Stairway to heaven

Haiku Stairs is on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. 4.000 degrees and a length of about half a mile – that features the staircase leading up into the sky, as it is sometimes called. Haiku was built in 1943 from the antenna cables.

World's Tallest Cake Displayed in China

A shopping mall in Luoyang, central China's Henan Province, has set a new world record by creating a huge 8m high cake. The eight-layer cake used 500kg of eggs, 260kg of flour, 200kg of cream, 100kg of fruit and 80kg of chocolate. The final product weighed nearly 2 tons, with each layer supported by round metal plate. It took 20 chefs 24 hours to make the cake, which broke the previous Guinness World Record of a 7.8m, made in Paris in 2010. Once the record had been confirmed the cake was shared out among 3,000 people.

10 Films With The Best Special Effects

Cinematic portrayals of war, epic fantasy battles and fiction brought to life are all prominent parts of filmmaking as we know it today because of special effects. They can turn an artist’s vision into an icon of popular culture and they can make each film unique from the last. Without the imagination that goes into ground breaking special effects we’d have no variety whatsoever in the modern film industry.

This list covers a handful of films that I believe to be truly outstanding with their use of special effects, and despite there being a plethora of films that could be on this list, these films are the finest example of modern day technology pushed to its very limits.

10

Deep Impact

Deep Impact is a 1998 science-fiction disaster film which finds a 7-mile wide comet, discovered by young astronomer Elijah Wood, to be heading toward Earth with the predicted consequence of mass extinction. The film is particularly known for the impact of the comet fragment, detached from the much larger original comet that is destroyed in a suicide mission by a team of specialist astronauts lead by Robert Duvall, as it hits the Atlantic Ocean and causes a supersonic mega tsunami.

The power and destruction of the comet fragment is really quite impressive, and the tidal waves that proceed to engulf New York City are incredible to behold. This film may not be the highest-earning film, nor have won an endless list of awards and commendations, but it still remains one of the greatest and most realistic disaster films of our time and utilizes special effects to a level of outstanding realism for its time.

Threat Morphosis: Evolution of the Computer Virus

Evolution has fascinated me for quite a while. In the digital age, what’s even more interesting is the parallel evolution that’s going on within our machinery.

Computers are our creation, and like us, they get sick. There are malevolent growths within them: viruses. As technology progresses, so do the they. This happens in the same way that biological viruses evolve along with the development of new antibiotics; the more complex the antibiotics are, the more resilient the surviving viruses are.

Computer viruses, however, have one fundamental difference: they are created with the malicious intent of humans. These intentions also evolve over time. This evolution is creatively illustrated below. Read on, and don’t forget to back up all your files to a hard drive! (via)

Niagara Falls 101 years ago !

Folks living in Niagara Falls that year woke up one night feeling something was wrong. It took a while but they finally realized that it was the lack of noise.

They had all become so used to the roar of the falls that the silence was unusual enough to alert their senses.  Of course at that time nearly all the houses were near the falls.

Amazing pictures !!!   100 years old.

Can you imagine walking on Niagara Falls ??? 
              



1911 Photos of Niagara Falls ... 

दूसरी मंजिल पर देवता को देवगति, तब से नहीं बने दो मंजिला मकान!

जोधपुर. जोधपुर जिले की फलौदी तहसील के पीलवा और इससे सटे दर्जनों गांवों में सारे मकान एक मंजिल के हैं। लगभग 20 हजार घर और एक लाख आबादी वाले इस गांव में पिछले दो सौ साल में यहां किसी ने मकान में दूसरी मंजिल नहीं बनवाई। 
 
वरिष्ठ नागरिक व श्रीबगतेश मेला कमेटी के अध्यक्ष हजारीमल राठी बताते हैं कि क्षेत्र के लोगों में लोक देवता बगतसिंह के प्रति अटूट आस्था है। उनका निधन 1862 में हुआ। उस वक्त वे अपने मकान की दूसरी मंजिल पर सो रहे थे।
 
स्थानीय लोगों की मान्यता है कि वे देवगति को प्राप्त हुए। समय बीतने के साथ उनकी प्रसिद्धि लोक देवता के रूप में क्षेत्र भर में फैल गई। हर पूर्णिमा को पीलवा में बगतसिंह की स्मृति में मेला लगता है। इसमें जोधपुर जिले के विभिन्न गांवों के साथ ही सांचौर, बाड़मेर, जैसलमेर व बीकानेर से भी सैकड़ों श्रद्धालु आते हैं।
 
सरपंच भुवनेश्वर सिंह बताते हैं कि बगतसिंह के प्रति आस्था के कारण स्थानीय लोग दूसरी मंजिल के समानांतर भवन नहीं बनवाते। इसके लिए उन्होंने ग्राउंड फ्लोर के ऊपर निर्माण करवाना ही बंद कर दिया। क्षेत्र के लोग बताते हैं कि किसी ने अगर दो मंजिला मकान बना भी लिया तो कुछ समय बाद उसे गिराना पड़ा। 

Photo Manipulation 03

क्रिकेट के रंग में रंग गए ये मसाई आदिवासी भी!

