Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Great Hotels...

the joys of a giant sandcastle hotel

Oh you Brits, there you go again being creative and innovative. This is actually a real sand castle hotel, the first in the world located in Weymouth Beach in Dorset, UK.

Front view of the hotel which was designed by sculptor Mark Anderson and commissioned by the website LateRooms.com, created to look like a giant sand castle.

The sand hotel was orchestrated as a publicity stunt by the hotel company, and the biggest sand structure ever built in the UK, designed for the renaissance of beach holidays after its research found that 57% of the country’s holiday-makers were shunning foreign destinations in favor of British seaside resorts. Source: Life in the Fast Lane

For a mere US$21 a night you can stay here. Sleeping under the stars sounds sweet. Cute beds. Feels like a sandy doll house, kind of like a 7 year-old’s dream.

As Life in the Fast Lane mentions, “You can book reservations to sleep in the gigantic sandcastle, but you’d best hurry, as it’s only available from now until the tide or rain washes it away.”

Talk about being in the moment.

european ceiling architecture

Alhambra, Spain

When Seattle based artist Jeff Mihalyo came back from his European sojourn, he brought with him images of these other-worldly ceilings:

Alhabra, Spain

Alhambra, Spain

Cordoba, Spain. Gold, glorious, and heavenly.

Cordoba, Spain. Crown me, oh jewel.

Rome, Italy. Love the center space emanating out.

Rome, Italy. Religious influence indeed.

Rome, Italy. Stately wise. Paternal.

Ronda, Spain. Spinning wheel of Light.

Seville, Spain. Moorish influence.

Seville, Spain. Organic flavor.

Seville, Spain. Feels like the grand opera.

Seville, Spain.

Seville, Spain. There is something about the color palette of this one that elicits pure joy.

Look for these influences in Jeff Mihalyo’s artwork.

guayas: a thriving destination for ecotourism

Who doesn’t love to daydream about exotic eco-travel destinations? One day in the not so distance past as I happened to be thinking about that very subject, I Stumbled Upon Travel Blissful–a place to be inspired to see more of the world.

I instantly became enamored with the plethora of great information that the site provided and reached out to author Erica Johannson. She agreed to contribute to PPnG from time to time with some fabulous eco-destinations around the world.

Here’s a post she wrote on eco-travel in Ecuador; a country I visited 12 years ago and have been longing to return to since.

The south-western province of Ecuador offers some of the top agro-tourism and eco-tourism sites in South America. Home to the nation’s largest city, Guayaquil, the region Guayas (pronounced gwī-äs) attracts travelers year-around.

The Canton of Bucay

Located east of Guayaquil, the Bucay Canton boasts more natural resources than any other canton in Guayas. The most visited attractions include El Bosque Humedo de la Esperanza (The Rainforest of Hope), and El Balneario de Agua Clara (The Clear Water Spa), where scenic waterfalls flow into the Chimbo river – a great place for rafting and tubing.

The Botanical Garden

Throughout the year, visitors to the Botanical Garden north of Guayaquil can observe more than 60 butterfly species, 70 bird species, 80 varieties of orchids, unique stones and minerals, and several medical plants.

Cerro Blanco (White Hill) Forest Reserve

Home to more than 200 species of birds, the Cerro Blanco (White Hill) Forest Reserve in Guayaquil serves as a shelter for plant species and animals such as the jaguar and howling monkey. With a large network of nature trails, three guided walking tours, camping and picnic spots, and an exhibit hall specifying the area’s ecosystem, Cerro’s guests can choose between many ways to experience the reserve’s abounding biodiversity.

Puerto El Morro

Often called “Las Pequeñas Galápagos” (The Mini Galápagos), Puerto El Morro acts as a start point for boat tours to the island of Manglesito and La Isla de los Pajaros (Island of Birds), home to more than 50 migratory bird species. Puerto El Morro is located about an hour and a half drive from Guayaquil, along the southeast coast of Guayas.

The Manglares-Churute Ecological Reserve

Considered one of the most important ecological reserves in South America, the Manglares-Churute Ecological Reserve situated in the Naranjal province features numerous ecosystems. Almost 70% of the park is covered in protected mangroves, where visitors can spot shorebirds such as egrets and laughing gulls.

Apart from observing protected ecological reserves and beautiful plants and wildlife, visitors to Guayas can enjoy cultural festivals, kayak and horseback ride along the coast, and tour banana, cacao, mango and coffee “haciendas” (plantations). To make the experience more personal, plantation farmers often invites guests home for a traditional meal with their family.

In an effort to prevent deforestation in Guayas, the region and Fundación Natura launched the “Amigo Árbol” (Friend of the Trees) program in May 2008.

