10 Most Unique Lakes of our World

1. Plitvice Lakes (Croatia): Sixteen Lakes interconnected by Spectacular Waterfalls

The Plitvice Lakes are a series of sixteen lakes interconnected by spectacular waterfalls, set in a deep woodland and populated by deers, bears, wolves, boars and rare bird species. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, the lakes are renowned for their distinctive colours, ranging from azure to green, grey or blue. The colours change constantly depending on the quantity of minerals or organisms in the water and the angle of sunlight.

2. Boiling Lake (Dominica): A Flooded Fumarole

The Boiling Lake is situated in the Morne Trois Pitons National Park, Dominica’s World Heritage site. It is a flooded fumarole, or hole in the earth’s surface, 10.5 km east of Roseau, Dominica, on the Caribbean. It is filled with bubbling greyish-blue water that is usually enveloped in a cloud of vapor. The lake is approximately 60 m across.

3. Red Lagoon (Bolivia): Red (algae) + White (borax)

The Laguna Colorada (Red Lagoon) is a shallow salt lake in the southwest of the altiplano of Bolivia, close to the border with Chile. The lake contains borax islands, whose white color contrasts nicely with the reddish color of its waters, caused by red sediments and pigmentation of some algae.

4. Five-Flower Lake (China): Beautiful Multi-Coloured Lake with Fallen Tree Trunks

The Wuhua Hai, or Five-Flower Lake, is the signature of the Jiuzhaigon National Park in China. The lake is a shallow multi-coloured lake whose bottom is littered with fallen tree trunks. The water is so clear that you can see the trunks clearly. The water comes in different shares of turquoise, from yellowish to green, to blue. It is located at an elevation of 2472 meters, below Panda Lake and above the Pearl Shoal Waterfall.

5. Dead Sea (Israel and Jordan): Lowest Point on Earth

The Dead Sea is a salt lake situated between Israel and the West bank to the west, and Jordan to the east. It is 420 meters (1,378 ft) below sea level and its shores are the lowest point on the surface of the Earth on dry land. The Dead Sea is 330 m (1,083 ft) deep, the deepest hypersaline lake in the world. It is also the world’s second saltiest body of water, after Lake Assal in Djibouti, with 30 percent salinity. It is 8.6 times saltier than the ocean. This salinity makes for a harsh environment where animals cannot flourish and boats cannot sail. The Dead Sea is 67 kilometers (42 mi) long and 18 kilometers (11 mi) wide at its widest point. It lies in the Jordan Rift Valley, and its main tributary is the Jordan River.

The Dead Sea has attracted visitors from around the Mediterranean basin for thousands of years. Biblically, it was a place of refuge for King David. It was one of the world’s first health resorts (for Herod the Great), and it has been the supplier of a wide variety of products, from balms for Egyptian mummification to potash for fertilizers.

6. Lake Baikal (Russia): Deepest and Oldest Lake in the World

Lake Baikal is located in Southern Siberia in Russia, and it’s also known as the “Blue Eye of Siberia”. It contains more water than all the North American Great Lakes combined. At 1,637 meters (5,371 ft), Lake Baikal is the deepest lake in the world, and the largest freshwater lake in the world by volume, holding approximately twenty percent of the world’s total fresh water. However, Lake Baikal contains less than one third the amount of water as the Caspian Sea which is the largest lake in the world. Lake Baikal was formed in an ancient rift valley and therefore is long and crescent-shaped with a surface area (31,500 km²) slightly less than that of Lake Superior or Lake Victoria. Baikal is home to more than 1,700 species of plants and animals, two thirds of which can be found nowhere else in the world and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996. At more than 25 million years old, it is the oldest lake in the world.

7. Lake Titicaca (Bolivia and Peru): World’s Highest Navigable Lake

Lake Titicaca is a lake located on the border of Bolivia and Peru. It sits 3,812 m (12,500 ft) above sea level making it the highest commercially navigable lake in the world. By volume of water it is also the largest lake in South America. Lake Titicaca is fed by rainfall and meltwater from glaciers on the sierras that abut the Altiplano.

8. Caspian Sea (Russia): World’s Largest Lake

The Caspian Sea is the world’s largest lake or largest inland body of water in the world, and accounts for 40 to 44 percent of the total lacustrine waters of the world. With a surface area of 394,299 km² (152,240 mi²), it has a surface area greater than the next six largest lakes combined.

