Explorations Speaker Dr. Pat Abbott
Patrick L. Abbott earned a Ph.D. in Geology from the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Abbott is a Professor of Geology at San Diego State University where his Natural Disasters course serves 5,000 students a year. Pat is author of the best-selling McGraw-Hill textbook entitled Natural Disasters (4th edition) and he has just finished the second broadcast-TV video in a series called Written In Stone. Dr. Abbott’s research specialty is reading the history stored in sedimentary rocks and fossils, including continental drift, earthquakes, volcanoes, climate change, mass extinctions, and the role of the environment in the rise and fall of civilizations. Guests might remember Pat from his appearance on last season’s reality show, “The New Gilligan’s Island” where he portrayed the real live Professor. In the Queen’s Lounge at 11:00 am, Dr. Abbott will present Continental Drift - The Changing Positions of India, Africa and the Mediterranean Basin. Some 200 million years ago, the continents were together in supercontinents. The southern supercontinent, Gondwanaland, began splitting into separate continental masses and drifting apart. The “new” continents were India, Africa, South America, Australia and Antarctica. He will show a 200-frame computer animation of the continental movements at 1 frame per million years. India moves northward and collides with Asia. Africa moves northward and compresses the Mediterranean. These ongoing collisions create mountain ranges, earthquakes, and volcanoes.
Say it in Arabic
Arabic is the official language of all Middle Eastern countries except for Afghanistan, Iran, Israel and Turkey.
It is important to know that no matter what dialect of Arabic you speak and how poor your pronunciation, any attempt to communicate with the locals in Arabic will be graciously appreciated.
Hi Marhaba
Goodbye Ma’a Salāma
Please Law samaht
Thank you Shukran
How are you? Kayf hālak?
Pardon/Excuse Me ‘Afwan
Sorry ‘Assif
Do you speak English? Btah-ki inglīzi
I don’t understand Ma bif-ham
Yes Aywa
No La
How much? Bikam?
The Sultanate of Oman
Oman is an independent sultanate on the southeastern section of the Arabian peninsula, on the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. It was formerly known as Muscat and Oman. It is bordered on the west by Yemen and Saudi Arabia and on the north by the United Arab Emirates, which separates the major portion of the sultanate from a small area on the Strait of Hormuz. For administrative purposes, the country is divided into six regions and two governorates. For the most part, Oman comprises a narrow coastal plain backed by hill ranges and an interior desert plateau. It is roughly 82,000 square miles (212,380 square kilometers). The highest point is Jebel Sham at 9,900 feet (3,018 meters). In the extreme north, dates, limes, nuts, and vegetables are cultivated, and in the southwest there is an abundance of cattle and other livestock. Fishing is an important industry. The major product, however, is oil, which was discovered in Oman in 1964 and first exported in 1967. Natural gas production and small copper mines developed in the early 1980s and are a part of Oman's growing industries. The inhabitants are mostly Arabs; there are also minorities of Pakistanis, Indians, Africans, Baluchis, and migrant workers of varied ethnicities.
posted by Hills @ 12:25 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home