RAMADAN KAREEM

At the Student Union building, Beit HaStudent, at Beer Sheva's Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. 

The month of Ramadan begins today.
Unfortunately for the Muslims this whole next week Israel will be suffering a heat wave.  
Imagine not being able to drink anything from sunrise to sunset when it is is 41 degrees C.  
Kol hakavod, respect, to those who fast. 
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(Linking to Weekend Reflections and signs, signs.)
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On a SPACE high!

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Don't you love the banner for Israel Space Week with the astronaut taking a selfie while making a spacewalk?!
That's the Physics Building in back, and that's where I went for the second part of the Annual Event to Honor Col. Ilan Ramon and the STS-107 Crew and Assaf Ramon.
(Please see my earlier post about the first part of the special day.)

On the top floor is the Ilan Ramon Youth Physics Center.

NASA astronaut Dr. Michael Barratt, who had spoken earlier in the day to hundreds of high school kids, now gave a talk to a younger audience, this time with an English-to-Hebrew interpreter at his side.
Just a few of the fascinating things he shared:

• Aboard the International Space Station for long months, they have to exercise 2.5 hours every day to partially overcome the bone and muscle loss that come with weightlessness
• Exercise time is like a "sacred time," when no one will bother you, and you can watch the news or listen to music while exercising. 
• What the astronauts love most is to look out the window.  And take pictures!
• They are 400 km above earth and make one orbit every 90 minutes. 
• They all have to know Russian.
• In the last 60 years 600 people have gone into space. 
• Not many people know, but NASA is about to start suborbital adventure tourism flights on a large scale. 
• From 18,000 applicants to the new astronaut class, only 12 were accepted.

I knew I just HAD TO get a picture with this brave man, mainly for my daughter, Dr. Naomi.
I used my minute with Dr. Barratt to tell him that she also loves all things space and once worked for NASA in California and then went on to teach astronautical engineering at UNSW in Australia.
It  was so exciting and inspiring to shake his hand and stand near him!
Astronauts are awesome!

Then the audience broke up into smaller groups, some to the planetarium, some to creative activities, and me to another lecture.
The young university lecturer opened with a slide of Sputnik, the first satellite.
It launched before he was even born; but I remember the day, Oct. 4, 1957 very well: Our grammar school principal (in Chicago) walked into our homeroom and whispered the news to our teacher, Miss Paskind.  Then with a very grave face the two informed my class that the Russians had beat us to it, and from now on we kids would have to take more science and math courses and to work very hard to be the best!
It was scary for us preteens to hear.  That was during the Cold War mind you, when we American kids still had frequent air raid drills, siren and all.

So in just 60 years we have progressed to the fascinating slide which shows the releasing of dozens and dozens of nano satellites taken up to space with just one rocket.

Next-generation astronauts (maybe) got to see space stuff inside the special glasses.

It was my first time.  haha

Up to the roof just in time to see the blue moon rise over Beer Sheva.
You can see the beautiful new white double helix bridge too!

To the west the sky was still too light.

But soon it was dark enough to enter the observatory, open the hatch, and focus the big telescope on a distant star.
The whole upper dome rotated with a loud creaking noise and the telescope turned with a whir.
Luckily the expert setting it up for our viewing warned the kids in advance.

But even more awesome than seeing the star was gazing at the craters of the blood moon through these two powerful telescopes!

They were set up on the ground near the university's entrance.
Look at the low-tech plastic crate for short kids to stand on to reach the eyepiece!
The young organizers of this big day had thought of everything.  Good on 'em!

Ilan Ramon and his jet pilot son Assaf, both of blessed memory, hopefully were looking down and enjoying this wonderful, moving, inspiring day in their honor.
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(Linking to Our World Tuesday.)
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Meeting a brave astronaut!

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A real NASA astronaut!! 
I was so excited to get to shake hands and to exchange a few words with him!