9. Crater Lake (USA): its waters are considered one of the World’s Most Clearest

Crater Lake is a caldera lake located in Oregon; due to several unique factors, most prominently that it has no inlets or tributaries, the waters of Crater Lake are considered one of the world’s most clearest. The lake partly fills a nearly 4,000 foot (1,220 m) deep caldera that was formed around 5,677 (± 150) BC by the collapse of the volcano Mount Mazama. Its deepest point has been measured at 1,949 feet (594 m) deep, making it the deepest lake in the United States, and the ninth deepest in the world.

10. Lake Karachay (Russia): Most Polluted Spot on Earth

Lake Karachay is a small lake in the southern Ural mountains in western Russia. Starting in 1951 the Soviet Union used Karachay as a dumping site for radioactive waste from Mayak, the nearby nuclear waste storage and reprocessing facility, located near the town of Ozyorsk. According to a report by the Washington, D.C.-based Worldwatch Institute on nuclear waste, Karachay is the “most polluted spot” on Earth. The lake accumulated some 4.44 exabecquerels (EBq) of radioactivity, including 3.6 EBq of Caesium-137 and 0.74 EBq of Strontium-90. For comparison, the Chernobyl disaster released from 5 to 12 EBq of radioactivity, however this radiation is not concentrated in one location.

I get this article from http://www.oddee.com/

30 Creepiest Vegetables on Earth

Alien Veggies

1. Hellraiser XXVI, The Root of All Evil: Sometimes turnips just go bad.

Image: Jasmin

2. Run for your lives! The killer cucumber is on the loose. Arrragh! *runs away shrieking like a girl.

Image: A Skin For Tomorrow

3. Talk about creepy looking babies. This one resembles something from a Harry Potter film.

Image: dragonflyonthepond

4. These dodgy looking vegetables featured in an advertising campaign for Progress Kids milk, claiming their milk has “a third of your child’s daily nutrition. Because vegetables are scary.” Bet parents had a great time getting their kids to eat their greens after that!

Image: Tommy Morris

Image: Tommy Morris

5. What’s cooler than Alien? Why, veggie Alien, of course. Aren’t these images awesome? OK, while they’re not exactly images of real veggies, they just had to be included for the creep factor. They were created by artist Till Nowak and inspired by the works of HR Giger and Giuseppe Arcimboldo.

Image: Till Nowak

Veggie alien in detail. We think it could do with some acidic drool to make it more realistic.

Image: Till Nowak

6. Alien offspring of a ravished parsnip.

photographer unknown

2. Petrified Pumpkins >

3. Raucous Roots >

7. The ackee fruit, when ripe and opened, looks a bit too much like giant spider’s eyes for our liking. It’s hard to know whether to eat it or hide from it.

Image: No Quarter Given

8. Children of the Corn strikes again.

Image: Sascha Grant

9. Alien carrot spawn.

Image: Susan David63

10. That’s one alien looking spud.

Image: Urbanimp

11. If you’re not careful, that little blighter in the middle will bite your nose off if you get too close. It looks as if it’s ready to attack at any moment.

Image: SeeJaneRunning

12. This creepy heart-shaped potato looks as if it’s been possessed by the bark monster.

Image via: 300 million

Computers help docs spot breast cancer on X-rays

By STEPHANIE NANO Associated Press Writer © 2008 The Associated Press

NEW YORK — A computer is as good as a second pair of eyes for helping a radiologist spot breast cancer on a mammogram, one of the largest and most rigorous tests of computer-aided detection found.

Like spell-checkers looking for mistakes, the computers flag suspicious areas on X-rays for a closer look by a radiologist. Mammograms are used to screen women for early signs of breast cancer but the tests aren’t perfect. In the U.S., the X-rays are read by a single radiologist and cancers are sometimes missed.

Computer-aided detection, or CAD, was developed to help radiologists pick up more cancers. Approved a decade ago, these computer programs are now used for about a third of the nation’s mammograms. But the value and accuracy of the technology has continued to be debated.

Now, British researchers are reporting results from a randomized study of 31,000 women. Mammograms in Britain are routinely checked by two radiologists or technicians, which is thought to be better than a single review. Researchers wanted to know if a single expert aided by a computer could do as well as two pairs of eyes.

They found that computer-aided detection spotted nearly the same number of cancers, 198 out of 227, compared to 199 for the two readers.

