Go to these corrdinates if you have Google Earth. The small circles go to the right of 25 and 55. If you get the image tell me what they are? All I can tell is one of the three have houses on them. Also can somebody tell me what that shape that looks like the Earth is? Tell me if you can’t find the image.
25 08’19.25’’ N and 55 05’51.77’’ E
Those would be the palm islands in Dubai. I know nothing about them, I only clicked the button. There is a small “W” on the screen. Click on it, and it will give you some information.
That’s so cool!
They are built by dredging up sand and sediments from the bottom of the Persian Gulf, then are deposited by the dredge ships in that shape. It is part if one of the Dubai Royalty’s need to spend all his unlimited money. They are going to build hotels, malls, condos, and resorts on them. THey hace 2 built, and are working on a third. The other one you see, is a structure the same as the palm islands, but it is supposed to be a map of the world. They had to put the rings around the palms to keep the currents in the gulf from eroding them away. The only problem is, that is the fault system in the bottom of the Persian Gulf decides to move, the saturated sand will move, water will flow between the particles, and it will liquify and want to become as flat as possible. This is called Liquifaction. If you take and put a pile of sand in a bowl and add some water, thne shake it, the same thing will happen in your bowl. Now imagine a couple thousand residents and toursits on them when it happens… If you keep an eye out, The History or Discovery channel sometimes has shows on the islands.
And from there it will only be a matter of time before the sympathy mongers are clogging the airwaves with guilt laden appeals about how we Americans all should bail out the poor disaster struck Dubains.
And I hear they are building a larger bunch of island thingies when they fnish the map, wonder why you pay $5.00/gal for gas??? now watch the tears when oil goes to $6.00bbl.
I just hate the amount of money spent on cleaning up, rebuilding, and protecting things that were built in places that never should have been built on before. Oh look at that hill It looks like it is moving a bit. Lets build houses on it! Oh, look at that river, it looks like it floods alot, left build towns along it! Oh, look at that spot, it appears to be below sea level and along the coast, What a great place for a major city! Oh wow. Look at that clifftop, what a great view of the ocean, goes it look like some sort of wildfire has burned here recently? Lets build multi million dollar mansions here!!
This is what I donate to charities, but make sure that it will A) go to help people in my own state or B) will not go to help perpetuate preventable disasters. It sounds cold I know, but really, when it is my money I want to know that it is going to something worthwhile.
Of course Dubai, being part of the oil rich United Arab Emirates, is one of the few countries rich enough to bail out the US!!! Those islands will mostly be inhabited by Sheiks and Ultra- wealthy Europeans(as well as top executives for Transnational firms which lately have been relocating their corporate HQs to Dubai in droves, Halliburton Intl. being a major example)…
Having posted a response I must now ask: What exactly does this Topic have to do with Railroading?
The seven UAE emirates are connecting with an Arabian Railway Network in a large loop to connect all 7 states, the project will be 25,000km long. Also Dubai is in the process of developing a massive LRT system called Dubai Metro and will be the most advanced urban rail system in the world. Does it seem that North America is falling slightly behind???