It is Israel Space Week, and yesterday at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev was the Annual Event Honoring Col. Ilan Ramon and the STS-107 Crew and Assaf Ramon. 
February 1, 2003 was the dreadful day when the Columbia space shuttle broke up while approaching landing in Texas, and Israel's first astronaut, Ilan Ramon, perished along with his crewmates. 
Six years later the Ramons' son Assaf was killed in a training mission as a pilot in the Israel Air Force. 
Ilan grew up in Be'er Sheva so they have an extra special place in our hearts down here in the south. 

The event began with four astronauts (seen on the screen) greeting us from space--from the International Space Station! 

The round Senate Hall was packed with classes of high school students and several rows of adults.  
Several Israelis speakers gave talks in Hebrew, and then an American lectured in English.
Seen at the podium is Dr. Jacob Cohen, Chief Scientist, NASA Ames Research Center in California. 
He pointed out that anyone 17 years old or younger has grown up while there is a continual human presence in space, i.e. there have been one or more astronauts up in space at all times ever since these kids were born. 

The excitement level rose even higher when the American astronaut arrived and began talking to us and showing exciting movies of launches and landings. 
Dr. Michael Barratt is a medical doctor, a pilot, diver, father of five, speaks Russian, and who knows what else! 
But he spoke in a friendly and humble way and inspired us all. 
On the screen is his Space Shuttle Discovery when they landed after six months in space.
But before that, in 2009, Dr. Barratt went up inside a small Soyuz capsule and docked with the ISS International Space Station, staying there for 199 days; that mission launched from Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan. 

After the fascinating talk, to which the kids paid rapt attention, Dr. Barrett stood with each class for photos. 
But still, at the end everyone swarmed him in the center, hoping for a selfie with a real astronaut. 

Finally the University officials whisked Dr. Barratt away, because even astronauts have to eat lunch!  

At 4:00 space-related activities continued on campus and I had great fun! 
But since this post is getting long, let's leave that for the next post.  
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Cool campus cats

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Cats are EVERYWHERE on the campus of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. 
Even indoors, it now appears! 
This one was feeling right at home inside the Student Administration Building. 

When she saw me sit down near her, the kitty perked up, assessing me: would I be a good source of food and cuddles? 
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(Linking to Camera-Critters.)
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Sculptures at sunset

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Art in between two Brutalist buildings at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev!

The light of the setting sun (see it in the tree?) silhouetted them nicely.

The BGU booklet Beyond the Classroom about the sculptures on campus offers this:

Three Fanfare Trumpeters and a Climber
Ofra Zimbalista
2014, cast aluminum, life-size figures
Three musicians scale the side of a building, representing a group  going in a single chosen direction.   On a nearby building, the W.A. Minkoff Senate Hall, an individual chooses to climb a new, previously unexplored peak. 

Click the photos if you'd like to see them bigger.
There are three other posts in the blog with more sculptures by the same Ofra Zimbalista z"l.
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(Linking to Our World Tuesday.  And T is for Trumpeters for ABC Wednesday.)

UPDATE March 2021: Campus sculptures explained in a short video from the university:
https://youtu.be/pSvG64edFws
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Dressing up old photographs

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With sequins and threads, artist Ayelet Rosenberg has found a novel way to embellish old photos! 

Her "Mybroidery" exhibit can be found in the Senate Building gallery at Ben-Gurion University in Beer Sheva.

You can enlarge the photos to see the details.
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The halls of ivy (in Beer Sheva)

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The entire campus of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev is made up of Brutalist buildings.
But just here, in Building 72 (in which the Archaeology department is located!), some ivy has creeped in and up to give a softening effect.
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A SWISS institute for DRYLAND research??

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 If you liked the architecture of the building in my previous post, you will love today's.
It too is on Sde Boker campus of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

The Swiss Institute for Dryland Environmental and Energy Research was dedicated in May 2013.