Up to now, everyone from local school children to employees of large corporations have helped keep Guayas green for generations to come by planting miles of trees throughout the region.

Travelers wanting to help can visit the organization’s site www.amigoarbol.org (friends of trees) for more information.

sweet eco-shed getaway for two


This sweet 280 square foot guest suite was designed with the earth in mind. It’s called the Eco-Shed and is located on the hillside above Snug Cove Village on Bown Island in B.C.


Here are some eco-details: Its numerous green qualities include passive-solar design, extensive reclaimed and FSC-certified wood, highly efficient fixtures and windows, nontoxic materials and finishes, and excellent ventilation. The building’s spray-foam insulation system also offers excellent soundproofing. Via:: Eco-Shed

a hot new hotel


The Limes Hotel by Argentinian designer Alexander Lotersztain opened at the end of last month in Brisbane, Australia.

Okay, so talk about aesthetics up the yin yang. There’s an internal buzz happening on my end. This is just hot stuff. Check it out.


Roof setting overlooking the city of Brisbane, which is now officially on my radar.


Another rooftop view. I love those odd shaped tables that glow in the dark. So seductive.

“Drawing inspiration from a lifetime of international travel, with countless hours spent in airplanes and hotel rooms, Alexander concentrated his design focus on the 21 rooms to cater for the independent traveler, rejecting the 5-star norms and opting to focus on guests’ primary travel requirements through unique design solutions in styled lodgings.” Source:: Dezeen

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Do u think its perfect to Use Blogging For our Submissions and Updates about activities in our Branch ...!!!

A BLOG (WEB LOG) is a type of website where you can instantly post your writing. Using web based blogging software and materials we can help each other too, anyone can easily publish their ideas on the BLOG from any computer with an Internet connection.

Students uses the blog as an online course management tool where s/he posts assignments, announcements, information and summaries of lessons:-

>A weekly topic is posted and each student posts their thoughts on the topic.
>Post articles relevant to the course.
>Students post their thoughts regarding articles.
>Class discussions on course readings and lectures.
>Students post their writing assignments and homework exercises.
>Students exchange information related to the course's subject.
>Students post comments, questions and advice about the course to Instructor and fellow students.
>Students post their thoughts on what they are learning.
>Students use the blog as a writing portfolio.
>Students read each other's rough drafts of writing assignments and give feedback.
>Students and Instructor discuss news related to the course's subject.
>Students discuss class activities.
>Online students can get to know each other by reading and commenting on each others blog entries.

Blogs are a hybrid of oral and written discourse. They are written, but in a casual atmosphere that reads like oral communication. Blog entries can stand alone as written communication but they also allow commentary from readers. Blogs are both monologues and dialogues. Each individual blog entry is a monologue of the author's ideas. When many authors blog together and comment on each other's entries, it becomes a dialogue.

As a form of writing for public consumption, blogs encourage people to more clearly express their ideas in depth than do emails and bulletin boards. Blogs encourage communication within a community of blog users, such as an online college class. Blogs deal with the process of exchanging ideas.I m going to start SMS system about our blog for easy updates to our BLOG.

Design features of Blogs appropriate to Online Architectural Discussions:-

>Blogs are available anywhere, anytime, to anyone that has a computer with internet access
>Wide variety of free blogging software on the web enables anyone to create a blog
>Easy to use for people with limited web skills
>Quick to update with new content.
>Non-time-synchronous, so they are convenient for people in different time zones
>Entries can be organized by topic or by date
>Individual Blogs can be easily linked to form communities so each person can keep track of everyone else in the community
>Everything is archived automatically so there is no loss of old discussions
>Most blogging software have search engines built in so you can search archived entries
>Flexible and easy to design, a variety of templates available
>Allows replies to entries, which are linked to the original entry, like threaded discussions in bulletin boards
>Friends, parents and other students can see blog entries; not just the students currently registered in the course as is the case with the bulletin boards in many course management tools
>Blogs can be continued after the class is over if the bloggers are still interested in communicating
>A person can easily upload a user photo that will be shown with every entry he/she posts. Online students separated by distance can see what other students look like to give them a feeling of being connected.

