Third Saturday Seminar 2004-2005 – “We Dig Deeper Yet – The Challenges of Being Human” – Fifth Meeting

Mehdi Noorbaksh, PhD

– “Iran and the Future of Iraq” (and Afghanistan)“

Saturday 22 January 05; 9:30am-12:00 noon, Room B-102, Montgomery College, 3200 College Park Drive, Conroe, TX 77384.  See links to maps at bottom of this email. 

The next meeting is  this coming Saturday,January 22, 2005 (The 4th Saturday) because Montgomery College is on break till the 18th.  Then in March we will need to move because of Spring Break.  At the moment it looks like the 12th of March from the Catalog. Stay tuned.  The “Third Saturday” premise is being necessarily distorted to conform to the college schedule.

For the meeting Saturday 22 January 2005  Dr. Mehdi Noorbaksch, originally from Iran will talk about “Iran and the Future of Iraq” (and Afghanistan). (see the bio link on the web site (http:www.northstainst.org/TSS/#menu) He is at St Thomas University Center of International Studies and is a specialist in the Middle East.  His talk will be extremely timely considering the the Iraq election is scheduled for 30 January 2005 and most predictions are that the large Shiite majority will prevail. Shiite Muslims are only in the majority in Iraq and Iran.

If you want to start reading ahead try;

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html

Go to the drop down menu at the top and select “Iran” and “Iraq” (or whatever interests you) for a quick survey of most of the statistical and demographic things by which we typically classify states.

There is an amazing amount of other information available from your CIA on their web site. http://www.cia.gov

If you are still hungry for knowledge and want to see it from the standpoint of energy (Remember last session about Peak Oil?) check out:

http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/international/contents.html  (look for the drop-down menu at the top)

Again, this government website is a yet another cornucopia of information about other countries (and much more) that you can see at: http://www.eia.doe.gov/

Here’s the TSS web site: (http:www.northstainst.org/TSS/#menu)

Current Events: (We always talk about current events to start out) 

What about Iraq, Medical Coverage, Employment, Inflation, Terrorism, etc. etc.   Is everybody (still) happy?

About The Third Saturday Seminar

Started in January 2000, The Third Saturday Seminar is now sponsored by the Academy of Lifelong Learning (ALL) Program at Montgomery College.  More on the ALL program at: http://www.montgomery-college.com/all/

For information about Montgomery College: http://wwwmc.nhmccd.edu

Parking: May I suggest that you park in the “West Parking Area” , as that parking area  is closer to Building B.  Ignore the “Instructors Only” signs on the parking,  That only applies on week days.

Maps of MC Campus and directions  http://wwwmc.nhmccd.edu/students/campus/maps.html

Looking forward to seeing you there. (And please let me know if anything in this announcement doesn’t make sense.  It’s almost mid-night and as you know sometimes I overlook some obvious things)

Best regards,

Curt Gibby
Spring, TX
gcgconsult (at) n-star.com

http://www.northstarinst.org/TSS

looking forward to seeing you this Saturday.