This Kona Coast dive site is possibly the most beautiful, diverse, easily accessible, interesting dive location we have on the Island of Hawaii. It is at Honaunau Bay, just north of the National Historic Park.
This whole area is an ancient Hawaiian fishing/religious ceremonial area, so treat it as such. Show the proper respect for the location, please. Some of the locals are upset with the proliferation of divers and snorkelers frequenting this site today, so please, treat them with respect and don't leave any trash for them to use as evidence of your visit. Respectfully smile at everyone you see, you'll be surprised at how that will confuse those you meet.
Because of the abundance of colorful reef marine life, this is an excellent place to snorkel ... as well as scuba. The clarity of the water here is conducive to exciting sightings of various marine-life species.There are two fine routes for divers to take from the entry point. One is straight out toward open ocean, the second along the rocky shore in a northerly direction. If you are going straight out, watch and listen closely for the many fishing boats that use this bay as a launch site (a cautionary dive flag float is recommended). The straight out route will take you across many coral heads and sandy channels holding a multitude of invertebrates and reef fish. In the center of the bay, you'll reach a living coral reef that is punctuated with countless pukas (holes) that hold numerous eels, crabs and shells of many descriptions. Watch for the Giant Green Sea Turtles in this bay as they often frequent this fantastic dive spot. Remember, the Green Sea Turtle is a protected, endangered species. So don't touch, grab on to, or try to ride these valuable creatures -- the penalties for such action, if reported, is mega bucks and it ain't worth it. Just enjoy their presence.
Here's a hint on diving anywhere: When you see a coral reef that is covered with living coral, thoroughly inspect it, slowly, for it will be filled with delightful sea-life, in, around, under and above it -- but don't touch it. Dead coral heads and most rock rubble areas generally hold fewer species (but fascinating ones, nonetheless).
If you opt for the northerly shore route from the entry area you'll find many caves and indentations as you explore the underwater terrain.The lava wall is literally filled with hiding places for Kona's famous ula(Spiney Lobster)and(although they are being overharvested) you just may glimpse one or two peeking out at YOU!
Only a few yards away from the shoreline you'll notice a gradual slope of branch coral rubble. It slopes down more rapidly as you descend to over 80′ before leveling off in a sandy flat at over 100′. As you float over this ledge watch for the infamous Crown of Thorns Sea Star. This voracious critter is covered with sharp spines that can cause considerable pain when touched (so, don't touch 'em!). At the bottom of the bay, in the sandy area, occasionally, huge Manta Rays, and often, leopard rays are seen resting on the sandy flats. We've seen schools of opelu here that numbered in the thousands. Sometimes these schools are so dense they actually blot out the sun, appearing as black undulating masses of unrecognizable blobs of darkness. As they draw nearer,or if you are a brave soul and go toward them,you'll see that the ‘ blob' is actually thousands and thousands of tiny fish.Quite an experience.
In this area always keep your eye out, to the sides, ahead, and to your rear. Too many times, as we dive, we keep looking down -- and too often, several interesting sights are missed. Make it a habit to look around -- you'll be surprised at what you've been missing.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
A Rose from Homer's Grave
All the songs of the east speak of the love of the nightingale for the rose in the silent starlight night. The winged songster serenades the fragrant flowers.Not far from Smyrna, where the merchant drives his loaded camels, proudly arching their long necks as they journey beneath the lofty pines over holy ground, I saw a hedge of roses. The turtle-dove flew among the branches of the tall trees, and as the sunbeams fell upon her wings, they glistened as if they were mother-of-pearl. On the rose-bush grew a flower, more beautiful than them all, and to her the nightingale sung of his woes; but the rose remained silent, not even a dewdrop lay like a tear of sympathy on her leaves. At last she bowed her head over a heap of stones, and said, “Here rests the greatest singer in the world; over his tomb will I spread my fragrance, and on it I will let my leaves fall when the storm scatters them. He who sung of Troy became earth, and from that earth I have sprung. I, a rose from the grave of Homer, am too lofty to bloom for a nightingale.” Then the nightingale sung himself to death. A camel-driver came by, with his loaded camels and his black slaves; his little son found the dead bird, and buried the lovely songster in the grave of the great Homer, while the rose trembled in the wind.The evening came, and the rose wrapped her leaves more closely round her, and dreamed: and this was her dream.It was a fair sunshiny day; a crowd of strangers drew near who had undertaken a pilgrimage to the grave of Homer. Among the strangers was a minstrel from the north, the home of the clouds and the brilliant lights of the aurora borealis. He plucked the rose and placed it in a book, and carried it away into a distant part of the world, his fatherland. The rose faded with grief, and lay between the leaves of the book, which he opened in his own home, saying, “Here is a rose from the grave of Homer.”Then the flower awoke from her dream, and trembled in the wind. A drop of dew fell from the leaves upon the singer's grave. The sun rose, and the flower bloomed more beautiful than ever. The day was hot, and she was still in her own warm Asia. Then footsteps approached, strangers, such as the rose had seen in her dream, came by, and among them was a poet from the north; he plucked the rose, pressed a kiss upon her fresh mouth, and carried her away to the home of the clouds and the northern lights. Like a mummy, the flower now rests in his “Iliad,” and, as in her dream, she hears him say, as he opens the book, “Here is a rose from the grave of Homer.”
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
“ABC” and "banana"
A professor of mine once told a story about when she went to the United States to study.A native Eritrean, she had received a scholarship to pursue a bachelor's degree at an American university. The university organized a trip to Disneyland for her and the other international students. Before the group of international students went to Los Angeles, the coordinators of the trip informed the students from Africa that they should wear their "traditional" costumes, not Western-style clothing.Why?The coordinators were afraid that the African students would be "mistaken" for African-Americans simply because their skin color was also dark.At that time, the 1960s, there was still much overt racial discrimination against African-Americans.Insgroupsto avoid trouble, the coordinators wanted to make sure that their African students did not look African-American.
She ended her story by asking us to think about what we thought she was before we had met her. Her last name is Italian; did we think she was Italian? When we first saw her, did we assume that she was a black American?How much can we really know about a person based upon hair color, skin color, facial structure or body shape?
Identity is a difficult subject to discuss because it is so personal, and it is even more difficult to describe someone's identity clearly in a country like the USswheresjust about everyone's family came from somewhere else. My professor, until she left Eritrea, always considered herself Eritrean.When she got to America, however, people looked at her and saw a black woman, not an Eritrean woman. Similarly, Japanese, Koreans and Chinese people come to the US and are often just called "Asians".Appearance is used as the main condition for identity, although appearances can be quite deceiving.
Is there a difference between a Chinese person born in China and a person born in the US to parents from China?Most people would agree that there is.There are certain phrases that people frequently use insgroupsto define the Chinese-American identity. The two most commonly heard terms are "ABC", meaning an American-born Chinese, and "banana".The former is often considered an acceptable label for people of Chinese descent born in the US; in Canada there is the corresponding term "CBC" for Canadian-born Chinese.The second term, banana, is usually regarded as derogatory or offensive, and it refers to someone who is "yellow" on the outside but "white" on the inside.
The phrase ABC is used so commonly that many people think it is an appropriate description of Chinese-Americans.However, the phrase hides what I think is a very dangerous belief about identity. Identity is developed and learned, not given at birth.To say that someone is an American-born Chinese is to suggest that if that person were born anywhere else in the world, he/she would still be fundamentally Chinese because Chineseness, the quality of being Chinese, is inherent in this person.It implies that an ABC is Chinese first and just happened to be born in the United States.Yet being Chinese is not an inherent quality that one person has simply because he or she looks Chinese.Just about every Chinese-American recognizes that there are huge differences in personality, behavior and physical appearance between themselves and their native Chinese counterparts.
These differences are what the term "banana" addresses.Bananas are yellow-skinned but with white insides - for people, this is meant to describe individuals who look Chinese but whose "insides", that is, their behavior and personality, are "white".But this also carries a demeaning and offensive undertone: that these people are only half-real, they are neither completely Chinese nor actually white. Even worse, the term is sometimes used to suggest that Chinese-Americans really wish that they were white.Being white, of course, is assumed to mean being American, which is a third misconception.Not all Americans are white, and in not too many years the majority of the population in America won't be white (i.e. of purely European descent) at all.
Identity for everyone is a matter of experience and circumstance, not skin color or general appearance.What terms like ABC and banana ignore is that being Chinese-American constitutes a very real identity in its own right.Chinese-Americans are not necessarily caught between the East and the West.The Chinese-American identity is one that has developed over many generations in the US (since the 1840s), but one that can also be shared by recent immigrants and their families.It is important because it is different, because it is the product of blending social and cultural influences, and these differences should be recognized and not brushed aside.
She ended her story by asking us to think about what we thought she was before we had met her. Her last name is Italian; did we think she was Italian? When we first saw her, did we assume that she was a black American?How much can we really know about a person based upon hair color, skin color, facial structure or body shape?
Identity is a difficult subject to discuss because it is so personal, and it is even more difficult to describe someone's identity clearly in a country like the USswheresjust about everyone's family came from somewhere else. My professor, until she left Eritrea, always considered herself Eritrean.When she got to America, however, people looked at her and saw a black woman, not an Eritrean woman. Similarly, Japanese, Koreans and Chinese people come to the US and are often just called "Asians".Appearance is used as the main condition for identity, although appearances can be quite deceiving.
Is there a difference between a Chinese person born in China and a person born in the US to parents from China?Most people would agree that there is.There are certain phrases that people frequently use insgroupsto define the Chinese-American identity. The two most commonly heard terms are "ABC", meaning an American-born Chinese, and "banana".The former is often considered an acceptable label for people of Chinese descent born in the US; in Canada there is the corresponding term "CBC" for Canadian-born Chinese.The second term, banana, is usually regarded as derogatory or offensive, and it refers to someone who is "yellow" on the outside but "white" on the inside.
The phrase ABC is used so commonly that many people think it is an appropriate description of Chinese-Americans.However, the phrase hides what I think is a very dangerous belief about identity. Identity is developed and learned, not given at birth.To say that someone is an American-born Chinese is to suggest that if that person were born anywhere else in the world, he/she would still be fundamentally Chinese because Chineseness, the quality of being Chinese, is inherent in this person.It implies that an ABC is Chinese first and just happened to be born in the United States.Yet being Chinese is not an inherent quality that one person has simply because he or she looks Chinese.Just about every Chinese-American recognizes that there are huge differences in personality, behavior and physical appearance between themselves and their native Chinese counterparts.
These differences are what the term "banana" addresses.Bananas are yellow-skinned but with white insides - for people, this is meant to describe individuals who look Chinese but whose "insides", that is, their behavior and personality, are "white".But this also carries a demeaning and offensive undertone: that these people are only half-real, they are neither completely Chinese nor actually white. Even worse, the term is sometimes used to suggest that Chinese-Americans really wish that they were white.Being white, of course, is assumed to mean being American, which is a third misconception.Not all Americans are white, and in not too many years the majority of the population in America won't be white (i.e. of purely European descent) at all.
Identity for everyone is a matter of experience and circumstance, not skin color or general appearance.What terms like ABC and banana ignore is that being Chinese-American constitutes a very real identity in its own right.Chinese-Americans are not necessarily caught between the East and the West.The Chinese-American identity is one that has developed over many generations in the US (since the 1840s), but one that can also be shared by recent immigrants and their families.It is important because it is different, because it is the product of blending social and cultural influences, and these differences should be recognized and not brushed aside.
Friday, October 17, 2008
As a Business Gets Bigger, Its Radios Get Smaller
With fee-based satellite radio gaining a foothold in the United States, the two companies that offer the service are hoping to expand their customer base by selling smaller after-market receivers with a range of new capabilities.
Sirius and XM are the only companies authorized to deliver satellite radio, which provides more than 100 channels of music, talk and sports in a digital format to subscribers with special receivers. XM is the market leader, reporting 2.1 million subscribers as of the end of June; Sirius reported 480,000.
While more automobile manufacturers are offering Sirius and XM as factory-installed options, both companies are concentrating on improving their after-market receivers, which customers can mount on a car's dashboard or use in the home. The after-market business still accounts for about 50 percent of all units sold, and include manufacturers like Audiovox, Clarion, Delphi, Kenwood and JVC.
Most of the receivers range from $100 to $160.
Later this week, XM is set to introduce receivers capable of storing up to 30 minutes of any live broadcast to play back at a later time. With a function that works much like the pause control of a digital video recorder, the units will also be able to replay the last 30 minutes of the channel to which the unit was most recently tuned.
The earliest plug-and-play satellite receivers were bulky, but both companies have succeeded in shrinking their units. XM's newest and smallest-ever unit, the Roady2, released last month, is 3.4 ounces, half the weight of its predecessor model.
Even the antennas are shrinking. Aware that many customers mount the antenna on the dash(=dashboard) rather than the roof, both companies are using microantennas not much bigger than a quarter.