In places like the United States, “Where single reading is standard practice, computer-aided detection has the potential to improve cancer-detection rates to the level achieved by double reading,” the researchers said. Their findings were published online Wednesday by the New England Journal of Medicine,

The study was done at three centers in England that do a large number of routine mammograms. Most of the women in the study were assigned to have their mammograms reviewed twice — once by a pair of experts and a second time by a single reviewer aided by a computer.

“What we demonstrated was that one reader using CAD could pick up as many cancers as the two readers could,” said radiologist Fiona J. Gilbert of the University of Aberdeen, lead author of the study.

She said computer-aided detection could be used to expand screening by Britain’s national health service, which now offers the test every three years to women 50 to 70. The cost-effectiveness will have to be determined first, she said.

The new findings are encouraging, said Dr. Carol H. Lee, a radiologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

“In the United States, it’s just not practical in most practices to do double readings by physicians,” said Lee, who is head of the American College of Radiology’s Breast Imaging Commission. “These results are reassuring to me that single reading with CAD can achieve that same sensitivity.”

The U.S. government recommends mammograms every one or two years starting at age 40. Experts said there aren’t enough radiologists to give mammograms two readings, and insurers don’t pay for a second look. Medicare does pay an additional $15 for computer-aided detection.

That extra money helped spur the adoption of the computer checks, said Dr. Ferris M. Hall, a radiologist at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, where computers are used. He expects more places to use them as they switch to digital images from film X-rays, which eliminates a step in the process.

The research was funded by the British government and Cancer Research UK, a charity. Two of the researchers have received fees from the maker of a computer system and served as unpaid consultants to another.

___

On the Net:

New England Journal: http: ejm.org

10 Houses that Defy Gravity

10 Houses that Defy Gravity

by Doctor Inferno Yesterday at 11:50 am

Wozoco Apartments (Amsterdam-Osdorp, Netherlands)

Floating Castle (Ukraine)

Habitat 67 (Montreal, Canada)

Free Spirit Spheres (British Columbia, Canada)

Cube House (Rotterdam, Netherlands)

Gangster’s House (Archangelsk, Russia)

Mushroom House (Cincinnati, Ohio)

Upside-Down House (Syzmbark, Poland)

Pod House (New Rochelle, New York)

Heliotrope Rotating House (Freiburg, Germany)

7 Foods U Should NEVER Eat!

7 Foods U Should NEVER Eat!

By Jaclyn Johnson eDiets.com

Staff Writer

There
will always be those fattening foods that are easy to make, easy to
get, and easy to crave. You think ‘OK, I know this is bad but it can’t
be that bad!’ Think again. Here are the top seven foods you should
never ever feed your family or yourself!

1.Doughnuts

It’s
hard to resist the smell of a Krispy Kreme doughnut, which is why I
never step foot in the store. Doughnuts are fried chock-full of sugar
and white flour and loads of trans fat.

According to the Krispy
Kreme website, an average 3.5 ounce sugar doughnut weighs in with about
400 calories and contains few other nutrients besides fat. These sugary
treats may satisfy your craving but it won’t satisfy your hunger as
most of the calories come from fat.

‘Eating a lot of refined
sugar contributes to blood sugar ’swings’ or extreme fluctuations,’
eDiets Chief Nutritionist Susan Burke said.

2. Cheeseburger with fries

The
age-old classic may be delicious but think twice before sinking your
teeth into that Big Mac. The saturated fat found in cheese burgers has
been linked to heart attacks, strokes and some types of cancer..

‘In
fact, fast-food portions are gargantuan, almost double the calories per
meal compared to 20 years ago,’ Susan says. ‘Twenty years ago the
average fast-food cheeseburger had about 300 calories. Today’s BK
Whopper with cheese has 720. To burn the excess 420 calories, you’d
have to run for 40 minutes. For example, in 1985 a medium French fry
had 240 calories, 2.4 ounces. Today’s ‘medium’ is 6.9 ounces and 610
calories.

‘This fast-food meal of cheeseburger and fries has way
too many calories and fat grams, not to mention grams of saturated fat,
trans fat and cholesterol and sodium.’

Let’s break down this
meal. First, take the white-flour bun (refined carbohydrates), then add
some processed cheese (saturated fat and trans fat, plus lots of
additives and preservatives) and then top off with fried red meat
(cholesterol and saturated fats). And let’s not forget about the
condiments such as the always fattening mayonnaise.