Pros
1.>Quick and easy way to create a class website
2.>More public form of communication than email so it encourages students to organize their thoughts more clearly before writing them
3.>Flexible, lots of uses
4.>Easy way to practice writing and improve writing skills
5.>Once students get in the habit of blogging for class, it is easy to continue writing because it is easy to create your own blog
6.>Give students a feeling of ownership
7.>Encourages class participation and discussion
8.>Encourages students who are shy about talking in class to share their ideas
9.>A place for students to express themselves and share information
10.>Easy for all students to read each other's writing
11.>Easy for instructor find out what the students think and feel about the class and the lesson content
12.>The class can share their writing with people outside of class.
13.>A place to collaborate on projects

Cons
1.>Takes time to keep a blog updated
2.>Writing may be more casual than assignments turned in by traditional methods. May encourage sloppy writing habits similar to email and instant messaging.
3.>Not all college courses have content that is appropriate for discussion and opinion essays
4.>May be difficult for some students who have lower computer skills]
5.>Some professors and/or students may not want to learn new technology
6.>Students may not blog if they are not required to because it takes time
7.>If students are required to blog but they do not have anything they want to say, they will only write the minimum and it may not be relevant or useful
8.>It may be difficult to keep the students blogging about subjects relevant to the class.
9.>It could be difficult to follow a discussion if replies are in individuals' blogs rather than immediately next to each other
10.>Blogs do not give the feeling of a conversation because there is time delay
11.>Blogs are not good for questions that require fast answers
12.>Blogs do not offer confidentiality
13.>Blogs may create competition between students

For More Details About Blogging Contact me Personally Or Online.
+919887724688
2007.amit.raj@gmail.com
sa_raj_janu@yahoo.co.in

Friday, June 26, 2009

Fact-O-File...!!!

Saturday mail delivery in Canada was eliminated by Canada Post on February 1, 1969!

In Tokyo, a bicycle is faster than a car for most trips of less than 50 minutes!

There are 18 different animal shapes in the Animal Crackers cookie zoo!

Should there be a crash, Prince Charles and Prince William never travel on the same airplane as a precaution!

Your body is creating and killing 15 million red blood cells per second!

The king of hearts is the only king without a moustache on a standard playing card!

There are no clocks in Las Vegas gambling casinos!

There is one slot machine in Las Vegas for every eight inhabitants!

The Mona Lisa has no eyebrows. It was the fashion in Renaissance Florence to shave them off!


Every day 20 banks are robbed. The average take is $2,500!

The most popular first name in the world is Muhammad!

Tablecloths were originally meant to be served as towels with which dinner guests could wipe their hands and faces after eating!

Tourists visiting Iceland should know that tipping at a restaurant is considered an insult!

One car out of every 230 made was stolen last year!

The names of Popeye's four nephews are Pipeye, Peepeye, Pupeye, and Poopeye!

Until the nineteenth century, solid blocks of tea were used as money in Siberia!

The Nobel Peace Prize medal depicts three naked men with their hands on each other's shoulders!

When glass breaks, the cracks move faster than 3,000 miles per hour. To photograph the event, a camera must shoot at a millionth of a second!

A Boeing 747 airliner holds 57,285 gallons of fuel!

A car uses 1.6 ounces of gas idling for one minute. Half an ounce is used to start the average automobile!

The Philadelphia mint produces 26 million pennies per day!


A lightning bolt generates temperatures five times hotter than those found at the sun's surface!

A violin contains about 70 separate pieces of wood!

It is estimated that 4 million "junk" telephone calls, phone solicitations by persons or programmed machine are made every day in the United States!

It takes glass one million years to decompose, which means it never wears out and can be recycled an infinite amount of times!

Forest fires move faster uphill than downhill!

Almost half the newspapers in the world are published in the United States and Canada !


The two-foot long bird called a Kea that lives in New Zealand likes to eat the strips of rubber around car windows!

Most lipstick contains fish scales!

Skepticisms is the longest word that alternates hands when typing!

One ragweed plant can release as many as one billion grains of pollen!

It's illegal to drink beer out of a bucket while you're sitting on a curb in St. Louis!

The first product to have a bar code was Wrigleys gum!


No piece of square dry paper can be folded more than 7 times in half!

A group of geese on the ground is a gaggle, a group of geese in the air is a skein!

Over 2500 left handed people a year are killed from using products made for right handed people!

There are more than 10 million bricks in the Empire State Building!

If you counted 24 hours a day, it would take 31,688 years to reach one trillion!

Taphephobia is the fear of being buried alive!

A crocodile always grows new teeth to replace the old teeth!

The sun is 330,330 times larger than the earth!

Clinophobia is the fear of beds!

A 'jiffy' is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second!

Porcupines float in water!

Pinocchio is Italian for "pine eye"!

The sentence "The quick brown fox jumps over a lazy dog." uses every letter of the alphabet!

The average life span of a major league baseball is 5-7 pitches!

The Mint once considered producing doughnut-shaped coins!

The only 15 letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is "uncopyrightable"!

The longest recorded flight of a chicken is 13 seconds!

