Fascinating!
There were thousands of these buildings during the Safavid dynasty, about the 16th century CE. They were built to collect the droppings as fertilizer for melon and cucumber fields… However, in modern times chemically produced fertilizers have drastically reduced the viability of the bird guano industry and as a result not many of these structures have survived to the present day. The droppings were also used in the process of tanning leather.
I have a bunch of tabs open in the browser with some interesting sites and may as well gather them here as follows:
KAC head overruled in pilot transfer
Published Date: August 28, 2008KUWAIT: The Administrative Court has overruled the decision of the chairman of Kuwait Airways Company, Hamd Al-Falah, to transfer a pilot from his normal duties to another department, as well as reducing his salary. Al-Falah took the decision after the pilot allegedly committed a violation when he went to sleep while a flight under his control was returning to Kuwait on auto pilot from another Gulf state, reported.
Despite the need for him to resume control of the plane for landing, the pilot could not reportedly be roused from his sleep and the co-pilot had to land the plane single-handedly. The pilot was subsequently referred for investigation by a committee, managed by an Indian administrative employee of the corporation.
The pilot contested the committee’s decision, approved by the chairman, to transfer the pilot and reduce his salary, particularly since aviation regulations prohibit the imposition of two penalties for one violation or mistake.
A court official revealed that, although the court had cancelled the two penalties, it could not officially cancel the decision to transfer an employee since this comes under the authority of the relevant department. Company regulations state that any employee being reassigned should be transferred to a post at the same level as their former position.
Via: Here There and Everywhere Read the comments too. I recently flew Kuwait Airways in and out of Kuwait and there were significant delays on both flights due to mechanical problems.
Part of Olympic fireworks faked in broadcast – Gadgets- msnbc.com Beyond Photoshop! 3D graphics on TV.
We flew north from Dubai nearly over Islamabad and then over the Karakoram ranges northward into China and then east to Korea. I didn’t sleep much looking at the mounains. They came close to the airplane and we were flying at 37,000 feet. But then K2 the world’s second highest peak is in the Karakoram ranges!
Taken with the buggy cam, or you could call it the cart cam at the Sultan Center in Mangaf. This is a big grocery store with a second story of hardware, school supplies, clothing etc. also. Video was shot using my Nokia N82 phone, so nobody noticed! I had a wonky cart with a jiggy wheel and I think also the anti-shake was not helping the focus. So I’ll try the experiment again when it’s more crowded. I am rigging up a small clamp to clamp it to the cart as I drive through the shopping center 🙂