Not sounding
so appetizing anymore, huh? Oh, and let’s not forget about the infamous
side dish. You cheeseburger will most likely come with a side of French
fries, which is sadly the most popular vegetable dish in the U.S. Don’t
kid yourself, French fries are not vegetables, they are extremely high
in fat and contain a tiny amount of nutrients.

3. Fried Chicken and Chicken Nuggets

With
the recent class-action lawsuit between The Center for Science in the
Public Interest (CSPI) and KFC, the health risks posed by fried foods
are becoming more public. The CSPI is suing the food chain for their
use of cooking oil containing unhealthy trans fats. The lawsuit seeks
to order KFC to use other types of cooking oils and to inform customers
how much trans fats KFC’s food contains.

Foods cooked in highly
heated oils (most notably partially hydrogenated oil) have been known
to cause cancer, weight gain and other serious health risks if ingested
regularly. A 10-piece chicken McNugget from McDonald’s has 420
calories, 24 grams of fat and 1120 milligrams of sodium. One Extra
Crispy Chicken Breast from KFC has around 420 calories and eight grams
of saturated fat. So unless you want to super size yourself, it’s best
to make a clean break with fried foods.

4. Oscar Mayer’s Lunchables

Sure
they are convenient and easy, but boy are they unhealthy! These
kid-marketed lunches are loaded with saturated fat and sodium. They
usually contain highly processed meats and cheeses, white flour
crackers and sugary treats. Lunchables get two-thirds of their calories
from fat and sugar. And they provide lopsided nutrition since they
contain no fruits or vegetables.

‘They insidiously promote
obesity by making kids think that lunch normally comes in a
cellophane-wrapped box,’ Susan says. ‘Parents are promoting their
children’s obesity by buying these items. They’re expensive, too. Pack
a sandwich and save dollars and health.’

5. Sugary Cereal

Not
all cereals are created equally. And while your kids might beg for the
latest cookie or marshmallow chocolate surprise cereals, it is a safe
bet they are about as healthy as a dessert. Keywords to look out for
are puffed, dyed and sweetened.

Most kids’ cereals are so highly
processed they no longer look like the grains they were originally made
from. A healthy alternative is oatmeal. Although, if you are buying
pre-packaged oatmeal make sure to check the label and see how much
sugar it contains, you might be surprised.

‘A little sugar isn’t
a problem but when the first ingredient on the box is sugar, then watch
out,’ she said. ‘There is no fruit in Froot Loops. But the unsweetened
original Cheerios or Rice Krispies are fine, and you can sweeten them
naturally with blueberries and strawberries.’

6. Processed Meats.

What
falls under the category of processed meats? Hot dogs, sausage, jerky,
bacon, certain lunch meats and meats used in canned soup products.
Almost all processed meats have sodium nitrite added as a preservative.

A
recent study conducted at the University of Hawaii found that sodium
nitrite can act as ‘a precursor to highly carcinogenic nitrosamines –
potent cancer-causing chem! icals th a t accelerate the formation and
growth of cancer cells throughout the body.’ So eliminate these meats
from your diet before they eliminate you!

7. Canned soup.

Sometimes
regarded as a healthy food, soups can be very deceiving. You must stay
on your guard because many canned soups have high levels of trans fats,
sodium and artificial preservatives such as MSG. Just one serving
(which is roughly one cup) can have almost 1,000 milligrams of salt.
Also, steer clear of soups that are cream-based, they can be high in
calories and fat.

Susan says it is important to ‘read labels
from back to front. Ignore the health claims, and instead focus on the
ingredients and serving size. Watch out for hydrogenated fat (trans
fat) and sodium. If you’re buying bread to go with you soup, the first
ingredient should be whole grain — either whole wheat, rye or other
grain. If it just says ‘wheat bread,’ that doesn’t mean whole wheat.’

We
all want our family to be healthy and happy, so steer clear of these
foods. Think it’s difficult to maintain a healthy lifestyle? Think again!

World’s Most Dangerous Road: Bolivia’s “Road of Death”

The North Yungas Road (also Grove’s road, Coroico road, Camino de las Yungas, El Camino de la Muerte, road of Death, and Death road) is a 61 to 69 km road (depending on source) leading from La Paz to Coroico, 56 km (35 miles) northeast of La Paz in the Yungas region of Bolivia.

