No, Al-Qaeda has not mastered the trigonometric art of granular blitzkrieg. Simply it's the Earth-Fountain undergoing some preliminary tests in Iraq to resolve some mechanical kinks before its delivery to yet another outrageously themed megapark in Dubai.
In the meantime, go here for more ridiculous sand storm photos. We do not know who the photographer is, but please, anyone, let us know. The same person presumably took these amazing photos of ordnance disposal as well.
Meanwhile, how about designing a landscape where the earth is truly destabilized, temperamental. Where the ground plane is not treated as an immovable canvas whereupon trees and paths and benches are simply thrown in. After all, we stand on a surface that shifts and glides everywhere, all the time.
So you're strolling down the beach one afternoon — walking the dog, if you will. That night the 67th hurricane of the season comes along and plows through your oceanfront enclave. You think everything has been destroyed. But the morning after, you find that you can still walk your dog along the same path, on that same boardwalk. It may have migrated half of a mile and is now oddly reconfigured, but it's still functional nevertheless.
Or a levee system that meanders with the river. End the tyranny of cement and the Army Corps of Hubris for all time.
Sand Storm in Iraq: April 26, 2005
Naoya Hatakeyama & Geoff's Earth-Fountain©