Both companies also offer models that let users store the names of favorite artists and titles. When one of those is playing on another channel, the receiver beeps to alert the listener. In XM's case, the unit will also automatically switch to that other station.
"We've learned from our customer base that information is a very valuable component of our services, as much as audio," said Steve Cook, XM's executive vice president of sales and marketing.
Next month, Sirius will introduce its Sportster model, designed to complement its introduction of NFL Radio, which is a new talk channel, and several channels to transmit every NFL game. The radio can be programmed to jump automatically to the correct station when one of the user's favorite teams is playing.
To appeal to investors, XM's Roady2 can display continuously updated stock quotes across the screen. Sirius plans to introduce a radio with a similar feature.
Beginning this fall, XM will offer NavTraffic, giving owners of the Acura RL and the Cadillac CTS the ability to combine XM's continuously updated traffic information with the car's navigation system producing color-coded maps showing traffic delays, allowing drivers to obtain alternate routings.
To make it easier to receive satellite radio in the home, Sirius will introduce a $129 accessory antenna that, mounted on the roof, will transmit a signal through the walls into a secondary unit attached to the receiver.
And by the beginning of next year, Sirius will offer a receiver that can download Sirius programming from the Internet for later playback in areas where signals cannot reach.
"We want to get you our signal wherever you want to listen, even if that's in the shower," said Larry Pesce, a Sirius senior vice president. "We're working on shower solutions now."
Sirius and XM are the only companies authorized to deliver satellite radio, which provides more than 100 channels of music, talk and sports in a digital format to subscribers with special receivers. XM is the market leader, reporting 2.1 million subscribers as of the end of June; Sirius reported 480,000.
While more automobile manufacturers are offering Sirius and XM as factory-installed options, both companies are concentrating on improving their after-market receivers, which customers can mount on a car's dashboard or use in the home. The after-market business still accounts for about 50 percent of all units sold, and include manufacturers like Audiovox, Clarion, Delphi, Kenwood and JVC.
Most of the receivers range from $100 to $160.
Later this week, XM is set to introduce receivers capable of storing up to 30 minutes of any live broadcast to play back at a later time. With a function that works much like the pause control of a digital video recorder, the units will also be able to replay the last 30 minutes of the channel to which the unit was most recently tuned.
The earliest plug-and-play satellite receivers were bulky, but both companies have succeeded in shrinking their units. XM's newest and smallest-ever unit, the Roady2, released last month, is 3.4 ounces, half the weight of its predecessor model.
Even the antennas are shrinking. Aware that many customers mount the antenna on the dash(=dashboard) rather than the roof, both companies are using microantennas not much bigger than a quarter.
Both companies also offer models that let users store the names of favorite artists and titles. When one of those is playing on another channel, the receiver beeps to alert the listener. In XM's case, the unit will also automatically switch to that other station.
"We've learned from our customer base that information is a very valuable component of our services, as much as audio," said Steve Cook, XM's executive vice president of sales and marketing.
Next month, Sirius will introduce its Sportster model, designed to complement its introduction of NFL Radio, which is a new talk channel, and several channels to transmit every NFL game. The radio can be programmed to jump automatically to the correct station when one of the user's favorite teams is playing.
To appeal to investors, XM's Roady2 can display continuously updated stock quotes across the screen. Sirius plans to introduce a radio with a similar feature.
Beginning this fall, XM will offer NavTraffic, giving owners of the Acura RL and the Cadillac CTS the ability to combine XM's continuously updated traffic information with the car's navigation system producing color-coded maps showing traffic delays, allowing drivers to obtain alternate routings.
To make it easier to receive satellite radio in the home, Sirius will introduce a $129 accessory antenna that, mounted on the roof, will transmit a signal through the walls into a secondary unit attached to the receiver.
And by the beginning of next year, Sirius will offer a receiver that can download Sirius programming from the Internet for later playback in areas where signals cannot reach.
"We want to get you our signal wherever you want to listen, even if that's in the shower," said Larry Pesce, a Sirius senior vice president. "We're working on shower solutions now."
Thursday, October 9, 2008
As a Business Gets Bigger, Its Radios Get Smaller
With fee-based satellite radio gaining a foothold in the United States, the two companies that offer the service are hoping to expand their customer base by selling smaller after-market receivers with a range of new capabilities.
Sirius and XM are the only companies authorized to deliver satellite radio, which provides more than 100 channels of music, talk and sports in a digital format to subscribers with special receivers. XM is the market leader, reporting 2.1 million subscribers as of the end of June; Sirius reported 480,000.
While more automobile manufacturers are offering Sirius and XM as factory-installed options, both companies are concentrating on improving their after-market receivers, which customers can mount on a car's dashboard or use in the home. The after-market business still accounts for about 50 percent of all units sold, and include manufacturers like Audiovox, Clarion, Delphi, Kenwood and JVC.
Most of the receivers range from $100 to $160.
Later this week, XM is set to introduce receivers capable of storing up to 30 minutes of any live broadcast to play back at a later time. With a function that works much like the pause control of a digital video recorder, the units will also be able to replay the last 30 minutes of the channel to which the unit was most recently tuned.
The earliest plug-and-play satellite receivers were bulky, but both companies have succeeded in shrinking their units. XM's newest and smallest-ever unit, the Roady2, released last month, is 3.4 ounces, half the weight of its predecessor model.
Even the antennas are shrinking. Aware that many customers mount the antenna on the dash(=dashboard) rather than the roof, both companies are using microantennas not much bigger than a quarter.
Both companies also offer models that let users store the names of favorite artists and titles. When one of those is playing on another channel, the receiver beeps to alert the listener. In XM's case, the unit will also automatically switch to that other station.
"We've learned from our customer base that information is a very valuable component of our services, as much as audio," said Steve Cook, XM's executive vice president of sales and marketing.
Next month, Sirius will introduce its Sportster model, designed to complement its introduction of NFL Radio, which is a new talk channel, and several channels to transmit every NFL game. The radio can be programmed to jump automatically to the correct station when one of the user's favorite teams is playing.
To appeal to investors, XM's Roady2 can display continuously updated stock quotes across the screen. Sirius plans to introduce a radio with a similar feature.
Beginning this fall, XM will offer NavTraffic, giving owners of the Acura RL and the Cadillac CTS the ability to combine XM's continuously updated traffic information with the car's navigation system producing color-coded maps showing traffic delays, allowing drivers to obtain alternate routings.
To make it easier to receive satellite radio in the home, Sirius will introduce a $129 accessory antenna that, mounted on the roof, will transmit a signal through the walls into a secondary unit attached to the receiver.
And by the beginning of next year, Sirius will offer a receiver that can download Sirius programming from the Internet for later playback in areas where signals cannot reach.
"We want to get you our signal wherever you want to listen, even if that's in the shower," said Larry Pesce, a Sirius senior vice president. "We're working on shower solutions now."
Sirius and XM are the only companies authorized to deliver satellite radio, which provides more than 100 channels of music, talk and sports in a digital format to subscribers with special receivers. XM is the market leader, reporting 2.1 million subscribers as of the end of June; Sirius reported 480,000.
While more automobile manufacturers are offering Sirius and XM as factory-installed options, both companies are concentrating on improving their after-market receivers, which customers can mount on a car's dashboard or use in the home. The after-market business still accounts for about 50 percent of all units sold, and include manufacturers like Audiovox, Clarion, Delphi, Kenwood and JVC.
Most of the receivers range from $100 to $160.
Later this week, XM is set to introduce receivers capable of storing up to 30 minutes of any live broadcast to play back at a later time. With a function that works much like the pause control of a digital video recorder, the units will also be able to replay the last 30 minutes of the channel to which the unit was most recently tuned.
The earliest plug-and-play satellite receivers were bulky, but both companies have succeeded in shrinking their units. XM's newest and smallest-ever unit, the Roady2, released last month, is 3.4 ounces, half the weight of its predecessor model.
Even the antennas are shrinking. Aware that many customers mount the antenna on the dash(=dashboard) rather than the roof, both companies are using microantennas not much bigger than a quarter.
Both companies also offer models that let users store the names of favorite artists and titles. When one of those is playing on another channel, the receiver beeps to alert the listener. In XM's case, the unit will also automatically switch to that other station.
"We've learned from our customer base that information is a very valuable component of our services, as much as audio," said Steve Cook, XM's executive vice president of sales and marketing.
Next month, Sirius will introduce its Sportster model, designed to complement its introduction of NFL Radio, which is a new talk channel, and several channels to transmit every NFL game. The radio can be programmed to jump automatically to the correct station when one of the user's favorite teams is playing.
To appeal to investors, XM's Roady2 can display continuously updated stock quotes across the screen. Sirius plans to introduce a radio with a similar feature.
Beginning this fall, XM will offer NavTraffic, giving owners of the Acura RL and the Cadillac CTS the ability to combine XM's continuously updated traffic information with the car's navigation system producing color-coded maps showing traffic delays, allowing drivers to obtain alternate routings.
To make it easier to receive satellite radio in the home, Sirius will introduce a $129 accessory antenna that, mounted on the roof, will transmit a signal through the walls into a secondary unit attached to the receiver.
And by the beginning of next year, Sirius will offer a receiver that can download Sirius programming from the Internet for later playback in areas where signals cannot reach.
"We want to get you our signal wherever you want to listen, even if that's in the shower," said Larry Pesce, a Sirius senior vice president. "We're working on shower solutions now."
Genetically modified foods -- Feed the World?
If you want to spark a heated debate at a dinner party, bring up the topic of genetically modified foods. For many people, the concept of genetically altered, high-tech crop production raises all kinds of environmental, health, safety and ethical questions. Particularly in countries with long agrarian traditions -- and vocal green lobbies -- the idea seems against nature.
In fact, genetically modified foods are already very much a part of our lives. A third of the corn and more than half the soybeans and cotton grown in the US last year were the product of biotechnology, according to the Department of Agriculture. More than 65 million acres of genetically modified crops will be planted in the US this year. The genetic is out of the bottle.
Yet there are clearly some very real issues that need to be resolved. Like any new product entering the food chain, genetically modified foods must be subjected to rigorous testing. In wealthy countries, the debate about biotech is tempered by the fact that we have a rich array of foods to choose from -- and a supply that far exceeds our needs. In developing countries desperate to feed fast-growing and underfed populations; the issue is simpler and much more urgent: Do the benefits of biotech outweigh the risks?
The statistics on population growth and hunger are disturbing. Last year the world's population reached 6 billion. And by 2050, the UN estimates, it will probably near 9 billion. Almost all that growth will occur in developing countries. At the same time, the world's available cultivable land per person is declining. Arable land has declined steadily since 1960 and will decease by half over the next 50 years, according to the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications (ISAAA).
The UN estimates that nearly 800 million people around the world are undernourished. The effects are devastating. About 400 million women of childbearing age are iron deficient, which means their babies are exposed to various birth defects. As many as 100 million children suffer from vitamin A deficiency, a leading cause of blindness. Tens of millions of people suffer from other major ailments and nutritional deficiencies caused by lack of food.
How can biotech help? Biotechnologists have developed genetically modified rice that is fortified with beta-carotene -- which the body converts into vitamin A -- and additional iron, and they are working on other kinds of nutritionally improved crops. Biotech can also improve farming productivity in places where food shortages are caused by crop damage attribution to pests, drought, poor soil and crop viruses, bacteria or fungi.
Damage caused by pests is incredible. The European corn borer, for example, destroys 40 million tons of the world's corn crop annually, about 7% of the total. Incorporating pest-resistant genes into seeds can help restore the balance. In trials of pest-resistant cotton in Africa, yields have increased significantly. So far, fears that genetically modified, pest-resistant crops might kill good insects as well as bad appear unfounded.
Viruses often cause massive failure in staple crops in developing countries. Two years age, Africa lost more than half its cassava crop -- a key source of calories -- to the mosaic virus. Genetically modified, virus-resistant crops can reduce that damage, as can drought-tolerant seeds in regions where water shortages limit the amount of land under cultivation. Biotech can also help solve the problem of soil that contains excess aluminum, which can damage roots and cause many staple-crop failures. A gene that helps neutralize aluminum toxicity in rice has been identified.Many scientists believe biotech could raise overall crop productivity in developing countries as much as 25% and help prevent the loss of those crops after they are harvested.
Yet for all that promise, biotech is far from being the whole answer. In developing countries, lost crops are only one cause of hunger. Poverty plays the largest role. Today more than 1 billion people around the globe live on less than ' 1 a day. Making genetically modified crops available will not reduce hunger if farmers cannot afford to grow them or if the local population cannot afford to buy the food those farmers produce.
Nor can biotech overcome the challenge of distributing food in developing countries. Taken as a whole, the world produces enough food to feed everyone -- but much of it is simply in the wrong place. Especially in countries with undeveloped transport infrastructures, geography restricts food availability as dramatically as genetics promises to improve it.