It is legendary for its extreme danger and in 1995 the Inter-American Developement Bank christened it as the “world’s most dangerous road”.

One estimate is that 200-300 travellers were killed yearly along the road. The road includes crosses marking many of the spots where such vehicles have fallen.

Upon leaving La Paz, the road first ascends up to around 5 km, before descending to 330 m (1079 ft), transiting quickly from cool altiplano terrain to rain forest as it winds through very steep hillsides and atop cliffs.

The road was built in the 1930s during the Chaco War by Paraguayan prisoners. It is one of the few routes that connects the Amazon rainforest region of northern Bolivia, or Yungas, to its capital city.

Because of the extreme dropoffs, single-lane width, and lack of guardrails, the road is extremely dangerous.

Further still, rain and fog can make visibility precarious, the road surface muddy, and loosen rocks from the hillsides above.

On July 24, 1983, a bus veered off the Yungas Road and into a canyon, killing more than 100 passengers in what is said to be Bolivia’s worst road accident.

One of the local road rules specifies that the downhill driver never has the right of way and must move to the outer edge of the road. This forces fast vehicles to stop so that passing can be negotiated safely.

Also, vehicles drive on the left, as opposed to the right like the rest of Bolivia. This gives the driver in a left-hand-drive vehicle a better view over their outside wheel, making passing safer.

The danger of the road ironically made it a popular tourist destination starting in the 1990s. Mountain biker enthusiasts, in particular, have made it a favorite destination for downhill biking, since there is a 64 km stretch of continuous downhill riding.

The Secret to Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

Why
is that whenever you see a recipe with the finished cookies pictured
and then try to duplicate those cookies they never come out “just
right”? It’s like the fast food commercials that tempt you with a big
juicy hamburger perfectly sitting on a fresh bun and when you actually
purchase the burger, what you get is a shriveled piece of meat stuck
between two flattened pieces of bun!

Do you want your chocolate chip cookies to come out soft and chewy
every single time? The secret to perfect chocolate chip cookies is
really very simple! And you can make them with any chocolate chip
recipe at your disposal.

The problem with most chocolate chip cookie recipes is they have you
drop a spoonful on a cookie sheet and bake them for 9 to 12 minutes
until the tops are golden brown. That is too long! By the time the tops
are golden brown, your bottoms are dark brown, or worse, burnt. After
the cookies have baked this long, removing them from the oven in this
over-baked condition and having them stand only causes them to harden
up like jawbreakers. Instead of soft, chewy cookies that melt in your
mouth, you end up with hard, crunchy cookies with burnt bottoms.

Dropping larger amounts on the cookie sheet to make bigger cookies
doesn’t work. It takes longer for the middle of the cookie to bake and
you still end up with burnt bottoms and hard cookies.

Instead of following the recipe instructions to bake 9 to 12
minutes, underbake your cookies by a couple of minutes. The first time
you try this, you will have to play around with the time and the size
of your cookie drops to get the perfect chocolate chip cookie for your
oven. But, as a general rule, after you put your cookie tray in your
oven (always on the top rack), set your timer for 6 to 8 minutes. When
you pull your cookies out, the entire top should NOT be golden brown.
Instead, the peaks of the top of the cookie should just be turning
brown. At this time, the entire bottom of your cookie is golden brown
and the rest of cookie is the same color as the batter.

Remove the cookie tray from the oven and let them stand for a minute
or so since the cookies will be incredibly soft and will fall apart if
you try to immediately remove them from the cookie sheet. After they
have firmed up a bit, remove them from the cookie sheet to your cooling
rack or a piece of wax paper.

With this method, you are guaranteed to bake the perfect chocolate chip cookies and have people asking you what YOUR secret is!

Basic Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter,
granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in large mixer bowl. Add eggs
one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in
flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by teaspoon onto
ungreased baking sheets.

Bake in preheated 375 degree F oven for 6 to 7 minutes or until
peaks in top of cookie are starting to brown. Let stand for 2 minutes.
Remove to wire racks or wax paper to cool completely. ***

Muslims Begin Observing Holy Month of Ramadan

Muslims around the world are beginning to observe the holy month of Ramadan.

