Ramadan Karim

Instead of focusing on Iftars and mall shopping hours,  a lesson of Ramadan is acquiring patience and self-restraint through fasting.

The month of patience.

´So fasting is a means of learning self-restraint and patience. With patience we are able to strengthen our resolve to worship Allah alone, with sincerity, and also cope with life's ups and downs. Thus, without knowledge and patience, nothing remains, except zeal and uncontrolled emotions, shouts and hollow slogans, speech that does not strengthen, but rather weakness, and actions that do not build, but rather destroy! ..

3 Petrol Stations Catch Fire in June in Oman !

This must be a record, there have been three petrol station fires around Oman in less than two weeks. In all cases this month, the recorded temperature was 40 C or over in the Muscat area (could have been hotter in the interior). I am posting what videos I could find showing the ignition point of the fire.

Hopefully, someone may be able to lend their expertise as to what exactly is causing these fires. There have been many theories from cell phone sparks to engines running while pumping (a standard practice here). Personally, I am uncomfortable with the fuel top off after the tank is full (also a standard practice here). All petrol is pumped by attendants in Oman.

Recent Petrol Station Fires Oman

• June 2, 2015   Yanqul, a car caught fire, outside temp 42 C
• June 3, 2015    BidBid, 8 am, a car caught fire, outside temp 41 C
• June 16, 2015  Ghubra, Muscat, Al Maha Station, 12:17 pm, a bus caught fire, engine was on, two injuries were reported, outside temp 40 C
• July 23, 2014  Mawaleh, Muscat, a moto caught fire and then a car.  Night. outside temp 34 C. From the video, it looks as if the moto caught fire as the man used the kick start to rev the engine - a spark perhaps. The secondary car caught fire as the driver tried to pull out with the pump still fueling his car. 

Yanqul Petrol Station Fire Video - June 2, 2015

بسبب حرارة الجو شاهد كيف نجت مواطن عماني من احتراق سيارتة في احدى محطات تعبئة في ينقل

Watch how an Omani survived from burning in his car due to the heat at a filling station in Yanqul.

Mawaleh Petrol Station Fire Video - July 23, 2014

Gubrah Petrol Station Fire Video - June 16, 2015

http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/oman/fire-at-petrol-station-injures-two-in-oman-1.1536071

Times of Oman "reboots" their website

Times of Oman released a new website recently. I must say the new template is more user friendly and better enhanced with multimedia as well as visually crisper and elegant. Finally, Times has fixed the logo font type in the heading; whereas, in the previous online version the T of Times was put in an Arial or other sanserif font and the other letters imes were in their logo typeface. This had always bothered me as if the designers had catered to the limitations of the prior web template employed.

Over the last year, the Times has really focused on their online presence, on dynamics across devices and on the social media aspects of their online media, and it has made a difference. The Times blows the other papers out of the water with over 150,000 likes on the FB page while Muscat Daily has around 8,500 (pathetic) and Oman Observer with almost 10,500. I hope Muscat Daily gets on board soon with increased web charisma. I always liked their hard copies. Even certain FB groups in Oman have more likes or members than Muscat Daily. In contrast, the Emirati Gulf News has 1.09 million likes.

Facebook Likes and Oman Media

Flooding from Ashobaa,  Source: Times of Oman

'Cyclone Ashobaa vs Oman Surfers'

Greetings, the best time for surfing at the onset of a cyclone...

See videos below..

Cyclone Ashobaa vs Oman Surfers...

Source and credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLPipaYajUw

Sur, Oman. Enjoying the swells...