Biotech has its own "distribution" problems. Private-sector biotech companies in the rich countries carry out much of the leading-edge research on genetically modified crops. Their products are often too costly for poor farmers in the developing world, and many of those products won't even reach the regions where they are most needed. Biotech firms have a strong financial incentive to target rich markets first in order to help them rapidly recoup the high costs of product development. But some of these companies are responding to needs of poor countries. A London-based company, for example, has announced that it will share with developing countries technology needed to produce vitamin-enriched "golden rice".
More and more biotech research is being carried out in developing countries. But to increase the impact of genetic research on the food production of those countries, there is a need for better collaboration between government agencies -- both local and in developed countries -- and private biotech firms. The ISAAA, for example, is successfully partnering with the US Agency for International Development, local researches and private biotech companies to find and deliver biotech solutions for farmers in developing countries.
Will "Frankenfoods" feed the world? Biotech is not a panacea, but it does promise to transform agriculture in many developing countries. If that promise is not fulfilled, the real losers will be their people, who could suffer for years to come.
Internet turns 35, still a work in progress
Thirty-five years after computer scientists at UCLA linked two bulky computers using a 15-foot gray cable, testing a new way for exchanging data over networks, what would ultimately become the Internet remains a work in progress.
University researchers are experimenting with ways to increase its capacity and speed. Programmers are trying to imbue Web pages with intelligence. And work is underway to re-engineer the network to reduce spam(junk mail,) and security troubles.
All the while threats loom: Critics warn that commercial, legal and political pressures could hinder the types of innovations that made the Internet what it is today.
Stephen Crocker and Vinton Cerf were among the graduate students who joined UCLA professor Len Kleinrock in an engineering lab on Sept. 2, 1969, as bits of meaningless test data flowed silently between the two computers. By January, three other "nodes" joined the fledgling network.
Then came e-mail a few years later, a core communications protocol called TCP/IP in the late 70s, the domain name system in the 80s and the World Wide Web - now the second most popular application behind e-mail - in 1990. The Internet expanded beyond its initial military and educational domain into businesses and homes around the world.
Today, Crocker continues work on the Internet, designing better tools for collaboration. And as security chairman for the Internet's key oversight body, he is trying to defend the core addressing system from outside threats.
He acknowledges the Internet he helped build is far from finished, and changes are in store to meet growing demands for multimedia. Network providers now make only "best efforts" at delivering data packets, and Crocker said better guarantees are needed to prevent the skips and stutters now common with video.
Cerf, now at MCI Inc., said he wished he could have designed the Internet with security built-in. Microsoft Corp., Yahoo Inc. and America Online Inc., among others, are currently trying to retrofit the network so e-mail senders can be authenticated - a way to cut down on junk messages sent using spoofed addresses.
Many features being developed today wouldn't have been possible at birth given the slower computing speeds and narrower Internet pipes, or bandwidth, Cerf said.
University researchers are experimenting with ways to increase its capacity and speed. Programmers are trying to imbue Web pages with intelligence. And work is underway to re-engineer the network to reduce spam(junk mail,) and security troubles.
All the while threats loom: Critics warn that commercial, legal and political pressures could hinder the types of innovations that made the Internet what it is today.
Stephen Crocker and Vinton Cerf were among the graduate students who joined UCLA professor Len Kleinrock in an engineering lab on Sept. 2, 1969, as bits of meaningless test data flowed silently between the two computers. By January, three other "nodes" joined the fledgling network.
Then came e-mail a few years later, a core communications protocol called TCP/IP in the late 70s, the domain name system in the 80s and the World Wide Web - now the second most popular application behind e-mail - in 1990. The Internet expanded beyond its initial military and educational domain into businesses and homes around the world.
Today, Crocker continues work on the Internet, designing better tools for collaboration. And as security chairman for the Internet's key oversight body, he is trying to defend the core addressing system from outside threats.
He acknowledges the Internet he helped build is far from finished, and changes are in store to meet growing demands for multimedia. Network providers now make only "best efforts" at delivering data packets, and Crocker said better guarantees are needed to prevent the skips and stutters now common with video.
Cerf, now at MCI Inc., said he wished he could have designed the Internet with security built-in. Microsoft Corp., Yahoo Inc. and America Online Inc., among others, are currently trying to retrofit the network so e-mail senders can be authenticated - a way to cut down on junk messages sent using spoofed addresses.
Many features being developed today wouldn't have been possible at birth given the slower computing speeds and narrower Internet pipes, or bandwidth, Cerf said.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Genesis space capsule crashes in Utah desert
A space capsule returning solar particles to Earth crashed in the Utah desert on September 8th after its parachute failed to open, but scientists were hoping that the star dust inside might have been saved.A Hollywood stunt pilot was supposed to snag the Genesis capsule as it floated toward Earth on a parachute at the end of its three-year mission to collect solar ions.
But the capsule's parachutes failed to open, and the spacecraft tumbled out of control and struck the ground at 193 miles per hour six minutes after entering Earth's atmosphere.
The flight had gone smoothly until moments before impact, which left the 450-pound capsule half buried in the sand about 31 miles from the U.S. Army's Dugway Proving Ground, where the Genesis team watched a live aerial broadcast of the events.
"Certainly now we are in a situation where the scientists ... are going to have to deal with a lot more contamination than they were hoping for," Genesis project manager Don Sweetnam said at a briefing at Dugway shortly after the crash.
Charles Elachi, director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, where the mission was based, said he was "still hopeful."
"All the data is there," Elachi said. "The question is: 'How contaminated is it?' It will make it much harder to analyze."
The spacecraft collected ions that had been blown by solar winds on wafers of silicon, diamond, sapphire, gold and other materials.
It was the first extraterrestrial matter to be returned to Earth by a spacecraft since the U.S. Apollo and Soviet Luna missions brought back moon rocks in the 1970s.
Scientists hoped that study of the materials would yield insights about the early formation of planets and the dawn of the solar system.
An initial check of the spacecraft showed that several pyrotechnic devices failed to fire and deploy the chutes, but the reason for the multiple failures was unclear, Andrew Dantzler, NASA solar system division director, said.
But the capsule's parachutes failed to open, and the spacecraft tumbled out of control and struck the ground at 193 miles per hour six minutes after entering Earth's atmosphere.
The flight had gone smoothly until moments before impact, which left the 450-pound capsule half buried in the sand about 31 miles from the U.S. Army's Dugway Proving Ground, where the Genesis team watched a live aerial broadcast of the events.
"Certainly now we are in a situation where the scientists ... are going to have to deal with a lot more contamination than they were hoping for," Genesis project manager Don Sweetnam said at a briefing at Dugway shortly after the crash.
Charles Elachi, director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, where the mission was based, said he was "still hopeful."
"All the data is there," Elachi said. "The question is: 'How contaminated is it?' It will make it much harder to analyze."
The spacecraft collected ions that had been blown by solar winds on wafers of silicon, diamond, sapphire, gold and other materials.
It was the first extraterrestrial matter to be returned to Earth by a spacecraft since the U.S. Apollo and Soviet Luna missions brought back moon rocks in the 1970s.
Scientists hoped that study of the materials would yield insights about the early formation of planets and the dawn of the solar system.
An initial check of the spacecraft showed that several pyrotechnic devices failed to fire and deploy the chutes, but the reason for the multiple failures was unclear, Andrew Dantzler, NASA solar system division director, said.
Flying cars swoop to the rescue
As motorways become more and more clogged up with traffic, a new generation of flying cars will be needed to ferry people along skyways.
That is the verdict of engineers from the US space agency and aeronautical firms, who envision future commuters travelling by "skycar".
These could look much like the concept skycar shown in the picture, designed by Boeing research and development.
However, such vehicles could be some 25 years from appearing on the market.
Efforts to build flying vehicles in the past have not been very successful.
Such vehicles would not only be expensive and require the skills of a trained pilot to fly, but there are significant engineering challenges involved in developing them.
"When you try to combine them you get the worst of both worlds: a very heavy, slow, expensive vehicle that's hard to use," said Mark Moore, head of the personal air vehicle (PAV) division of the vehicle systems program at Nasa's Langley Research Center in Hampton, US.
But Boeing is also considering how to police the airways - and prevent total pandemonium - if thousands of flying cars enter the skies.
"The neat, gee-whiz part is thinking about what would the vehicle itself look like," said Dick Paul, a vice president with Phantom Works, Boeing's research and development arm.
"But we're trying to think through all the ramifications of what would it take to deploy a fleet of these."
Past proposals to solve this problem have included artificial intelligence systems to prevent collisions between air traffic.
Nasa is working on flying vehicles with the initial goal of transforming small plane travel.
Small planes are generally costly, loud, require months of training and lots of money to operate, making flying to work impractical for most people.
But within five years, Nasa researchers hope to develop technology for a small plane that can fly out of regional airports, costs less than $100,000 (￡55,725), is as quiet as a motorcycle and as simple to operate as a car.
Although it would not have any road-driving capabilities, it would bring this form of travel within the grasp of a wider section of people. Technology would automate many of the pilot's functions.
This Small Aircraft Transportation System (Sats) would divert pressure away from the "hub-and-spoke" model of air travel.
Hub-and-spoke refers to the typically US model of passengers being processed through large "hub" airports and then on to secondary flights to "spoke" airports near their final destination.
That is the verdict of engineers from the US space agency and aeronautical firms, who envision future commuters travelling by "skycar".
These could look much like the concept skycar shown in the picture, designed by Boeing research and development.
However, such vehicles could be some 25 years from appearing on the market.
Efforts to build flying vehicles in the past have not been very successful.
Such vehicles would not only be expensive and require the skills of a trained pilot to fly, but there are significant engineering challenges involved in developing them.
"When you try to combine them you get the worst of both worlds: a very heavy, slow, expensive vehicle that's hard to use," said Mark Moore, head of the personal air vehicle (PAV) division of the vehicle systems program at Nasa's Langley Research Center in Hampton, US.
But Boeing is also considering how to police the airways - and prevent total pandemonium - if thousands of flying cars enter the skies.
"The neat, gee-whiz part is thinking about what would the vehicle itself look like," said Dick Paul, a vice president with Phantom Works, Boeing's research and development arm.
"But we're trying to think through all the ramifications of what would it take to deploy a fleet of these."
Past proposals to solve this problem have included artificial intelligence systems to prevent collisions between air traffic.
Nasa is working on flying vehicles with the initial goal of transforming small plane travel.
Small planes are generally costly, loud, require months of training and lots of money to operate, making flying to work impractical for most people.
But within five years, Nasa researchers hope to develop technology for a small plane that can fly out of regional airports, costs less than $100,000 (￡55,725), is as quiet as a motorcycle and as simple to operate as a car.
Although it would not have any road-driving capabilities, it would bring this form of travel within the grasp of a wider section of people. Technology would automate many of the pilot's functions.
This Small Aircraft Transportation System (Sats) would divert pressure away from the "hub-and-spoke" model of air travel.
Hub-and-spoke refers to the typically US model of passengers being processed through large "hub" airports and then on to secondary flights to "spoke" airports near their final destination.
Mutant Gene "Sparked Art and Culture"
A tiny mutation in a gene common to mammals may have changed the destiny of humanity. The gene, foxp2 ? identified by British researchers two years ago ? could have been the switch that lit up art, culture and social behaviour in Homo sapiens* 50,000 years ago. Richard Klein, an anthropologist at Stanford University in California, said that early modern humans 100,000 years ago were confined to Africa and seemed no different from their now-extinct cousins Homo neanderthalensis and Homo erectus in Europe and Asia. Then, 50,000 years ago, behaviour altered dramatically: "There was a biological change, a genetic mutation of some kind that promoted the fully modern ability to create and innovate." "When you look at the archaeological record before 50,000 years ago, it is remarkably homogeneous. There are no geographically delineated \groups\ of artefacts. Suddenly, modern-looking people began to behave in a modern way, producing art and jewellery... manufacturing styles and different cultures." Anthropologists have argued for years about this. Some researchers say population increase triggered creativity.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Arbor Day (Day of Trees)
In many countries it has long been the tradition to hold an annual tree or forest festival. The origin of such celebrations dates back to antiquity and is in the dawn of religious feeling and awe for what trees represented. However, Arbor Day, as it is commonly known today, is of American origin and evolved from conditions peculiar to the Great Plains. It was first observed in Nebraska in 1872.
The idea, conceived by J.S. Morton, then a member of the Nebraska State Board of Agriculture, was one of forest conservation. It was a move to promote replanting, following deforestation, and to plant up treeless areas. The idea has spread widely to other lands where it is variously celebrated as the 'Festival of Trees', 'Greening Week' of Japan, 'The New Year's Days of Trees' in Israel, 'The Tree-loving Week' of Korea, 'The Reforestation Week' of Yugoslavia, 'The Students' Afforestation Day' of Iceland and 'The National Festival of Tree Planting' in India. Arbor Day in its various forms is now recognised in more than fifty countries.