Indonesian Muslim women attend an evening prayer called ‘tarawih’, the night before the holy fasting month of Ramadan begins, at Istiqlal mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia, 31 Aug

Most of the world’s Muslims marked the first day of Ramadan on Monday, but the starting date varies in some countries depending on the sighting of the crescent moon.

Shi’ite Muslims in Iraq and Iran begin observing the holy month Tuesday, while Libya’s Muslims started their observance on Sunday.

During the month, Muslims are expected to abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and sexual relations from dawn to sunset.

After nightfall, Muslims break the fast with a meal called “iftaar.” Such meals have become harder to afford for low-income people because of rising global food prices.

Pakistan’s government began the holy month by suspending a military offensive against militants in a northwestern tribal region.

Palestinian vendor sells dates in preparation for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in the West Bank town of Jenin, 31 Aug 2008

Philippine officials said a crackdown on Muslim separatist rebels in the country’s south will continue, but they promised “tactical adjustments” because of Ramadan.

Somalia’s Islamist militia vowed to intensify attacks on government troops and their Ethiopian allies during the month, calling it a suitable time to wage a holy war.

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip began Ramadan Monday under the strain of a blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt since Hamas militants seized control of Gaza last year.

Egypt opened its border with Gaza on Saturday and Sunday in a humanitarian gesture ahead of the holy month, allowing hundreds of Palestinians to enter the country for medical treatment.

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It marks the time more than 1,400 years ago when Muslims believe the words of Islam’s holy book, the Koran, were revealed to the Prophet Mohammed.

Ramadan will continue for the month of September, concluding with a celebration called Eid al-Fitr.

Muslims’ holy month of fasting starts

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) — Most of the Muslim Mideast began the first day of Ramadan on Monday, but Iraqi Shiites, some Lebanese Shiites and Iran will start observing the holy month of fasting on Tuesday.

Ramadan begins the day after the sighting of the crescent moon that marks the beginning of a new lunar month. Some Muslim countries use astronomical calculations and observatories, while others and particular sects in some countries rely on the naked eye alone, leading to different starting times.

Libya, for example, started the fasting period Sunday, and the state-run Libyan news agency reported that religious officials there had already spotted the first tiny sliver of the moon.

This year’s Muslim holy month comes at a time of high food prices region-wide — a burden for low-income people struggling to afford the special foods traditionally prepared for the meal that breaks the fast at each sunset. High food prices also complicate the usual practice of buying new clothes and other Ramadan treats.

Hot weather also will likely create extra challenges this year, for observers who go without food or water during daylight hours.

In Shiite Iran, 100 groups sent to different parts of the country on the order of Iran’s top leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, did not detect the moon Sunday night, said state-run TV. It said Ramadan would start Tuesday in Iran.

In Iraq, Shiites will also begin observing the month on Tuesday, but Sunnis started on Monday and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called on Iraq to “maintain peace and security” during Ramadan.

Lebanon’s Sunnis and some Shiites did start Ramadan on Monday, but the Iranian-backed militant Hezbollah group and its supporters are to begin fasting Tuesday.

In a gesture of goodwill ahead of the holy month, Egypt opened its sealed border crossing with Gaza over the weekend, allowing hundreds of Palestinians to leave the coastal territory for medical treatment in Egypt and other reasons, officials said.

In Gaza itself, Palestinians are marking the holy month under the strain of an Israeli blockade that has lasted more than a year, since Hamas militants violently seized control of the territory. More goods have been entering Gaza since a June cease-fire went into effect, but a shortage of cooking gas has forced dozens of bakeries to cut back on the number of traditional Ramadan pastries they produce.

In Ramallah in the West Bank, the atmosphere Monday was a little more upbeat than last year. Many homes were decorated with colored lights in the shape of crescents — the symbol of Islam. To cash in on the season’s traditional soap opera television specials, shops offered a Ramadan special 50 percent discount on TV satellite dishes.

In Jordan, police distributed small booklets to motorists, urging traffic safety. Traffic accidents — a problem across the region during Ramadan — increase by an average of 70 percent during the fasting month in Jordan.

In Dubai, newspapers published special editions with ads for Ramadan sales in the city-state’s giant shopping malls and lavish meals at its luxury hotels.

Ramadan can last either 29 or 30 days, depending on when the first moon of the next lunar month is sighted. During the month, Muslims are expected to abstain during daylight hours from food, drink, smoking and sex in order to focus on spiritual introspection.