During your lifetime, you'll eat about 60,000 pounds of food, that's the weight of about 6 elephants!

Some ribbon worms will eat themselves if they cant find any food!

Dolphins sleep with one eye open!

The worlds oldest piece of chewing gum is over 9000 years old!

In space, astronauts cannot cry properly, because there is no gravity, so the tears can't flow down their faces!

There are more plastic flamingos in the U.S, than real ones!

About 3000 years ago, most Egyptians died by the time they were 30!

More people use blue toothbrushes, than red ones!

A sneeze travels out your mouth at over 100 m.p.h.!

Your ribs move about 5 million times a year, every time you breathe!

In the White House, there are 13,092 knives, forks and spoons!

Slugs have 4 noses!

Recycling one glass jar, saves enough energy to watch T.V for 3 hours!

Lightning strikes about 6,000 times per minute on this planet!

Owls are one of the only birds who can see the color blue!


The average American/Canadian drinks about 600 sodas a year!

It was once against the law to slam your car door in a city in Switzerland!
There wasn't a single pony in the Pony Express, just horses!

Honeybees have a type of hair on their eyes!
The starfish is one of the few animals who can turn it's stomach inside-out!

Eskimo ice cream is neither icy, or creamy!

A jellyfish is 95 percent water!

In Bangladesh, kids as young as 15 can be jailed for cheating on their finals!

The katydid bug hears through holes in its hind legs!

A company in Taiwan makes dinnerware out of wheat, so you can eat your plate!

More Monopoly money is printed in a year, than real money printed throughout the world!

The elephant is one of the few mammals that can't jump!

The penguin is the only bird who can swim, but not fly!

Q is the only letter in the alphabet that does not appear in the name of any of the United States!


One quarter of the bones in your body are in your feet!


America once issued a 5-cent bill!

You'll eat about 35,000 cookies in a lifetime! Wow!

Like fingerprints, everyone's tongue print is different!

There are no words in the dictionary that rhyme with: orange, purple, and month! Interesting tries from our readers: orange: door hinge, melange (French for mix) purple: hurtle, durple?, turtle month: once, bunth?, hunch

Babe Ruth wore a cabbage leaf under his cap to keep him cool! He changed it every 2 innings!

Fortune cookies were actually invented in America, in 1918, by Charles Jung!

A man named Charles Osborne had the hiccups for 69 years! Wow!
A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue!



Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying!

Here are some interesting numbers to look at! (*1997)
166,875,000,000 pieces of mail are delivered each year in the U.S!
1,525,000,000 miles of telephone wire a strung across the U.S!
123,000,000 cars are being driven down the U.S's highways!
85,000,000 tons of paper are used each year in the U.S!
56,000,000 people go to Major League baseball each year!


Bats always turn left when exiting a cave!

The praying mantis is the only insect that can turn its head!

In Tokyo, they sell toupees for dogs!

There are over 58 million dogs in the U.S!

Dogs and cats consume over $11 billion worth of pet food a year!

Fingernails grow nearly 4 times faster than toenails!

Humans blink over 10,000,000 times a year!

In the year 2000, Pope John Paul II was named an "Honorary Harlem Globetrotter."!

Every second, Americans collectively eat one hundred pounds of chocolate

A fetus develops fingerprints at eighteen weeks!

The fear of vegetables is called Lachanophobia!.. More fears...

There are approximately fifty Bibles sold each minute across the world!

Every year, kids in North America spend close to half a billion dollars on chewing gum!

An earthquake on Dec. 16, 1811 caused parts of the Mississippi River to flow backwards!

A person uses approximately fifty-seven sheets of toilet paper each day!

Honolulu is the only place in the United States that has a royal palace!

One gallon of used motor oil can ruin approximately one million gallons of fresh water!

More money is spent on gardening than on any other hobby!

In 32 years. there are about 1 billion seconds!

Rice paper does not have any rice in it!

Baby robins eat 14 feet of earthworms every day!


In England, in the 1880's, "Pants" was considered a dirty word!

Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin!

The blesbok, a South African antelope, is almost the same color as grapejuice!

The average person laughs 13 times a day!

Dogs can hear sounds that you cant!

Men are 6 times more likely to be struck by lightning than women!

It is estimated that millions of trees in the world are accidentally planted by squirrels who bury nuts and then forget where they hid them!

Ernest Vincent Wright wrote a novel, "Gadsby", which contains over 50,000 words -- none of them with the letter E!

Of all the words in the English language, the word set has the most definitions!

A toothpick is the object most often choked on by Americans!

Every 45 seconds, a house catches on fire in the United States!

