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The Palm islands in Dubai are the three largest artificial islands in the world. They are being constructed by Nakheel Properties, a property developer in the United Arab Emirates. The islands are The Palm Jumeirah, The Palm Jebel Ali and The Palm Deira.
The islands were commissioned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in order to increase Dubai's tourism. Each settlement will be in the shape of a palm tree, topped with a crescent, and will have a large number of residential, leisure and entertainment centers. The Palm Islands are located off the coast of The United Arab Emirates in the Persian Gulf and will add 520 km of beaches to the city of Dubai.
The first two islands will comprise approximately 100 million cubic meters of rock and sand. Palm Deira will be composed of approximately 1 billion cubic meters of rock and sand. All materials will be quarried in the UAE. Between the three islands there will be over 100 luxury hotels, exclusive residential beachside villas and apartments, marinas, water theme parks, restaurants, shopping malls, sports facilities and health spas.
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link -
<http://wikimapia.org/#y=25115601&x=55132484&z=14&l=0&m=a>
There's something absolutely batty yet, simultaneously, appallingly shrewd about this massive project. I imagine Sheikh Al Maktoum reading a bit of Ballard's "The Drowned World", Niven's "Ringworld" and the latest reports on global warming and reaching the logically mad conclusion that a market will exist, soon enough, for disaster-resistant spaces catering to the super wealthy.
In the end, the future will belong to rats, insects and veal-like super-sub-humans whose ancestors engineered the hell out of their posh bunkers.
Palm Website (with some rather startling construction vid):
Satellite image of Palm, Jumeirah:
<http://wikimapia.org/#y=25115601&x=55132484&z=14&l=0&m=a>
.d.
We've tried nothing and we're all out of ideas.
Larry Fine
...................... http://monroelab.net/blog/