THE IMPORTANCE OF ARBOR DAY
On Arbor Day, particular attention is drawn to the part trees play in our lives. It's not just a day to plant trees and then forget the gesture for another twelve months. Planting a tree one day is no credit to us if, during the rest of the year, we neglect to care for it and those already growing. Our thought on Arbor Day should be an expression of enduring feeling, thought and action and not just one single, isolated flame of interest.
In schools and other community groups, this day can be celebrated in many different ways.
·By planting trees or shrubs in school grounds, along neighbouring streets or in civic parks.·By 'adopting' a patch of bush, with the landowner's consent, and caring for it by removal of weeds, rubbish, etc, by preparing firebreaks and by fencing and making paths to reduce trampling.·By presenting a play or mime about trees in the history of Australia.·By completing a project about certain types of trees (eg. jarrah, boab, karri) or a famous tree like the Gloucester Tree near Pemberton.·As a class activity or common interest group go on a visit to a bush area with a spokesperson to explain the characteristics of plant species and their niche in the natural environment.·Collect some tree seeds, germinate them in a classroom, and plant out the seedling.·Carry out identification of trees in a specific part of your school or neighbourhood. A tree labelling ceremony could also be arranged.·Compile a list of everyday objects that are made of wood or wood-based materials, and find out how the wood was processed, where it came from and whatever else you can.Trees and shrubs, whether native or introduced to WA, provide opportunities for the interest and study by the whole community, and when we walk around our own neighbourhood or drive through the countryside, we can appreciate the importance of such a diversity of plants to the well being of humanity.
The idea, conceived by J.S. Morton, then a member of the Nebraska State Board of Agriculture, was one of forest conservation. It was a move to promote replanting, following deforestation, and to plant up treeless areas. The idea has spread widely to other lands where it is variously celebrated as the 'Festival of Trees', 'Greening Week' of Japan, 'The New Year's Days of Trees' in Israel, 'The Tree-loving Week' of Korea, 'The Reforestation Week' of Yugoslavia, 'The Students' Afforestation Day' of Iceland and 'The National Festival of Tree Planting' in India. Arbor Day in its various forms is now recognised in more than fifty countries.
THE IMPORTANCE OF ARBOR DAY
On Arbor Day, particular attention is drawn to the part trees play in our lives. It's not just a day to plant trees and then forget the gesture for another twelve months. Planting a tree one day is no credit to us if, during the rest of the year, we neglect to care for it and those already growing. Our thought on Arbor Day should be an expression of enduring feeling, thought and action and not just one single, isolated flame of interest.
In schools and other community groups, this day can be celebrated in many different ways.
·By planting trees or shrubs in school grounds, along neighbouring streets or in civic parks.·By 'adopting' a patch of bush, with the landowner's consent, and caring for it by removal of weeds, rubbish, etc, by preparing firebreaks and by fencing and making paths to reduce trampling.·By presenting a play or mime about trees in the history of Australia.·By completing a project about certain types of trees (eg. jarrah, boab, karri) or a famous tree like the Gloucester Tree near Pemberton.·As a class activity or common interest group go on a visit to a bush area with a spokesperson to explain the characteristics of plant species and their niche in the natural environment.·Collect some tree seeds, germinate them in a classroom, and plant out the seedling.·Carry out identification of trees in a specific part of your school or neighbourhood. A tree labelling ceremony could also be arranged.·Compile a list of everyday objects that are made of wood or wood-based materials, and find out how the wood was processed, where it came from and whatever else you can.Trees and shrubs, whether native or introduced to WA, provide opportunities for the interest and study by the whole community, and when we walk around our own neighbourhood or drive through the countryside, we can appreciate the importance of such a diversity of plants to the well being of humanity.
Easter Day
A Sunday between March 22 and April 25
The meaning of many different customs observed during Easter Sunday have been buried with time. Their origins lie in pre-Christian religions and Christianity. All in some way or another are a "salute to spring," marking re-birth. The white Easter lily has come to capture the glory of the holiday. The word "Easter" is named after Eastre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring. A festival was held in her honor every year at the vernal equinox （春分）.
People celebrate the holiday according to their beliefs and their religious denominations （命名）. Christians commemorate Good Friday as the day that Jesus Christ died and Easter Sunday as the day that He was resurrected （复活）. Protestant settlers brought the custom of a sunrise service, a religious gathering at dawn, to the United States.
This year Easter will be celebrated on Sunday April 11, 2004. On Easter Sunday children wake up to find that the Easter Bunny has left them baskets of candy. He has also hidden the eggs that they decorated earlier that week. Children hunt for the eggs all around the house. Neighborhoods and organizations hold Easter egg hunts, and the child who finds the most eggs wins a prize.
The Easter Bunny is a rabbit-spirit. Long ago, he was called the" Easter Hare." Hares and rabbits have frequent multiple births so they became a symbol of fertility. The custom of an Easter egg hunt began because children believed that hares laid eggs in the grass. The Romans believed that "All life comes from an egg." Christians consider eggs to be "the seed of life" and so they are symbolic of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Why we dye, or color, and decorate eggs is not certain. In ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome and Persia eggs were dyed for spring festivals. In medieval Europe, beautifully decorated eggs were given as gifts.
Egg Rolling
In England, Germany and some other countries, children rolled eggs down hills on Easter morning, a game which has been connected to the rolling away of the rock from Jesus Christ's tomb when he was resurrected. British settlers brought this custom to the New World.
In the United States in the early nineteenth century, Dolly Madison, the wife of the fourth American President, organized an egg roll in Washington, D.C. She had been told that Egyptian children used to roll eggs against the pyramids so she invited the children of Washington to roll hard-boiled eggs down the hilly lawn of the new Capitol building! The custom continued, except for the years during the Civil War. In 1880, the First Lady invited children to the White House for the Egg Roll because officials had complained that they were ruining the Capitol lawn. It has been held there ever since then, only canceled during times of war. The event has grown, and today Easter Monday is the only day of the year when tourists are allowed to wander over the White House lawn. The wife of the President sponsors it for the children of the entire country. The egg rolling event is open to children twelve years old and under. Adults are allowed only when accompanied by children!
Traditionally, many celebrants bought new clothes for Easter which they wore to church. After church services, everyone went for a walk around the town. This led to the American custom of Easter parades all over the country. Perhaps the most famous is along Fifth Avenue in New York City.
Good Friday is a federal holiday in 16 states and many schools and businesses throughout the U.S. are closed on this Friday.
The meaning of many different customs observed during Easter Sunday have been buried with time. Their origins lie in pre-Christian religions and Christianity. All in some way or another are a "salute to spring," marking re-birth. The white Easter lily has come to capture the glory of the holiday. The word "Easter" is named after Eastre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring. A festival was held in her honor every year at the vernal equinox （春分）.
People celebrate the holiday according to their beliefs and their religious denominations （命名）. Christians commemorate Good Friday as the day that Jesus Christ died and Easter Sunday as the day that He was resurrected （复活）. Protestant settlers brought the custom of a sunrise service, a religious gathering at dawn, to the United States.
This year Easter will be celebrated on Sunday April 11, 2004. On Easter Sunday children wake up to find that the Easter Bunny has left them baskets of candy. He has also hidden the eggs that they decorated earlier that week. Children hunt for the eggs all around the house. Neighborhoods and organizations hold Easter egg hunts, and the child who finds the most eggs wins a prize.
The Easter Bunny is a rabbit-spirit. Long ago, he was called the" Easter Hare." Hares and rabbits have frequent multiple births so they became a symbol of fertility. The custom of an Easter egg hunt began because children believed that hares laid eggs in the grass. The Romans believed that "All life comes from an egg." Christians consider eggs to be "the seed of life" and so they are symbolic of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Why we dye, or color, and decorate eggs is not certain. In ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome and Persia eggs were dyed for spring festivals. In medieval Europe, beautifully decorated eggs were given as gifts.
Egg Rolling
In England, Germany and some other countries, children rolled eggs down hills on Easter morning, a game which has been connected to the rolling away of the rock from Jesus Christ's tomb when he was resurrected. British settlers brought this custom to the New World.
In the United States in the early nineteenth century, Dolly Madison, the wife of the fourth American President, organized an egg roll in Washington, D.C. She had been told that Egyptian children used to roll eggs against the pyramids so she invited the children of Washington to roll hard-boiled eggs down the hilly lawn of the new Capitol building! The custom continued, except for the years during the Civil War. In 1880, the First Lady invited children to the White House for the Egg Roll because officials had complained that they were ruining the Capitol lawn. It has been held there ever since then, only canceled during times of war. The event has grown, and today Easter Monday is the only day of the year when tourists are allowed to wander over the White House lawn. The wife of the President sponsors it for the children of the entire country. The egg rolling event is open to children twelve years old and under. Adults are allowed only when accompanied by children!
Traditionally, many celebrants bought new clothes for Easter which they wore to church. After church services, everyone went for a walk around the town. This led to the American custom of Easter parades all over the country. Perhaps the most famous is along Fifth Avenue in New York City.
Good Friday is a federal holiday in 16 states and many schools and businesses throughout the U.S. are closed on this Friday.
April Fool's Day
April Fool's Day is traditionally a day to play practical jokes on others, send people on fool's errands, and fool the unsuspecting. No one knows how this holiday began but it was thought to have originated in France.
The closest point in time that can be identified as the beginning of this tradition was in 1582, in France. New Year's was celebrated on March 25 and celebrations lasted until April 1st. When New Year's Day as changed from March 25 to January 1st in the mid-1560's by King Charles IX, there were some people who still celebrated it on April 1st and those people were called April Fools.
Pranks performed on April Fool's Day range from the simple, (such as saying, "Your shoe's untied!), to the elaborate. Setting a roommate's alarm clock back an hour is a common gag. The news media even gets involved. For instance, a British short film once shown on April Fool's Day was a fairly detailed documentary about "spaghetti farmers" and how they harvest their crop from the spaghetti trees. Whatever the prank, the trickster usually ends it by yelling to his victim, "April Fool!"
April Fool's Day is a "for-fun-only" observance. Nobody is expected to buy gifts or to take their "significant other" out to eat in a fancy restaurant. Nobody gets off work or school. It's simply a fun little holiday, but a holiday on which one must remain forever vigilant, for he may be the next April Fool!
Each country celebrates April Fool's differently. In France, the April Fool's is called "April Fish" (Poisson d'Avril). The French fool their friends by taping a paper fish to their friends' backs and when some discovers a this trick, they yell "Poisson d'Avril!".
In England, tricks can be played only in the morning. If a trick is played on you, you are a "noodle". In Scotland, April Fools Day is 48 hours long and you are called an "April Gowk", which is another name for a cuckoo bird. The second day in Scotland's April Fool's is called Taily Day and is dedicated to pranks involving the buttocks. Taily Day's gift to posterior posterity is the still-hilarious "Kick Me" sign.
The closest point in time that can be identified as the beginning of this tradition was in 1582, in France. New Year's was celebrated on March 25 and celebrations lasted until April 1st. When New Year's Day as changed from March 25 to January 1st in the mid-1560's by King Charles IX, there were some people who still celebrated it on April 1st and those people were called April Fools.
Pranks performed on April Fool's Day range from the simple, (such as saying, "Your shoe's untied!), to the elaborate. Setting a roommate's alarm clock back an hour is a common gag. The news media even gets involved. For instance, a British short film once shown on April Fool's Day was a fairly detailed documentary about "spaghetti farmers" and how they harvest their crop from the spaghetti trees. Whatever the prank, the trickster usually ends it by yelling to his victim, "April Fool!"
April Fool's Day is a "for-fun-only" observance. Nobody is expected to buy gifts or to take their "significant other" out to eat in a fancy restaurant. Nobody gets off work or school. It's simply a fun little holiday, but a holiday on which one must remain forever vigilant, for he may be the next April Fool!
Each country celebrates April Fool's differently. In France, the April Fool's is called "April Fish" (Poisson d'Avril). The French fool their friends by taping a paper fish to their friends' backs and when some discovers a this trick, they yell "Poisson d'Avril!".
In England, tricks can be played only in the morning. If a trick is played on you, you are a "noodle". In Scotland, April Fools Day is 48 hours long and you are called an "April Gowk", which is another name for a cuckoo bird. The second day in Scotland's April Fool's is called Taily Day and is dedicated to pranks involving the buttocks. Taily Day's gift to posterior posterity is the still-hilarious "Kick Me" sign.
International Women's Day March 8
International Women's Day is an occasion marked by women's groups around the world. This date is also commemorated at the United Nations and is designated in many countries as a national holiday. When women on all continents, often divided by national boundaries and by ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic and political differences, come together to celebrate their Day, they can look back to a tradition that represents at least nine decades of struggle for equality, justice, peace and development.
International Women's Day is the story of ordinary women as makers of history; it is rooted in the centuries-old struggle of women to participate in society on an equal footing with men. In ancient Greece, Lysistrata initiated a sexual strike against men in order to end war; during the French Revolution, Parisian women calling for "liberty, equality, fraternity" marched on Versailles to demand women's suffrage.