The sun is 330,330 times larger than the earth!

The most used letter in the English alphabet is 'E', and 'Q' is the least used!

There are more than 50,000 earthquakes throughout the world every year!

The original name for the butterfly was 'flutterby'!

Dogs and cats, like humans, are either right or left handed... or is that paws?!

The opposite sides of a dice cube always add up to seven!

Nose prints are used to identify dogs, just like humans use fingerprints!


Bulls are colorblind, therefore will usually charge at a matador's waving cape no matter what color it is -- be it red or neon yellow!

Apples are more efficient than caffeine in keeping people awake in the mornings!

Smelling bananas and/or green apples (smelling, not eating) can help you lose weight!



A hard working adult sweats up to 4 gallons per day. Most of the sweat evaporates before a person realizes it's there, though!

The average ice berg weighs 20,000,000 tons!

The poison-arrow frog has enough poison to kill about 2,200 people!

A lump of pure gold the size of a matchbox can be flattened into a sheet the size of a tennis court!

After eating, a housefly regurgitates its food and then eats it again!


In Texas, it's against the law for anyone to have a pair of pliers in his or her possession.

In Philadelphia, you can't put pretzels in bags based on an Act of 1760.

Alaska law says that you can't look at a moose from an airplane.

In Corpus Christie, Texas, it is illegal to raise alligators in your home.

In Miami, it is forbidden to imitate an animal.

It is against the law to mispronounce the name of the State of Arkansas in that State.


In Illinois, the law is that a car must be driven with the steering wheel.

California law prohibits a woman from driving a car while dressed in a housecoat.

In Memphis, Tennessee, a woman is not to drive a car unless a man warns approaching motorists or pedestrians by walking in front of the car that is being driven.

In Tennessee, it is against the law to drive a car while sleeping.

In New York, it is against the law for a blind person to drive an automobile.

In West Virginia, only babies can ride in a baby carriage.

In Georgia, it is against the law to slap a man on the back or front.

A barber is not to advertise prices in the State of Georgia.

In Louisiana, a bill was introduced years ago in the State House of Representatives that fixed a ceiling on haircuts for bald men of 25 cents.

In Oklahoma, no baseball team can hit the ball over the fence or out of a ballpark.


In Rochester, Michigan, the law is that anyone bathing in public must have the bathing suit inspected by a police officer !


In Kentucky, it's the law that a person must take a bath once a year.

In Utah, birds have the right of way on any public highway.

In Ohio, one must have a license to keep a bear.

In Tennessee, a law exists which prohibits the sale of bologna (sandwich meat) on Sunday.

In Virginia, the Code of 1930 has a statute which prohibits corrupt practices or bribery by any person other than political candidates.

In Providence, Rhode Island, it is against the law to jump off a bridge.

In the State of Kansas, you're not allowed to drive a buffalo through a street.

In Florida, it is against the law to put livestock on a school bus.

In New Jersey, cabbage can't be sold on Sunday.

In Galveston, Texas, it is illegal to have a camel run loose in the street!


In North Carolina, it is against the law for dogs and cats to fight.

In Singapore, it is illegal to chew gum.

In Cleveland, Ohio, it is unlawful to leave chewing gum in public places.

In Virginia, chickens cannot lay eggs before 8:00 a.m., and must be done before 4:00 p.m.

In New York, it is against the law for children to pick up or collect cigarette and cigar butts.

In Massachusetts, it is against the law to put tomatos in clam chowder.


In Washington State, you can't carry a concealed weapon that is over 6 feet in length.

In San Francisco, there is an ordinance, which bans the picking up and throwing of used confetti.

In Kentucky, it is illegal for a merchant to force a person into his place of business for the purpose of making a sale.

It is against the law in Connecticut for a man to write love letters to a girl whose mother or father has forbidden the relationship.

In Michigan, married couples must live together or be imprisoned.

In the state of Colorado, a pet cat, if loose, must have a tail-light !


In Phoenix, Arizona, you can't walk through a hotel lobby with spurs on.

In California, a law created in 1925 makes it illegal to wiggle while dancing.

In Utah, daylight must be visible between dancing couples.

In Michigan, it is against the law for a lady to lift her skirt more than 6 inches while walking through a mud puddle.

In North Carolina, it is against the law for a rabbit to race down the street.

In Georgia, it's against the law to spread a false rumor.

In West Virginia, one can't cook sauerkraut or cabbage due to the odors and the offence is subject to imprisonment.

In Missouri, a man must have a permit to shave.

The law states that more than 3000 sheep cannot be herded down Hollywood Blvd. at any one time.

In Texas, it is still a "hanging offense" to steal cattle.