By the way Calm, I haven't forgotten about your book. Its a very enjoyable read and I'm looking forward to discussing it with you shortly. Now on chapter 5.
_____________________________
"As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others" - Nelson Mandela
Wow, Calm wrote a book? Thats awsome, I've got quite a bit of free time now between part-time jobs that I'm not really using, and I'd love to read that book. What's it called, and were can I get it bro? Thanks.
Thanks LOB, I am glad u enjoyed those photos, I found them fascinating. Dad was only 20 yrs old bless his soul.
Keep reading my friend, it get better. Hopefully the book will be published in the next few months. It is job and half find an agent or a publisher who would appreciate what I have written.
Salam my friend, I was sent those from america. A friend of mine, and a friend to a friend. I am sure if we keep looking we could start one brilliant collection.
Dear Calm: I am very interested in your book, especially with the very interesting and wise stuff you have to discuss here. Can you tell me what it's about then please? Thanks you.
< Message edited by NeoBabylonian -- 4/13/2008 12:24:11 PM >
Dear Calm: I am very interested in your book, especially with the very interesting and wise stuff you have to discuss here. Can you tell me what it's about then please? Thanks you.
Although Calm's novel is not yet published, I'm sure if you ask him nicely he will send you the first chapter.
_____________________________
"As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others" - Nelson Mandela
The river in the photographs – can you say what river it is? And, do you know what the water temperatures are? With the silt in the river, are there fish there also?
In the picture of the marshlands, there appear to be savannah style trees, but otherwise unvegetated soil. Is this seasonally flooded? If it Is marshland, why is there no moisture or low vegetation visible? In a savannah you would usually find grass and mid height vegetation – but it looks as if there is none?
The brick used in the older construction – do you know is it usually kiln fired – and is it a veneer of brick over another surface, or is it structural {ie the brick supports the roof and upper floor joists}? Do ou know what was used for mortar? – And – when they repair the brick today, what sort of mortar do they use?
Does Basra have actual transportation canals – maybe the picture was a river?
For a desert, there is a lot of water in the rivers. But it does not appear the influence of the rivers carries very far from the shore. Here, the rivers were not only the routes which allowed the land to be settled and cultivated, but the rivers influence provided groundwater far away from the banks to sustain farms. I am amazed that it appears the river just stops at shore and becomes dry desert once again.
Pardon my curiosity, but I have lived in the woods for too long and am curious about what I see. I now live in what is called “high desert” – irrigation from mountain water makes the land extremely productive. An unirrigated field is a desolate hunk of rock and hardscrabble – but it can be right next to an irrigated field which flourishes prolifically. And we go from one extreme to another. Two inches of snow today while yesterday the high temperature was 81. Travel two miles to the east, you gain 7,000 feet in elevation and have 120 inches of snow still on the ground.
The river in the photographs – can you say what river it is? And, do you know what the water temperatures are? With the silt in the river, are there fish there also?
Hi Forstier. There are 2 main rivers in Iraq, the Tigris and the Euphrates so it depends on which photo you are referring to. Both are teaming with fish.
In the case of Shat Al Arab in Basra, one of the tributaries which joins the waterway from the Iranian side deposits large amounts of silt into the river which means they have to continually dredge it to keep it navigable.
quote:
In the picture of the marshlands, there appear to be savannah style trees, but otherwise unvegetated soil. Is this seasonally flooded? If it Is marshland, why is there no moisture or low vegetation visible? In a savannah you would usually find grass and mid height vegetation – but it looks as if there is none?
I’m not sure when these photos of the Marshlands were taken but back in 1990 or 1991 Saddam started to drain the Marshlands eventually reducing them to approximately one tenth of their size. He did this to punish the Arabs living in the area for uprising against the government during the first gulf war and as a result of his criminal actions a whole way of life was nearly lost. This could be the reason why there is little moisture and vegetation.
quote:
The brick used in the older construction – do you know is it usually kiln fired – and is it a veneer of brick over another surface, or is it structural {ie the brick supports the roof and upper floor joists}? Do ou know what was used for mortar? – And – when they repair the brick today, what sort of mortar do they use?
I’ll leave that one for Calm to answer as I’m not sure. Perhaps Harry could also chip in.
quote:
Does Basra have actual transportation canals – maybe the picture was a river?
Basra is situated on Shat Al Arab and has or had many canals and tributaries, hence its old nickname “the Venice of the Middle East”. Again Saddam and his wars with Iran and the US nearly ruined these waterways which are now being restored.
Thats about the extent of my knowledge on the subject. Hope its of help.