The idea of an International Women's Day first arose at the turn of the century, which in the industrialized world was a period of expansion and turbulence, booming population growth and radical ideologies.
In the years before 1910, from the turn of the 20th century, women in industrially developing countries were entering paid work in some numbers. Their jobs were sex segregated, mainly in textiles, manufacturing and domestic services where conditions were wretched and wages worse than depressed. Trade unions were developing and industrial disputes broke out, including among sections of non-unionised women workers. In Europe, the flames of revolution were being kindled.
Many of the changes taking place in women's lives pushed against the political restrictions surrounding them. Throughout Europe, Britain, America and, to a lesser extent, Australia, women from all social strata began to campaign for the right to vote.
In the United States in 1903, women trade unionists and liberal professional women who were also campaigning for women's voting rights set up the Women's Trade Union League to help organise women in paid work around their political and economic welfare. These were dismal and bitter years for many women with terrible working conditions and home lives riven by poverty and often violence.
In 1908, on the last Sunday in February, socialist women in the United States initiated the first Women's Day when large demonstrations took place calling for the vote and the political and economic rights of women. The following year, 2,000 people attended a Women's Day rally in Manhattan.
In 1910 Women's Day was taken up by socialists and feminists throughout the country. Later that year delegates went to the second International Conference of Socialist Women in Copenhagen with the intention of proposing that Women's Day become an international event. The notion of international solidarity between the exploited workers of the world had long been established as a socialist principle, though largely an unrealised one. The idea of women organising politically as women was much more controversial within the socialist movement. At that time, however, the German Socialist Party had a strong influence on the international socialist movement and that party had many advocates for the rights of women, , including leaders such as Clara Zetkin.
Inspired by the actions of US women workers and their socialist sisters, Clara Zetkin ;had already framed a proposal to put to the conference of socialist women that women throughout the world should focus on a particular day each year to press for their demands. The conference of over 100 women from 17 countries, representing unions, socialist parties, working women's clubs, and including the first three women elected to the Finnish parliament, greeted Zetkin's suggestion with unanimous approval and International Women's Day was the result.
That conference also reasserted the importance of women's right to vote, dissociated itself from voting systems based on property rights and called for universal suffrage - the right to vote for all adult women and men The voice of dissent on this decision came from the English group led by Mrs. Despard of the Women's Freedom League, a group actively engaged in the suffragette movement.
Conference also called for maternity benefits which, despite an intervention by Alexandra Kollontai on behalf of unmarried mothers, were to be for married women only. It also decided to oppose night work as being detrimental to the health of most working women, though Swedish and Danish working women who were present asserted that night work was essential to their livelihood.
International Women's Day is the story of ordinary women as makers of history; it is rooted in the centuries-old struggle of women to participate in society on an equal footing with men. In ancient Greece, Lysistrata initiated a sexual strike against men in order to end war; during the French Revolution, Parisian women calling for "liberty, equality, fraternity" marched on Versailles to demand women's suffrage.
The idea of an International Women's Day first arose at the turn of the century, which in the industrialized world was a period of expansion and turbulence, booming population growth and radical ideologies.
In the years before 1910, from the turn of the 20th century, women in industrially developing countries were entering paid work in some numbers. Their jobs were sex segregated, mainly in textiles, manufacturing and domestic services where conditions were wretched and wages worse than depressed. Trade unions were developing and industrial disputes broke out, including among sections of non-unionised women workers. In Europe, the flames of revolution were being kindled.
Many of the changes taking place in women's lives pushed against the political restrictions surrounding them. Throughout Europe, Britain, America and, to a lesser extent, Australia, women from all social strata began to campaign for the right to vote.
In the United States in 1903, women trade unionists and liberal professional women who were also campaigning for women's voting rights set up the Women's Trade Union League to help organise women in paid work around their political and economic welfare. These were dismal and bitter years for many women with terrible working conditions and home lives riven by poverty and often violence.
In 1908, on the last Sunday in February, socialist women in the United States initiated the first Women's Day when large demonstrations took place calling for the vote and the political and economic rights of women. The following year, 2,000 people attended a Women's Day rally in Manhattan.
In 1910 Women's Day was taken up by socialists and feminists throughout the country. Later that year delegates went to the second International Conference of Socialist Women in Copenhagen with the intention of proposing that Women's Day become an international event. The notion of international solidarity between the exploited workers of the world had long been established as a socialist principle, though largely an unrealised one. The idea of women organising politically as women was much more controversial within the socialist movement. At that time, however, the German Socialist Party had a strong influence on the international socialist movement and that party had many advocates for the rights of women, , including leaders such as Clara Zetkin.
Inspired by the actions of US women workers and their socialist sisters, Clara Zetkin ;had already framed a proposal to put to the conference of socialist women that women throughout the world should focus on a particular day each year to press for their demands. The conference of over 100 women from 17 countries, representing unions, socialist parties, working women's clubs, and including the first three women elected to the Finnish parliament, greeted Zetkin's suggestion with unanimous approval and International Women's Day was the result.
That conference also reasserted the importance of women's right to vote, dissociated itself from voting systems based on property rights and called for universal suffrage - the right to vote for all adult women and men The voice of dissent on this decision came from the English group led by Mrs. Despard of the Women's Freedom League, a group actively engaged in the suffragette movement.
Conference also called for maternity benefits which, despite an intervention by Alexandra Kollontai on behalf of unmarried mothers, were to be for married women only. It also decided to oppose night work as being detrimental to the health of most working women, though Swedish and Danish working women who were present asserted that night work was essential to their livelihood.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Beef Vs. Bagels: Food Firms Take on Dr. Atkins
It has been months since Tina Moore last bit into a bagel or a slice of toast.
"Protein is good. Carbs are bad," says 41-year-old Moore, who altered her diet five years ago in a bid to lose weight.
Moore is one of an estimated 15 million-plus Americans seen as devoted followers of dieting guru Dr. Robert Atkins, who recommends eating a diet high in protein for those who want to lose weight and keep it off.
The hamburger patty is good, the hamburger bun bad, according to the teachings of Atkins, who has turned his philosophies into a dieting revolution, starting with his first book, "Dr. Atkins Diet Revolution," in 1972.
Atkins' books -- his latest, "Atkins for Life," was published this year -- routinely top best-seller lists. Atkins companies have racked up millions of dollars in sales of specialty low-carb food products and carb-counting scales.
But the popularity of Atkins' eating advice, now appealing to another generation, is fraying the nerves of some food companies who rely on the consumer appetite for carbohydrate-laden foods such as pastas and pizzas, cakes, cookies and cereals, to add heft to their own bottom lines.
"Our industry has to do something, and soon. It is starting to become a mainstream belief that carbohydrates are bad," said Judi Adams, director of the Wheat Foods Council, a consortium of industry players that includes ConAgra, General Mills and Kellogg Co.
Part of the consortium's push will be in Washington, where federal health officials are starting talks on revisions to the nation's 11-year-old Food Guide Pyramid.
Currently, the pyramid puts bread, cereals, rice and pasta as the foundation for healthy eating.
The strategy is a direct attack on Atkins: Americans who follow the Atkins diet increase their risk of health problems that include cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol, kidney damage and some cancers, the Wheat Foods Council says.
Adding insult to injury, it claims that Atkins followers can also suffer headaches, constipation and bad breath.
According to Atkins, he is not looking to go to war with the food companies, and even Atkins die-hards allow for an occasional doughnut or cookie.
"We teach people how to respect it and, on rare occasions, have it in moderation," he said. "We know people can't stay away from it forever."
"Protein is good. Carbs are bad," says 41-year-old Moore, who altered her diet five years ago in a bid to lose weight.
Moore is one of an estimated 15 million-plus Americans seen as devoted followers of dieting guru Dr. Robert Atkins, who recommends eating a diet high in protein for those who want to lose weight and keep it off.
The hamburger patty is good, the hamburger bun bad, according to the teachings of Atkins, who has turned his philosophies into a dieting revolution, starting with his first book, "Dr. Atkins Diet Revolution," in 1972.
Atkins' books -- his latest, "Atkins for Life," was published this year -- routinely top best-seller lists. Atkins companies have racked up millions of dollars in sales of specialty low-carb food products and carb-counting scales.
But the popularity of Atkins' eating advice, now appealing to another generation, is fraying the nerves of some food companies who rely on the consumer appetite for carbohydrate-laden foods such as pastas and pizzas, cakes, cookies and cereals, to add heft to their own bottom lines.
"Our industry has to do something, and soon. It is starting to become a mainstream belief that carbohydrates are bad," said Judi Adams, director of the Wheat Foods Council, a consortium of industry players that includes ConAgra, General Mills and Kellogg Co.
Part of the consortium's push will be in Washington, where federal health officials are starting talks on revisions to the nation's 11-year-old Food Guide Pyramid.
Currently, the pyramid puts bread, cereals, rice and pasta as the foundation for healthy eating.
The strategy is a direct attack on Atkins: Americans who follow the Atkins diet increase their risk of health problems that include cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol, kidney damage and some cancers, the Wheat Foods Council says.
Adding insult to injury, it claims that Atkins followers can also suffer headaches, constipation and bad breath.
According to Atkins, he is not looking to go to war with the food companies, and even Atkins die-hards allow for an occasional doughnut or cookie.
"We teach people how to respect it and, on rare occasions, have it in moderation," he said. "We know people can't stay away from it forever."
Cancer cases will rocket without lifestyle changes
Cancer rates worldwide could increase by 50 per cent by 2020, reaching 15 million new cases a year.
The World Health Organisation's World Cancer Report says that if no preventive measures are taken increases of this order are inevitable because they stem from habits - such as smoking - that are already established. However, much can be done to slow the increase, Bernard Stewart, an Australian cancer specialist and co-author, said.
"Tobacco is the major preventable cause of cancer," he said. "But in developed countries diet, alcohol, a lack of exercise and the fact that we still don't eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day are contributory factors.
Professor Stewart cited the cases of Finland and California. In Finland a programme of tobacco control, public education and dietary advice had seen lung cancer rates tumbling.
In California, the most anti-smoking state in America, lung cancer rates in women were falling. Everywhere else in the US they were rising.
The World Health Organisation's World Cancer Report says that if no preventive measures are taken increases of this order are inevitable because they stem from habits - such as smoking - that are already established. However, much can be done to slow the increase, Bernard Stewart, an Australian cancer specialist and co-author, said.
"Tobacco is the major preventable cause of cancer," he said. "But in developed countries diet, alcohol, a lack of exercise and the fact that we still don't eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day are contributory factors.
Professor Stewart cited the cases of Finland and California. In Finland a programme of tobacco control, public education and dietary advice had seen lung cancer rates tumbling.
In California, the most anti-smoking state in America, lung cancer rates in women were falling. Everywhere else in the US they were rising.
Parents donate kidneys to children
A mother and father are giving their son and daughter the gift of normal life by each donating a kidney to them.
Peter Alvey, 29, and his sister Elizabeth Pearson, 22, require life-saving transplants after suffering years of kidney problems, but were warned that it could take years to find suitable donors.To their amazement however, their parents were both found to be perfect matches. Mary Alvey, 52, will donate to Peter, who undergoes dialysis at the hospital, Notts. Her husband, Des, 55, is giving a kidney to Elizabeth, who requires dialysis four times every day.
Mrs Alvey said: "In the end it was not a hard decision to make. They are our children, and if it means that we can help and offer them the chance of a more normal life then that is what we will do."
Peter and Elizabeth said: "We cannot thank my parents enough. We are so grateful to our parents."
A spokesman for the Kings Mill Kidney Patients' Association said: "It is a wonderful gesture by Des and Mary. We have known Peter and Elizabeth for a while and it is wonderful to think that they are getting the chance of leading a normal life."
Peter Alvey, 29, and his sister Elizabeth Pearson, 22, require life-saving transplants after suffering years of kidney problems, but were warned that it could take years to find suitable donors.To their amazement however, their parents were both found to be perfect matches. Mary Alvey, 52, will donate to Peter, who undergoes dialysis at the hospital, Notts. Her husband, Des, 55, is giving a kidney to Elizabeth, who requires dialysis four times every day.
Mrs Alvey said: "In the end it was not a hard decision to make. They are our children, and if it means that we can help and offer them the chance of a more normal life then that is what we will do."
Peter and Elizabeth said: "We cannot thank my parents enough. We are so grateful to our parents."
A spokesman for the Kings Mill Kidney Patients' Association said: "It is a wonderful gesture by Des and Mary. We have known Peter and Elizabeth for a while and it is wonderful to think that they are getting the chance of leading a normal life."
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Jay Chow's Unparalleled Concert
The coolness brought by a sudden shower in Beijing on Saturday afternoon did not last for long; instead the temperature went higher at Worker's Stadium when Taiwan superstar Jay Chow's "Unparalleled Concert" began.