इस मसाई क्रिकेट में खेल की परिभाषा तो वही है लेकिन वर्दी बदल गई है। केन्या के ये आदिवासी इन दिनों इस खेल की चमक बढ़ाने में लगे हैं।



वहां के लाइकिपिया इलाके के एक छोटे से गांव के रहने वाले ये आदिवासी इस सप्ताह अपना गांव छोड़कर मोम्बासा लेजेंड्स क्रिकेट नर्सरी पहुंचे हैं। जहां इन्हें अपनी पारंपरिक पोशाक के ऊपर पैड और ग्लब्स से लेस होकर बैटिंग-बॉलिंग करते देखा जा सकते है।



अब यह लोग अगले महीने से केपटाउन में होने वाली लास्ट मैन स्टैंडिंग 2012 वर्ल्ड चैंपियनशिप में खेलने की उम्मीद रखते हैं। इस ट्वेंटी-20 लीग में एक टीम में आठ खिलाड़ी खेलेंगे।

कुछ स्थान ऐसे हैं जहां मरना मना है

दुनिया में कुछ स्थान ऐसे हैं जहां मरना मना है, गैरकानूनी है। ऐसा लगता है कि हम किसी सदियों पुरानी परंपरा की बात कर रहे हैं। मसलन पांचवीं सदी में ग्रीस के डेलोस आईलैंड में धार्मिक स्थलों पर प्राण त्यागने की मनाही थी। आज के युग में भी ऐसा होता है।



सरपोउरेंक्स - फ्रांस 



सरपोउरेंक्स में भी लोगों की मौत पर पाबंदी मेयर ने लगाई है। इसकी वजह ये है कि कोर्ट ने उन्हें मौजूदा कब्रिस्तान के विस्तार की अनुमति नहीं दी है। यहां के मेयर गेरार्ड लालैने (दूसरे) से एक कदम आगे निकले। उन्होंने मौत पर प्रतिबंध ही नहीं लगाया है, ऐसी गुस्ताखी करने वालों के सख्त सजा दिए जाने की बात कही है। अब वे ही जानें कि मर चुके आदमी को मौत की सजा या इससे भी सख्त कौन सी सजा देंगे। कुछ भी हो वहां की जनता इससे चिंतिंत है।

10 Amazing Transparent Animals

Being transparent (or nearly so) doesn’t mean animals have nothing to hide. On the contrary, their lack of pigmentation can help them elude predators who literally see right through them. Transparency also allows creatures to conserve precious resources, a benefit anyone can see.

THE 12 LAWS OF KARMA

THE GREAT LAW

As you sow, so shall you reap.
This is also known as the Law of Cause and Effect.
Whatever we put out in the Universe
is what comes back to us.
If what we want is Happiness, Peace, Friendship, Love…
Then we should BE Happy, Peaceful, Loving, a Friend.

THE LAW OF CREATION
Life doesn’t just HAPPEN, it requires our participation.
We are one with the Universe both inside and out.
Whatever surrounds us gives us clues to our inner state.
BE and DO yourself…
what you what to have in your Life.

5 Great Non-European Achievers

5. Imhotep

2650 – 2600 BC

Imhotep, an Egyptian polymath, is the first physician, architect and engineer whose name is known to history. He was high priest of Ra and chancellor to the Pharoah Djoser of the Third Dynasty. So great was his legacy that, despite being a commoner, he was granted divinity after his death. Imhotep was revered as a poet and fifteen hundred years after his death a song praised his acuity with language: “I have heard the words of Imhotep and Hordedef, with whose discourses men speak so much.” As an architect and engineer, he designed the 62 metre tall step pyramid for Djoser and is credited with the first known use of columns. Below his pyramid his name and title are given as “seal-bearer of the King of Lower Egypt, first one under the king, administrator of the Great Mansion, prince, chief of seers.” As a physician, a writing attributed to him was devoid of supernatural reasoning and made remarkable descriptions of various ailments and cures along with anatomical descriptions.

5 Historic Events Then and Now

5. Heavier than Air Flight

July 25, 1909

This historic first heavier than air flight across the English Channel by French aviator Louis Bleriot was funded by a grateful family after Bleriot’s wife saved their child from falling to his death. They loaned the almost bankrupt Blériot 25,000 francs which helped him perfect his Blériot XI airplane. The day he took off from Les Barraques, France to cross the channel, Blériot was on crutches because of a recent accident. Twenty minutes into his flight he spotted Margaret’s Bay which told him he was off course. After adjusting his course he saw his friend waving the French Flag which marked his landing spot in Dover. After a very rough landing that collapsed the landing gear, the Frenchman became an instant celebrity and won a thousand-pound prize offered by a London newspaper. The photograph above shows Blériot with reporters after his landing. You can see some great old film footage of Blériot’s take off from France here SaveFrom.net.

100 Years Later

5 Mysteries of Outer Space

5. Where did galaxies come from?

Science has only recently been able to explain where the stars and planets came from. Now, scientists have turned their attention to a much bigger mystery, where did galaxies come from? What is known is that galaxies are not scattered randomly throughout space, rather they are found in clusters, known as “super clusters”. Scientists have two main theories to attempt to explain galaxy formation. First, the gas left over from the big bang clustered together to form galaxies, in which stars and planets were born. Second is that gas from the big bang created stars and planets all over the universe, and they migrated through gravity into galaxies. Neither theory has been universally accepted yet.

Famous Mummified Bodies

5. Vladimir Lenin

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (10th April 1870 – 21st January 1924) was one of the leading political figures and revolutionary thinkers of the 20th century, who masterminded the Bolshevik take-over of power in Russia in 1917, and was the architect and first head of the USSR. In 1918, he narrowly survived an assassination attempt, but was severely wounded. His long-term health was affected, and in May 1922 he suffered a stroke from which he never fully recovered. In December 1922, he suffered a second stroke that partly paralyzed his right side and caused him to withdraw from active politics. In March 1923, he suffered a third stroke that left him dumb and bed-ridden until he died on 21st of January 1924, aged 53, at his estate in Gorki Leninskiye. His body was embalmed and exhibited in the Lenin Mausoleum, Moscow where it can still be viewed today.

Photo Manipulations 02

Photo Manipulations 01