_____________________________
"As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others" - Nelson Mandela
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quote:
ORIGINAL: forstier The brick used in the older construction – do you know is it usually kiln fired – and is it a veneer of brick over another surface, or is it structural {ie the brick supports the roof and upper floor joists}? Do ou know what was used for mortar? – And – when they repair the brick today, what sort of mortar do they use?
Yes the bricks were always Kiln fired, we had hundreds of brick factories far away from the populated cities, since these factories had tall smoke stacks, they had to be built where there were almost no cities around for at least 10 or 20 miles.
As for the mortar, we call it “Juss” it is a gypsum-like powder, a little coarser than gypsum yet sets very fast, in a matter of seconds, after applying to the wet bricks, that is why they only mix a small amount at a time. One of the helpers actually prepares the next batch of mixture while the bricklayer is using the previous batch.
The roof is actually supported by the brick walls; the roofs are constructed with “I beams” laid about a meter apart equal to 3 and 1/3 feet, them bricks will be fitted in between the I beams in a form of an arch using the same mixture. Imagine this, “the bricklayer, most likely standing on a scaffolding, receives a brick with the mixture applied to it from another worker on the ground. He presses it against the previous brick and cleans the excess either with his hand or a small tool, by the time the excess is cleaned, the mixture is already cured enough to hold the brick in place. Then the next brick will be thrown to him, and so on.” Each brick will not take more than 20 or 25 seconds at the most to be laid.
you'd never guess that Harry was an engineer would you? Interesting stuff.
I'm glad you asked these questions forstier because its forced me to look up facts re the Iraqi river system which I should have known about. Heres a brief description from the Encyclopedia Britannica.
quote:
Iraq is drained by the Tigris-Euphrates river system, although less than half of the Tigris-Euphrates basin lies in the country. Both rivers rise in the Armenian highlands of Turkey, where they are fed by melting winter snow. The Tigris flows 881 miles (1,417 km) and the Euphrates 753 miles (1,212 km) through Iraq before they join near Al-Qurnah to form the Shatt al-Arab, which flows another 68 miles (109 km) into the Persian Gulf. The Tigris, all of whose tributaries are on its left (east) bank, runs close to the high Zagros Mountains, from which it receives a number of important tributaries, notably the Great Zab, the Little Zab, and the Diyala. As a result, the Tigris can be subject to devastating floods, as evidenced by the many old channels left when the river carved out a new course. The period of maximum flow of the Tigris is from March to May, when more than two-fifths of the annual total discharge may be received. The Euphrates, whose flow is roughly 50 percent greater than that of the Tigris, receives no large tributaries in Iraq.
And heres another report from Wikipedia.
quote:
The Tigris-Euphrates alluvial salt marshecoregion of the Middle East is characterized by two large rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates. The rivers have several small tributaries which feed into shallow freshwater lakes, swamps, and marshes, all surrounded by desert. The hydrology of these vast marshes is extremely important to the ecology of the entire upper Persian Gulf, in an area called the Cradle of Civilization due to its ancient history. In the 1980s this ecoregion was put in grave danger as the Iran-Iraq War raged within its boundaries. It also faced one of the massive economic-environmental crimes in modern history: the destruction of Iraq's wetlands. The general climate is subtropical, hot and arid. At the northern end of the Persian Gulf is the vast floodplain of the Euphrates, Tigris, and Karun Rivers, featuring huge permanent lakes, marshes, and forest. The aquatic vegetation includes reeds, rushes, and papyrus, which support numerous species. Areas around the Tigris and the Euphrates are very fertile. Marshy land is home to water birds, some stopping here while migrating, and some spending the winter in these marshes living off the lizards, snakes, frogs, and fish. Other animals found in these marshes are water buffalo, two endemicrodent species, antelopes and gazelles and small animals such as the jerboa and several other mammals. Arabic is the main local language. It is estimated that fewer than 10,000 of the indigenousMarsh Arabs remain.
Ecological threats Iraq suffers from desertification and Soil salination due in large part to thousands of years of agricultural activity. Water is scarce and plant-life sparse. Government water control projects have drained most of the inhabited marsh areas east of An Nasiriyah by drying up or diverting streams and rivers. Population of Shi'a Muslims have been displaced. The destruction of the natural habitat poses serious threats to the area's wildlife populations. There are also inadequate supplies of potable food. Marshlands were a fine and extensive natural wetlands ecosystem. They developed over thousands of years in the Tigris-Euphrates basin and once covered 15–20,000 square kilometers. According to the United Nations Environmental Program and the AMAR Charitable Foundation, between 84% and 90% of the marshes have been destroyed since the 70s. In 1994, 60 percent of the wetlands were destroyed by Saddam Hussein's regime. They were drained to permit military access and greater political control of the native Marsh Arabs. Canals, dykes and dams were built routing the water of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers around the marshes, instead of allowing water to move slowly through the marshland. After part of the Euphrates was dried up due to re-routing its water to the sea, a dam was built so water could not back up from the Tigris and sustain the former marshland. Some marshlands were burned and buried pipes underground helped to carry away water for quicker drying.