At the ceremony  Prof. Daniel Guggenheim, President of the Bona Terra Foundation, said 

There is a parallel between Switzerland and Israel. Both had to face difficult land conditions. Both made a success of these existential conditions. Let us hope that other countries will be able to overcome their challenges through the Swiss Institute.

 

You can see a short video about it.

SIDEER's webpages are here.

Or you can read a pdf brochure about the exciting research going on there.
Wish them luck for good discoveries!
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(Linking to Our World Tuesday and  Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors.)
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Drylands, Deserts & Desertification conference today

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Today I got to go to the last day of the 5th International DDD Conference -- Drylands, Deserts & Desertification.
This year's theme was Healthy Lands  Healthy People.

You can see the many interesting topics that were covered in the brochure.

The venue was the beautiful Sde Boker campus of Ben Gurion University of the Negev.
Right after the closing session, foreign attendees went straight to free buses to Ben Gurion Airport or to Jerusalem.
I took this one northward to Beer Sheva.

But first everyone grabbed one of the delightfully crumpled paper bags filled with a sandwich, citrus fruit, and water.
"Sandwiches on the go"  it was called.
Indeed, the bus soon smelled of tuna and clementines.
It was a good day and a warm day, 27 degrees C.
I learned a lot about the great projects going on in Israel and in the dry parts of the planet.
Idealist people with vision trying to improve the earth and the world. 
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UPDATE: The Franciscans just put up a little video report on the conference.
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(Linking to signs, signs and to  Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors.)
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The Med is too hot

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In Beer Sheva,  where there is so much Brutalist architecture,  the summer temperatures are brutal.
I can't remember one day that has not been in the 30s C  for months and months.
If this Ben-Gurion University of the Negev's rounded building did not have those external shade things,  the students inside would bake from the sun streaming in.

(The building on the right is the university library we talked about earlier.)

Even the humidity here in the desert is abnormally high these days, like this weekend's 45%.
Usually it is 15% to 30%.
The weatherman explained that the Mediterranean water along Israel's shore is still very hot, 30 degrees C,  and is causing this humidity.  (Can such a thing can cause high humidity, really?  Not so sure; never heard that before.)
My town, Meitar, is a little over 50 km from the sea.
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UPDATE Saturday night:  Forecast is for only 29 F  tomorrow in Beer Sheva!   Yes!!  The psychological barrier of 30+ is broken!
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(Linking to SkyWatch Friday.)
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Béton brut --> Brutalism at Ben-Gurion University

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For better or for worse,  Beer Sheva is called our capital of Brutalism.*
And the city's Ben-Gurion University is full of Brutalist architecture. 
BGU's main library, for instance, whose cornerstone was laid in 1971.

 From the Aranne Library website:

In designing the library building, the architects wanted to bring several ideas to life:
The building was planned to be washed in natural light – present in abundance in the Negev - which,  diffused from the North (to eliminate the direct rays of the sun),  floods the library's reading areas. . . .
The combination of concrete, dark in appearance and representing durability in desert conditions,  and gleaming cupolas made of glass mosaic, expresses the blending of material with light.

Here is the back of the library. 

* From Wikipedia:

The English architects Alison and Peter Smithson coined the term in 1953, from the French béton brut, or "raw concrete", a phrase used by Le Corbusier to describe the poured board-marked concrete with which he constructed many of his post-World War II buildings.
. . .
Brutalist architecture is a style of architecture that flourished from the 1950s to the mid-1970s, spawned from the modernist architectural movement. Examples are typically very linear, fortresslike and blockish, often with a predominance of concrete construction. Initially the style came about for government buildings, low-rent housing and shopping centres to create functional structures at a low cost, but eventually designers adopted the look for other uses such as college buildings.

UPDATE: Here is a nice new article about the beauty of Brutalism.
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(Linking to ABC Wednesday, Whimsical Windows, Delirious Doors, and Our World Tuesday.)
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