Hanging from a huge Cross, Jay landed on the stage from the air and opened with the song "In the Name of the Father" and tens of thousands of fans' screamed.
Three songs with the theme of Chinese Kung Fu were highly praised. With a stage set of maple leaves and traditional Chinese buildings, Jay acted as a knight fighting, similar to scenes from the film "Hero".
His flute solo and piano duet with guest performer "Nan Quan Ma Ma demonstrated his talent.
Popular Hong Kong singer and actress Karen Mok surprised the audience when she appeared at the stage as a guest performer.
He sung over thirty songs from his previous albums during the three-hour concert.
Unfortunately the sound equipment broke down during the encore and the concert did close as brilliantly as expected.
Three songs with the theme of Chinese Kung Fu were highly praised. With a stage set of maple leaves and traditional Chinese buildings, Jay acted as a knight fighting, similar to scenes from the film "Hero".
His flute solo and piano duet with guest performer "Nan Quan Ma Ma" demonstrated his talent.
Popular Hong Kong singer and actress Karen Mok surprised the audience when she appeared at the stage as a guest performer.
He sung over thirty songs from his previous albums during the three-hour concert. Unfortunately the sound equipment broke down during the encore and the concert did close as brilliantly as expected.
Hanging from a huge Cross, Jay landed on the stage from the air and opened with the song "In the Name of the Father" and tens of thousands of fans' screamed.
Three songs with the theme of Chinese Kung Fu were highly praised. With a stage set of maple leaves and traditional Chinese buildings, Jay acted as a knight fighting, similar to scenes from the film "Hero".
His flute solo and piano duet with guest performer "Nan Quan Ma Ma demonstrated his talent.
Popular Hong Kong singer and actress Karen Mok surprised the audience when she appeared at the stage as a guest performer.
He sung over thirty songs from his previous albums during the three-hour concert.
Unfortunately the sound equipment broke down during the encore and the concert did close as brilliantly as expected.
Three songs with the theme of Chinese Kung Fu were highly praised. With a stage set of maple leaves and traditional Chinese buildings, Jay acted as a knight fighting, similar to scenes from the film "Hero".
His flute solo and piano duet with guest performer "Nan Quan Ma Ma" demonstrated his talent.
Popular Hong Kong singer and actress Karen Mok surprised the audience when she appeared at the stage as a guest performer.
He sung over thirty songs from his previous albums during the three-hour concert. Unfortunately the sound equipment broke down during the encore and the concert did close as brilliantly as expected.
Godfather 'is top film character'
Mafia boss Vito Corleone, as played by Marlon Brando in The Godfather, has been named the greatest movie character of all time by US film critics.
Sixteen film experts voted for the most memorable characters in cinema for US magazine Premiere.
Fred C Dobbs from The Treasure of the Sierra Madre came second with Gone With the Wind's Scarlett O'Hara third.
The most recent character in the top 10 was Gollum from The Lord of the Rings, as voiced by British actor Andy Serkis.
Premiere magazine describes Vito Corleone as "the most complex mobster ever portrayed on screen" who "seems to carry with him a latent sense of tragedy" in Francis Ford Coppola's 1972 film.
"That sense manifests itself more and more as Vito realises that the things he did to protect his family sowed the seeds of its destruction," the magazine says.
British secret agent James Bond, as played by Sean Connery in the character's first film Dr No, made the top five.
Other characters to feature in the 100-strong list include Margo Channing of All About Eve and Sir Anthony Hopkins' cannibal killer Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs.
GREATEST MOVIE CHARACTERS1. Vito CorleoneThe Godfather2. Fred C DobbsThe Treasure of the Sierra Madre3. Scarlett O'HaraGone With the Wind4. Norman BatesPsycho5. James Bond
Sixteen film experts voted for the most memorable characters in cinema for US magazine Premiere.
Fred C Dobbs from The Treasure of the Sierra Madre came second with Gone With the Wind's Scarlett O'Hara third.
The most recent character in the top 10 was Gollum from The Lord of the Rings, as voiced by British actor Andy Serkis.
Premiere magazine describes Vito Corleone as "the most complex mobster ever portrayed on screen" who "seems to carry with him a latent sense of tragedy" in Francis Ford Coppola's 1972 film.
"That sense manifests itself more and more as Vito realises that the things he did to protect his family sowed the seeds of its destruction," the magazine says.
British secret agent James Bond, as played by Sean Connery in the character's first film Dr No, made the top five.
Other characters to feature in the 100-strong list include Margo Channing of All About Eve and Sir Anthony Hopkins' cannibal killer Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs.
GREATEST MOVIE CHARACTERS1. Vito CorleoneThe Godfather2. Fred C DobbsThe Treasure of the Sierra Madre3. Scarlett O'HaraGone With the Wind4. Norman BatesPsycho5. James Bond
Oprah Supreme among Celebrities
Talk show queen Oprah Winfrey reigns supreme among celebrities, according to Forbes magazine's power rankings of the top 100 celebrities released on Thursday.
Winfrey moved up from No. 3 in 2004 to supplant "Passion of the Christ" director Mel Gibson at the top of the list. Golf star Tiger Woods held on to his runner-up position and Gibson slid into third place.
The Forbes power rankings give the most weight to a celebrity's earnings over the past 12 months, but also factor in popularity standards including Internet presence, press clippings, magazine cover stories and mentions on TV and radio, Forbes said.
Winfrey, who draws 30 million viewers weekly in the United States and whose talk show reaches 112 countries, raked in $225 million to rank second in celebrity riches.
Gibson, buoyed by DVD sales of "Passion," earned $185 million, while Woods made $87 million from his golf and endorsement deals.
George Lucas, director/producer of the "Star Wars" movies, was fourth on the power list and topped the money table with $290 million made over the past 12 months.
Rounding out the top 10 were basketball star Shaquille O'Neal in fifth place, followed by film director/producer Steven Spielberg, actor Johnny Depp, pop music stars Madonna and Elton John and actor Tom Cruise.
Winfrey moved up from No. 3 in 2004 to supplant "Passion of the Christ" director Mel Gibson at the top of the list. Golf star Tiger Woods held on to his runner-up position and Gibson slid into third place.
The Forbes power rankings give the most weight to a celebrity's earnings over the past 12 months, but also factor in popularity standards including Internet presence, press clippings, magazine cover stories and mentions on TV and radio, Forbes said.
Winfrey, who draws 30 million viewers weekly in the United States and whose talk show reaches 112 countries, raked in $225 million to rank second in celebrity riches.
Gibson, buoyed by DVD sales of "Passion," earned $185 million, while Woods made $87 million from his golf and endorsement deals.
George Lucas, director/producer of the "Star Wars" movies, was fourth on the power list and topped the money table with $290 million made over the past 12 months.
Rounding out the top 10 were basketball star Shaquille O'Neal in fifth place, followed by film director/producer Steven Spielberg, actor Johnny Depp, pop music stars Madonna and Elton John and actor Tom Cruise.
Hingis beaten in three sets on comeback
Former world number one Martina Hingis slumped to defeat on her comeback after two years out with an ankle injury on Tuesday and said she had "no plans" to play in any other tournaments.
The 24-year-old Swiss lost 1-6, 6-2, 6-2 to Germany's Marlene Weingartner in the first round of the Thailand Open.
Hingis was thought to be using the Thai event as a test for a full-time return but she said: "My life has been very good the last couple of years. I'm very comfortable, and this is really hard work.
"I've never had plans further than this step. Maybe I'll play some exhibitions. That's my plan at the moment. At this point I have no plans to play any more tournaments."
Hingis was seeking a low-key event in which to test her ability to return to the WTA Tour and was on top for the first set against a player ranked 73 in the world.
However, Hingis's service began to deteriorate in the second set and her opponent took advantage of a series of lightweight returns.
At 16, Hingis was on top of the world, the youngest winner of a grand slam last century, the youngest world number one and the holder of the Australian, Wimbledon and U.S. Open titles.
She compensated for her lack of height with superb court craft, great timing and an indomitable will.
The advent of the powerful Williams sisters punctured Hingis's dominance and her decline began. She won the last of her five grand slam singles titles at the 1999 Australian Open.
Operations on her ankles in October 2001 and May 2002 led her to withdraw from the sport. Before the Pattaya tournament her last match had been in Filderstadt, Germany, in late 2002.
C: Former world number one Martina Hingis of Switzerland reacts after losing a shot to Germany's Marlene Weingartner during the first round of the Volvo Women's Open in Pattaya, about 120 km (75 miles) southeast of Bangkok, February 1, 2005. (Reuters)
The 24-year-old Swiss lost 1-6, 6-2, 6-2 to Germany's Marlene Weingartner in the first round of the Thailand Open.
Hingis was thought to be using the Thai event as a test for a full-time return but she said: "My life has been very good the last couple of years. I'm very comfortable, and this is really hard work.
"I've never had plans further than this step. Maybe I'll play some exhibitions. That's my plan at the moment. At this point I have no plans to play any more tournaments."
Hingis was seeking a low-key event in which to test her ability to return to the WTA Tour and was on top for the first set against a player ranked 73 in the world.
However, Hingis's service began to deteriorate in the second set and her opponent took advantage of a series of lightweight returns.
At 16, Hingis was on top of the world, the youngest winner of a grand slam last century, the youngest world number one and the holder of the Australian, Wimbledon and U.S. Open titles.
She compensated for her lack of height with superb court craft, great timing and an indomitable will.
The advent of the powerful Williams sisters punctured Hingis's dominance and her decline began. She won the last of her five grand slam singles titles at the 1999 Australian Open.
Operations on her ankles in October 2001 and May 2002 led her to withdraw from the sport. Before the Pattaya tournament her last match had been in Filderstadt, Germany, in late 2002.
C: Former world number one Martina Hingis of Switzerland reacts after losing a shot to Germany's Marlene Weingartner during the first round of the Volvo Women's Open in Pattaya, about 120 km (75 miles) southeast of Bangkok, February 1, 2005. (Reuters)
Next 007? Brosnan favors Farrell
Pierce Brosnan, the actor who has played British agent James Bond in the last four "007" films, says he thinks fellow Irishman Colin Farrell would be his ideal successor .
Brosnan, 51, said several actors could ably fill his shoes for the coveted role, which he began in 1995 with "GoldenEye" and concluded with 2002's "Die Another Day."
"But I'll give it to Colin Farrell. He'll eat the head off them all," Brosnan said following an entertainment awards ceremony Saturday in Dublin.
Farrell, 28, appeared with Tom Cruise in the 2002 science fiction movie "Minority Report" and has the title role in Oliver Stone's forthcoming epic "Alexander."
Brosnan didn't specify any other actors that he thought would make a good 007.
He also said he was discussing a possible collaboration with director Quentin Tarantino, who is considering a remake of the original Bond novel, "Casino Royale."
"We have discussed things, Quentin and I, but I don't know if it's going to be that particular project," Brosnan said.
Last October, the producers of the planned 21st Bond film, Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson, informed Brosnan he'd gotten too old to be cast again as Bond. Speculation about the next Bond has since been rife, with Jude Law, Hugh Jackman, Clive Owen and Eric Bana on the list.
Brosnan, 51, said several actors could ably fill his shoes for the coveted role, which he began in 1995 with "GoldenEye" and concluded with 2002's "Die Another Day."
"But I'll give it to Colin Farrell. He'll eat the head off them all," Brosnan said following an entertainment awards ceremony Saturday in Dublin.
Farrell, 28, appeared with Tom Cruise in the 2002 science fiction movie "Minority Report" and has the title role in Oliver Stone's forthcoming epic "Alexander."
Brosnan didn't specify any other actors that he thought would make a good 007.
He also said he was discussing a possible collaboration with director Quentin Tarantino, who is considering a remake of the original Bond novel, "Casino Royale."
"We have discussed things, Quentin and I, but I don't know if it's going to be that particular project," Brosnan said.
Last October, the producers of the planned 21st Bond film, Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson, informed Brosnan he'd gotten too old to be cast again as Bond. Speculation about the next Bond has since been rife, with Jude Law, Hugh Jackman, Clive Owen and Eric Bana on the list.
Friday, October 3, 2008
German Swimmers Break 4X100m World Record
Germany set a new world record in the women's 4x100 metres freestyle relay at the European titles in Budapest overnight, beating the mark set by Australia at the Athens Olympics. Petra Dallmann, Daniela Goetz, Britta Steffen and Annika Liebs clocked three minutes and 35.22 seconds to beat the old mark of 3:35.94 set by Australians Alice Mills, Libby Lenton, Petria Thomas and Jodie Henry in August of 2004. The third swimmer Steffen produced the fastest split of 52.66 seconds. "It can't have been me - I still can't grasp and believe that I clocked 52.66," she said. "I didn't feel well before the race but after the heats this morning we set our eyes on the world record." The Netherlands (3:37.04) took silver behind Germany, while France (3:38.83) claimed bronze.
