Situated between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea and inhabited since prehistoric times, the rock-cut capital city of the Nabateans, became during Hellenistic and Roman times a major caravan centre for the incense of Arabia, the silks of China and the spices of India, a crossroads between Arabia, Egypt and Syria-Phoenicia.  Petra is half-built, half-carved into the rock, and is surrounded by mountains riddled with passages and gorges.  An ingenious water management system allowed extensive settlement of an essentially arid area during the Nabataean, Roman and Byzantine periods.  It is one of the world's richest and largest archaeological sites set in a dominating red sandstone landscape.  The Outstanding Universal Value of Petra resides in the vast extent of elaborate tomb and temple architecture; religious high places; the remnant channels, tunnels and diversion dams that combined with a vast network of cisterns and reservoirs which controlled and conserved seasonal rains, and the extensive archaeological remains including of copper mining, temples, churches and other public buildings.  The fusion of Hellenistic architectural facades with traditional Nabataean rock-cut temple/tombs including the Khasneh, the Urn Tomb, the Palace Tomb, the Corinthian Tomb and the Deir ("monastery") represents a unique artistic achievement and an outstanding architectural ensemble of the first centuries BC to AD.  All the main freestanding and rock-cut monuments and extensive archaeological remains within the arid landscape of red sandstone cliffs and gorges lie within the boundaries of the property that coincide with the boundaries of the Petra National Park.  The monuments are subject to ongoing erosion due to wind and rain, exacerbated in the past by windblown sand due to grazing animals reducing ground cover.  They are also vulnerable to flash flooding along Wadi Musa through the winding gorge (Siq) if the Nabataean diversion system is not continually monitored, repaired and maintained.  The property is under pressure from tourism, which has increased greatly since the time of inscription, particularly congestion points such as the Siq which is the main entrance to the city from the east.  The property is also vulnerable to the infrastructure needs of local communities and tourists.  https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/326/   

Petra is a historic and archaeological city in southern Jordan.  Famous for its rock-cut architecture and water conduit system, Petra is also called the "Rose City" because of the colour of the sandstone from which it is carved; it was famously called "a rose-red city half as old as time" in a poem of 1845 by John Burgon.  It is adjacent to the mountain of Jabal Al-Madbah, in a basin surrounded by mountains forming the eastern flank of the Arabah valley running from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba.  The area around Petra has been inhabited from as early as 7000 BC, and the Nabataeans might have settled in what would become the capital city of their kingdom as early as the 4th century BC.  Archaeological work has only discovered evidence of Nabataean presence dating back to the second century BC, by which time Petra had become their capital.  The Nabataeans were nomadic Arabs who invested in Petra's proximity to the incense trade routes by establishing it as a major regional trading hub.  See graphics at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petra   

Gung ho is an English term, with the current meaning of 'overly enthusiastic or energetic'.  It originated during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) from a Chinese term, 工合 (pinyin: gōnghé; lit. 'to work together'), short for Chinese Industrial Cooperatives.  The linguist Albert Moe concluded that the term is an "Americanism that is derived from the Chinese, but its several accepted American meanings have no resemblance whatsoever to the recognized meaning in the original language", and that its "various linguistic uses, as they have developed in the United States, have been peculiar to American speech".  In Chinese, concludes Moe, "this is neither a slogan nor a battle cry; it is only a name for an organization".  The term was picked up by United States Marine Corps Major Evans Carlson from his New Zealand friend, Rewi Alley, one of the founders of the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives.  Carlson explained in a 1943 interview:  "I was trying to build up the same sort of working spirit I had seen in China where all the soldiers dedicated themselves to one idea and worked together to put that idea over.  I told the boys about it again and again.  I told them of the motto of the Chinese Cooperatives, Gung Ho.  It means Work Together—Work in Harmony."  Carlson used gung ho as a motto during his unconventional command of the 2nd Marine Raider Battalion, leading to other marines adopting the term to mean overly enthusiastic.  From there, it spread throughout the U.S. Marine Corps, where it was used as an expression of spirit, and then into American society as a whole when the term was the title of a 1943 war film, Gung Ho!, about the 2nd Raider Battalion's raid on Makin Island in 1942.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gung_ho     

Noodle kugel, also simply called kugel, is a baked casserole of egg noodles and a custardy sauce, usually made with a combo of cottage cheese, sour cream, and eggs.  It is sweet rather than savory, with sugar added to the creamy base and dried fruit (like apricots, figs, and raisins) sometimes studded throughout.  As it bakes, the sauce becomes fluffy thanks to the eggs, and the noodles at the edges get crisp and golden brown (just like the corner pieces of a lasagna).  A crunchy topping is also often added to the casserole before baking.  This kugel recipe uses a topping that’s less traditional than the familiar corn flakes and has won raves from new and traditionalist fans alike.  Recipe by Ann  https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/25228/kugel/ 

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 2771  January 17, 2024