The drying of the marshes lead to the disappearance of the salt-tolerant vegetation, the plankton rich waters that fertilized surrounding soils, 52 native fish species, the wild boar, Red Fox, buffalo and water birds of the marsh habitat.
It makes for sad reading, don't you agree?
_____________________________
"As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others" - Nelson Mandela
Brilliant input Lob and Harry. Between 1958 and now, the desert in Iraq expanded due to many factors. Eight years ago when I travelled by car from Amman to Baghdad, I couldn't believe my eyes at the size of deseret.
During the many changes in governments, many farmers and villagers left to the main cities to seek work and better standard of living.
The building of dams in Syria, and Turkey reduced the amount of water in Iraq.
The neglect of the government in regenerating agriculture.
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The immigration from farmlands actually began in late 1950s, and early 1960s, when (Abdul-Keriem Qasim, the president of Iraq at the time, after overthrowing the monarchy in Iraq) built a city in the outskirts of Baghdad. He named it at the time “Madenat Al-Thawra” meaning city of revolution. Nowadays it is called “Sadder City”, which indirectly resulted in encouraging the farmers especially the young generation to leave the farmland, and seek desk jobs in the cities.
That action alone started the destruction of Iraq’s agrarian economy, which led into more imported food items. There were a few unsuccessful attempts to create temptations for reverse immigration one of them was building a factory in Iraq that produces Farming tractors to be sold to the farmers at very low price.
Another attempt was importing grain seeds for planting, which the government failed to warn people about the grain being sprayed with chemicals to resist disease infestation and not being suitable for human consumption. The farmers, who received these seeds for almost free, Instead of planting them, turned around and sold them to bakeries to bake bread; some fed their farm animals i.e. chickens. Since no one new about the chemicals, people started to get sick so did the chickens.
A few weeks after, when people noticed that chicken are dying, and people are getting sick, they assumed that the chicken in Iraq are infested with some kind of plague, and those who consumed chicken in their diet are getting ill from it. So came the orders of eradicating all the chicken in Iraq and start importing chicken from other countries, and even fruits and vegetables did not escape from suspicion. All households were told to wash them with “Sodium permanganate” before eating them.
So you see. “Sader City” or Madenet Al-Thowra”, whichever you want to call it, was and still is the center of trouble in Iraq, and it all started after overthrowing the Monarchy.
Adding to that, it was mercury. And mercury affect the nervous system in the body. There is no cure at all once mercury is inside the body.
At that time, they also killed all the cattle, cows and sheep. We used to go hunting for wild bore with the cousins, and there was one shop in Al-Saadoon that sold pork products.
The government dealt with the situation successfully, and was listed in the UN. It also happened in few other countries, since then, treating grain or seeds with mercury is forbidden as far as I know. And warning in big letters and different languages whenever it is used.
Calm. I came across this report which further highlites your point:
quote:
Iraq Mercury Poisoning Incident During the winter of 1971-1972, mercury poisoning occurred in rural areas of Iraq. Wheat seeds, intended for crop planting, which had been treated with methylmercury as a fungicide, were distributed free in rural areas. Some seeds were ground into flour, baked into bread and consumed. Of an estimated 50,000 people exposed to the contaminated bread, 459 died, and 6,530 were hospitalized. This exposure also demonstrated the susceptibility of the fetus to in-utero exposure to methylmercury. 10 ppm mercury in maternal hair was shown to have an adverse dose-response by the children born after the exposure of the mothers. Studies of this exposure are the current basis for the U.S. EPA’s Reference Dose (RfD). Below is a dose-response developed based on the data from Iraqi exposure study. In the Iraq poisoning, of an estimated 50,000 people exposed to the contaminated bread, 459 died, and 6,530 were hospitalized.
_____________________________
"As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others" - Nelson Mandela
I appreciate you research and responses. This for me is fascinating. While I am first a Forester, I am by neccesity and interest a mapmaker. Mans attempts to change the map, anywhere, always brings unanticipated consequence.
Nature, though, while not forgiving, is quick to heal.
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