Ireland Home to Lonely Surfers
The Google Trends service, which works out how many times users in a particular region search for specific terms, has pinpointed "lonely" as the search term most frequently entered by Irish users. The service looks at a sample of Google web searches in order to formulate its results, using IP address information to pinpoint location -- and the outlook is not too bright for Ireland's online population. Despite a booming economy, Dublin came out top of the "lonely" searchers when the list was broken down into cities, indicating that the capital may have a high proportion of internet users who feel isolated. Melbourne, Australia, came second, while Auckland, New Zealand, came third.
Sichuan Opera "change of face" by a public stunt
The secret performing technique of "Bianlian", or face-changing, in one of the oldest forms of Chinese opera - Sichuan Opera - has been revealed by some performers without authority allowance. The disclosure has provoked intense disputes in China on keeping secret or publishing tricks in the sector of performing technique as the country's Cultural Heritage Day, on June 10, moves closer. Some artists of Sichuan Opera have sold the trick to other parts of the country and even overseas, according to Wang Daozheng, a 68-year-old face-changing master in Sichuan. Some cultural experts have called for the case to be investigated the secret-teller to be punished. Some others believe China should not consider the art a state secret. "An art recognized by the world has the most powerful life force," Peng Denghuai, another Sichuan-based face-changing master, told Xinhua, "We should let the technique go abroad and make it a renowned Chinese cultural attraction to a global audience," Peng said. Sichuan Opera is distinguished by the face-changing technique.Performers change masks in quick succession with a wave of the hand or by turning around. Professionals can change around some 10 masks in 20 seconds. In China, there are only 200 artists who are able to perform face-changing. Hu Jixian, vice-director in charge of art affairs of Sichuan province, said face-changing is a rare art heritage in China, calling for better protection and development of the technique. Since it is listed as a high-level secret of China, this case of disclosure is an individual one and we will take appropriate measures to deal with it," the official said.
Wedding a marathon effort for UK couple
A British couple gave a new twist to the idea of running away together by competing in the London marathon in their wedding clothes and getting married halfway around the course.Katie Austin and Gordon Fryer from Romsey in southern England ran the race with the bride's parents who gave her away at the ceremony in the Bridge Master's dining room on Tower Bridge.
The groom and his father-in-law wore traditional waistcoats, wing-collared shirts and cravats, but with shorts instead of trousers.
The bride wore a full length ivory wedding dress with train above her running shoes - an outfit she conceded she had never run in before Sunday.
Despite rain, the bride arrived at the bridge with her make-up and hair still in place.
The 80-minute ceremony may have scuppered their chances of running a new personal best time, but the couple emerged beaming to a shower of confetti and cheers from guests and well-wishers.
The newly-weds and the Austin then immediately got back onto the racecourse and continued running without speaking to waiting reporters.
Felix Limo of Kenya led the men's race as Deena Kastor won the women's title at the London marathon on Sunday.
The groom and his father-in-law wore traditional waistcoats, wing-collared shirts and cravats, but with shorts instead of trousers.
The bride wore a full length ivory wedding dress with train above her running shoes - an outfit she conceded she had never run in before Sunday.
Despite rain, the bride arrived at the bridge with her make-up and hair still in place.
The 80-minute ceremony may have scuppered their chances of running a new personal best time, but the couple emerged beaming to a shower of confetti and cheers from guests and well-wishers.
The newly-weds and the Austin then immediately got back onto the racecourse and continued running without speaking to waiting reporters.
Felix Limo of Kenya led the men's race as Deena Kastor won the women's title at the London marathon on Sunday.
Twins Days Festival opens in Twinsburg
The city of Twinsburg, Ohio, saw double as twins from around the world converged for the annual Twins Days Festival on August 5.
More than 3,500 twins, triplets and quadruplets come from all across the United States and as far away as Australia, England and Japan to meet others in the same genetic boat and -- for at least a few days -- feel like part of the crowd.
"All the twins, you just relate to them so well," said Stuart Daniel of one set of twins. "They understand you. They're just like us."
Stuart and his brother, Phillip, toured the festival in the uniforms they wear at their jobs as surf life-guards -- bright yellow jerseys, red swim trunks, sandals, and red-and-yellow swim caps.
The 39-year old brothers said they live and work together, and had even come close to marrying another set of twin women. The Australians were on their way to take part in one of several research studies being conducted at the festival.
Twins such as Jeanette Meadows and her sister Geneva Petitt attended the event, giving them a chance to mingle with others who were born into the same situation, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported.
"It's just the fellowship with other twins," said Meadows. "To be around other people who understand what it means to be a twin."
Festival organizers expected nearly 3,000 sets of twins -- and more than 40,000 people overall -- to attend the 31st event.
Dr. Kevin Cooper, chairman of dermatology at Case Western Reserve University, was there for the seventh year in a row to study the onset of diseases as they pertain to twins.
"Every time we come, we learn something," Cooper said. "It's quite a resource."
More than 3,500 twins, triplets and quadruplets come from all across the United States and as far away as Australia, England and Japan to meet others in the same genetic boat and -- for at least a few days -- feel like part of the crowd.
"All the twins, you just relate to them so well," said Stuart Daniel of one set of twins. "They understand you. They're just like us."
Stuart and his brother, Phillip, toured the festival in the uniforms they wear at their jobs as surf life-guards -- bright yellow jerseys, red swim trunks, sandals, and red-and-yellow swim caps.
The 39-year old brothers said they live and work together, and had even come close to marrying another set of twin women. The Australians were on their way to take part in one of several research studies being conducted at the festival.
Twins such as Jeanette Meadows and her sister Geneva Petitt attended the event, giving them a chance to mingle with others who were born into the same situation, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported.
"It's just the fellowship with other twins," said Meadows. "To be around other people who understand what it means to be a twin."
Festival organizers expected nearly 3,000 sets of twins -- and more than 40,000 people overall -- to attend the 31st event.
Dr. Kevin Cooper, chairman of dermatology at Case Western Reserve University, was there for the seventh year in a row to study the onset of diseases as they pertain to twins.
"Every time we come, we learn something," Cooper said. "It's quite a resource."
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Income gap critical by 2010, experts warn
China's growing income gap is likely to trigger social instability after 2010 if the government finds no effective solutions to end the disparity.
An expert team at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security recently delivered the warning in a newly designed system detailing the populous country's statistics for income distribution.
Calling upon the government to keep alert over growing income disparities, the team found that the income gap in China has been expanding since 2003, despite some measures in place to increase income among those in poverty.
The team, headed by Su Hainan, president of the ministry's Income Research Institute, has used "blue-, green-, yellow- and red-lights" to predict income disparity trends. The yellow light warns the government to be alert and the red one means the disparity is totally unacceptable.
"Income disparity in China is in the yellow-light area now," the team warned. "We are going to hit the red-light scenario after 2010 if there are no effective solutions in the next few years.
Su's team found little reason to be optimistic about bridging the urban-rural income gap. Incomes in cities are growing at 8-9 per cent annually, while the rate in rural regions has averaged a year-on-year growth of 4-5 per cent.
The National Bureau of Statistics forecasted over the weekend that per capita urban income this year is likely to surpass 10,000 yuan (US$1,234).
Last year, the average annual income for rural residents reached 2,936 yuan (US$355), far behind that of urban residents, whose average annual income was 9,422 yuan (US$1,139) in 2004.
The team found that income disparity in rural areas is very close to the "red light." Average farmers earned 3.39 times as much as officially-designated poor farmers in 2004. In 1992, the disparity was only 2.45 times as much.
"The government's top priority is to make those farmers still in poverty earn more," the team concludes in a report.
A gap also exists among the urban residents. "And the gap is growing," added Xu Fengxian, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
He said incomes of laid-off workers are decreasing while the wallets of private business owners have been fattening at incredible rates.
The government has already become concerned by the growing income disparity.
An expert team at the Ministry of Labour and Social Security recently delivered the warning in a newly designed system detailing the populous country's statistics for income distribution.
Calling upon the government to keep alert over growing income disparities, the team found that the income gap in China has been expanding since 2003, despite some measures in place to increase income among those in poverty.
The team, headed by Su Hainan, president of the ministry's Income Research Institute, has used "blue-, green-, yellow- and red-lights" to predict income disparity trends. The yellow light warns the government to be alert and the red one means the disparity is totally unacceptable.
"Income disparity in China is in the yellow-light area now," the team warned. "We are going to hit the red-light scenario after 2010 if there are no effective solutions in the next few years.
Su's team found little reason to be optimistic about bridging the urban-rural income gap. Incomes in cities are growing at 8-9 per cent annually, while the rate in rural regions has averaged a year-on-year growth of 4-5 per cent.
The National Bureau of Statistics forecasted over the weekend that per capita urban income this year is likely to surpass 10,000 yuan (US$1,234).
Last year, the average annual income for rural residents reached 2,936 yuan (US$355), far behind that of urban residents, whose average annual income was 9,422 yuan (US$1,139) in 2004.
The team found that income disparity in rural areas is very close to the "red light." Average farmers earned 3.39 times as much as officially-designated poor farmers in 2004. In 1992, the disparity was only 2.45 times as much.
"The government's top priority is to make those farmers still in poverty earn more," the team concludes in a report.
A gap also exists among the urban residents. "And the gap is growing," added Xu Fengxian, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
He said incomes of laid-off workers are decreasing while the wallets of private business owners have been fattening at incredible rates.
The government has already become concerned by the growing income disparity.
Sino-US textile talks stop at red light
The unscheduled third day of textile talks between China and the United States failed to yield a long-expected agreement.
"The talks failed to reach an accord because substantial differences remain on some principle issues," China's Ministry of Commerce said in a statement made after the extended fourth round of talks yesterday.
"But the two sides agreed to keep the consultation channel open and will fix the date and location for the next round," the statement said.
This round, which was scheduled for August 30 and 31, was restarted yesterday morning in the ministry.
The Special Textile Negotiator of the US Trade Representative Office David Spooner said the two sides "were not able to reach a broader agreement" despite strong efforts.
However, he said: "The United States remains optimistic that we can continue to make progress on the remaining issues. We will be consulting with the Chinese side over the next few days on the date and location of the next round of negotiations."
The talks, aiming to solve the two countries' four-month long textile disputes, began on Tuesday morning, with Vice-Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng as head of the Chinese delegation and Spooner as head of the US side.
This fourth round of textile talks between the two countries, which was headed by higher-level officials than the previous round in San Francisco last month, had been expected to enjoy great possibilities in terms of reaching an accord.
Song Hong, an analyst with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that the breakdown indicated that the two sides still stood far apart in some substantial issues.
Meanwhile, the US Government announced yesterday that it was re-imposing quotas on two more categories of Chinese clothing and textile imports, Xinhua reported.
It said that the US would limit imports of fabric made with synthetic filament threads and also bras and other body-supporting undergarments.
The US Government also announced it was extending until October 1 a deadline for making decisions in four other cases covering sweaters, dressing gowns, knit fabric and wool trousers.
"Today's announcement demonstrates this administration's commitment to levelling the playing field for US industries by enforcing our trade agreements," said Commerce Deputy Assistant Secretary Jim Leonard. August 31 is the deadline for the US Government to decide on whether to impose new safeguard measures on additional textile imports from China.
"The US restrictions, like a double-edged sword（双刃剑）, hurt the interests of not only Chinese manufacturers but also US customers," said Zhou Shijian from the China Association of International Trade.
Before the US-China talks, consultations between China and the European Union started on August 25 also failed to produce a mutually accepted amendment to the agreement signed by trade chiefs of both sides in Shanghai.
"The talks failed to reach an accord because substantial differences remain on some principle issues," China's Ministry of Commerce said in a statement made after the extended fourth round of talks yesterday.
"But the two sides agreed to keep the consultation channel open and will fix the date and location for the next round," the statement said.
This round, which was scheduled for August 30 and 31, was restarted yesterday morning in the ministry.
The Special Textile Negotiator of the US Trade Representative Office David Spooner said the two sides "were not able to reach a broader agreement" despite strong efforts.
However, he said: "The United States remains optimistic that we can continue to make progress on the remaining issues. We will be consulting with the Chinese side over the next few days on the date and location of the next round of negotiations."
The talks, aiming to solve the two countries' four-month long textile disputes, began on Tuesday morning, with Vice-Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng as head of the Chinese delegation and Spooner as head of the US side.
This fourth round of textile talks between the two countries, which was headed by higher-level officials than the previous round in San Francisco last month, had been expected to enjoy great possibilities in terms of reaching an accord.
Song Hong, an analyst with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that the breakdown indicated that the two sides still stood far apart in some substantial issues.
Meanwhile, the US Government announced yesterday that it was re-imposing quotas on two more categories of Chinese clothing and textile imports, Xinhua reported.
It said that the US would limit imports of fabric made with synthetic filament threads and also bras and other body-supporting undergarments.
The US Government also announced it was extending until October 1 a deadline for making decisions in four other cases covering sweaters, dressing gowns, knit fabric and wool trousers.
"Today's announcement demonstrates this administration's commitment to levelling the playing field for US industries by enforcing our trade agreements," said Commerce Deputy Assistant Secretary Jim Leonard. August 31 is the deadline for the US Government to decide on whether to impose new safeguard measures on additional textile imports from China.
"The US restrictions, like a double-edged sword（双刃剑）, hurt the interests of not only Chinese manufacturers but also US customers," said Zhou Shijian from the China Association of International Trade.
Before the US-China talks, consultations between China and the European Union started on August 25 also failed to produce a mutually accepted amendment to the agreement signed by trade chiefs of both sides in Shanghai.
RMB UnionPay card to open the United States without brush card to pay fees
A swipe of a card at Macy's in New York City on Monday by Liu Tinghuan, chairman of China UnionPay, marked the first-ever acceptance of a Chinese bank card in the United States.
During a ceremony this morning at the famous Macy's Herald Square in New York City, Liu purchased a golden necktie with a China UnionPay (CUP) bank card. The transaction marked the beginning of acceptance of China UnionPay cards on the Discover's PULSE network.
This was the first phase resulting from a strategic agreement between China UnionPay, China's only national bank card payment network, and Discover Financial Services LLC, a business unit of Morgan Stanley and the owner of the Discover Network and the PULSE ATM/debit network.
PULSE is one of the leading ATM/debit networks in the US.
"The acceptance of CUP cards in the US is a starting point from which both parties will complement each other and develop together in concert to raise the strategic cooperation to a new level," said Wan Jianhua, president and CEO of China UnionPay, at the ceremony.
David Nelms, Chairman and CEO of Discover Financial Services, said the strategic alliance between CUP and Discover would expand the links between the growing Chinese consumer economy and the US market.
"It will create new opportunities for merchants, financial institutions and other ATM owners by enabling them to serve Chinese travelers – the fastest-growing segment of the US tourism market," he said.
There are estimated 360,000 Chinese visitors to the US in 2005, according to the US Department of Commerce, with an average amount spent of 2,413 US dollars. The annual growth in Chinese travelers to the US is estimated at around 11 percent for the next 3 years.
According to the long-term agreement signed by CUP and Discover in May 2005, after the acceptance of CUP cards on the PULSE network throughout the US, the next step will be to complete arrangements for Discover Network cards to be accepted at CUP's network of more than 365,000 merchant locations and 80,000 ATMs in China.
David Nelms told Xinhua during an interview that he expected to go to China in the middle of next year, and make a similar transaction at a ceremony there, with Discover cards using in CUP networks to mark the beginning of next phase of the cooperation between the two companies.
"We look forward to next year, when we expect Discover Network cardholders will be able to use their cards at CUP locations throughout China," he said.
Discover Financial Services LLC operates the Discover Card with more than 50 million card members, the Discover Network with more than 4 million merchant and cash access locations and the PULSE ATM/debit network which serves more than 4,100 financial institutions and includes more than 3.2 million merchant terminals and 250,000 ATMs.
China UnionPay Co. Ltd. is the only national bank card payment network in China, with more than 800 million bank cards issued on the CUP network. Both companies are continuing to work toward the acceptance of CUP cards at Discover Network's more than 4 million merchant and cash access locations in North America.
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During a ceremony this morning at the famous Macy's Herald Square in New York City, Liu purchased a golden necktie with a China UnionPay (CUP) bank card. The transaction marked the beginning of acceptance of China UnionPay cards on the Discover's PULSE network.
This was the first phase resulting from a strategic agreement between China UnionPay, China's only national bank card payment network, and Discover Financial Services LLC, a business unit of Morgan Stanley and the owner of the Discover Network and the PULSE ATM/debit network.
PULSE is one of the leading ATM/debit networks in the US.
"The acceptance of CUP cards in the US is a starting point from which both parties will complement each other and develop together in concert to raise the strategic cooperation to a new level," said Wan Jianhua, president and CEO of China UnionPay, at the ceremony.
David Nelms, Chairman and CEO of Discover Financial Services, said the strategic alliance between CUP and Discover would expand the links between the growing Chinese consumer economy and the US market.
"It will create new opportunities for merchants, financial institutions and other ATM owners by enabling them to serve Chinese travelers – the fastest-growing segment of the US tourism market," he said.
There are estimated 360,000 Chinese visitors to the US in 2005, according to the US Department of Commerce, with an average amount spent of 2,413 US dollars. The annual growth in Chinese travelers to the US is estimated at around 11 percent for the next 3 years.
According to the long-term agreement signed by CUP and Discover in May 2005, after the acceptance of CUP cards on the PULSE network throughout the US, the next step will be to complete arrangements for Discover Network cards to be accepted at CUP's network of more than 365,000 merchant locations and 80,000 ATMs in China.
David Nelms told Xinhua during an interview that he expected to go to China in the middle of next year, and make a similar transaction at a ceremony there, with Discover cards using in CUP networks to mark the beginning of next phase of the cooperation between the two companies.
"We look forward to next year, when we expect Discover Network cardholders will be able to use their cards at CUP locations throughout China," he said.
Discover Financial Services LLC operates the Discover Card with more than 50 million card members, the Discover Network with more than 4 million merchant and cash access locations and the PULSE ATM/debit network which serves more than 4,100 financial institutions and includes more than 3.2 million merchant terminals and 250,000 ATMs.
China UnionPay Co. Ltd. is the only national bank card payment network in China, with more than 800 million bank cards issued on the CUP network. Both companies are continuing to work toward the acceptance of CUP cards at Discover Network's more than 4 million merchant and cash access locations in North America.
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Harbin Central Street
Today we are going to visit Zhongyang Street. This is the downtown area. In order to better know the street, we are going to walk through it, which takes about 40 minutes. Those who do not like walking may keep seated, our coach will go along another street and stop at the Flood Control Monument. Those who cannot walk that far may take a taxi to the Flood Control Monument. Now let6‘s get off the coach, and take a walk on Zhongyang Street.
Zhongyang Street measures 1450 meters from Jingwei Street in the south to the Flood Control Monument on the riverbank in the north. This is China‘s longest walkway. The street was built at the end of the last century. It was connected to a wharf at the Songhua River. Because of the constant transport of the goods needed for building the China Eastern Railway, a shopping center began to take shape along this street at the turn of the century. Harbin at that time was a semi-colonial city with a foreign population of many thousands. Politics and economy were actually controlled by foreign powers. Owing to the concentration of Chinese shops along this street, foreigners took it as a China town and called it China Street.
Have you noticed the cobbled road surface? This is the only cobbled street left in Harbin. This cobbled street was paved in 1925. Thanks to the good quality, the street has kept in good shape with a few repairs in the past. This street began to take shape as an international street in the 1920s. There were over a hundred shops and many were owned by forergners, such as Russians, Greeks, Czechs, Swedes, Swiss, Frenchmen, Germans and Englishmen. They built their shops in their individual styles. Therefore, the street not only looked like a foreign street, but also was controlled by foreigners. Now this smooth cobbled street may remind us of the past when foreigners were sitting in chariots along the street, as if we could still hear the horse-hoofs clicking on cobbles.
Over half a century is past, Zhongyang Street is weather-beaten. With the implementation of reform and opening-up, it is ready to welcome visitors with a new outlook.
The building in front of us is very attractive. Its some and arched windows are typical of the Byzantine Style popular in Europe during the Middle Ages. It was built in 1934 and it was a shoe shop owned by a Czech. After liberation, it became a specialty shop-Women and Children‘s Department Store. It is the biggest specialty shop along Zhongyang Street. There are a good variety of commodities. Now some world famous specialty chains have also set up branches down here, such as Crocodile, Bossini and so on. You can see some gentlemen also wandering in the Women and Children’s Department Store. At such a good shopping place, they will not walk out empty-handed.
Opposite the Women and Children‘s Department Store is the Central Shopping City opened in November 1994. On its original site there were five small stores run by Russians, which were built in 1932. After liberation, they were turned into one department store. In 1994, the old building was torn down, and this comprehensive department store was built. The architecture is a combination of a European castle with modern architecture. It has become a new scenic spot on Zhongyang Street.
At we go along the road, we are able to see the Central Pharmacy. It was a bungalow before. In 1912, German Sidemen‘s opened a shop here to sell electrical equipment and materials. After liberation, it was reconstructed. Now you can find not only medicine here, but also the Gold lion shop, a super-market and a Kentucky Fried Chicken Restaurant.
This shopping Center was opened in 1995. Its original site was a shop managed by a Swede. It dealt in china, porcelain and enamelware. After liberation, it became a food-store. The building you see now was designed by a famous architect in Heilongjiang. It is a masterpiece of adopting relief sculptures in modern construction. This building is an attractive site in Zhongyang Street.
The nost interesting building along Zhongyang Street is the Modern Hotel. It was constructed in 1913. It is of an attractive outlook and magnificently decorated. It has a typical Baroque style of the Neo-artistic period. At first, it was invested and managed by a Jewish Frenchman. The origin of its Chinese name once aroused the interest of many people. There was a column in newspaper for debating its origin. Some held its Chinese name came from the word “mother”, some said it came from “modern”. However, modern seemed to overwhelm mother as you can see the hotel now used the Modern Hotel as its English name.
Modern Hotel has all the facilities of a modern hotel including well-decorated suites, dining rooms and medium and small-sized meeting rooms in European palatial styles. There is a legendary oil painting hanging on a wall on the landing of the first floor. It was painted a famous Russian painter. He was inspired by “Divine Comedy”composed by Dante. It shows a pretty girl saved by angels from confinement by insects and demons;the girl who endured tortures in hell was about to rise to heaven. This picture was painted red during the Cultural Revolution. After the Cultural Revolution, the original painting was restored. Now we are able to appreciate its artistic charm.
In the past few decades, modern Hotel has catered to many famous people, such as well known Chinese writers Guo Moruo and Ding Ling, and a renowned painter, Xu Berhong. Those who have stayed here also include distinguished American celebrities such as Anna Louise Strong, Edgar Snow Yue-Sai Kan. Movie studios have shot movies here. “Harbin in the Dark Night”, “London Inspiration”, “The Orient Express to Moscow”have left people lasting memories.
Opposite the Modern Hotel, there is Huamei Restaurant. It was Malse Restaurant serving western food. After liberation, it was rebuilt several times and two more stories have been added. However, its original European Style had been kept. It was reported in 1973 that there were 260 Western restaurants in Harbin, with over 100 concentrated along Zhongyang Street. Huamei Restaurant was one of the best known. Now it serves many specialties, such as Russian dishes, potted cattle tail, French egg and fried prawns. It is said a Russian celebrity who used to serve in the army once visited Huamei. After dinner, he could not help praising food served in Huamei. He declared the Russian dishes here surpassed those in Russia. He would send chefs from Russia to Huamei to learn to cook when he got back home. Now that you know Huamei, your knowledge of Zhongyang Street will not be complete if you have not tried the food here.
Further in the front, we can see the Education Bookstore. It was constructed in 1909. It is a Baroque construction, extravagant and novel, with bold lines and strong contrast. Over the entrance, there are two staturs. They are Titans in Greek fairy tales. The male is Atlas and the female is Galliached. It is said they hold up the sky with heads and shoulders. Education relates to the future of a country. May these Titans hold up the building of education, and accompany us to a prosperous tomorrow.
Opposite to the Education Bookstore, the building in the Neo-artistic style is Qiulin Department Store. It is characterized by simple structure, flexible lay out, free style, and curved decoration. Qiulin was constructed in 1903. In the past few decades, it has transformed from a colonial company. It has witnessed great changes in Zhongyang Street.
Many people say Zhongyang Street is a street of architecture as over 70 buildings appear in different styles. Some state it is a small Paris in the Orient; some assert it is a Moscow in the Orient; some declare it is a symphony. When you step on this cobbled street, it is as if you could hear a prelude. As you go further along the street, you can see the Women and Children‘s Department Store, and the Flood Control Monument at the riverside, as if their varied structures were different chapters constituting a harmonious tune. This symphony accompanies the people in Harbin as they suffered before liberation, wandered through the Cultural Revolution, and ushered in the reform and opening up, and encourages them to face up to the magnificent 21st century.
I would like to call this street an international shopping mall. There are state owned stores and outlets of foreign products. There are banks and post-offices. There are hotels and restaurants. There are Jewelers‘and photographers’. People are able to stroll, shop and enjoy delicacies along the street. At night over 200 shops will be radiating with colorful neon lights. This century-old street will radiate its vigor and become more attractive.
Ladies and Gentlemen, if we go further forward, we are able to reach the Flood Control Monument. Now I will give you some free time for shopping and photography. We will meet at the Flood Control Monument in twenty minutes.
Zhongyang Street measures 1450 meters from Jingwei Street in the south to the Flood Control Monument on the riverbank in the north. This is China‘s longest walkway. The street was built at the end of the last century. It was connected to a wharf at the Songhua River. Because of the constant transport of the goods needed for building the China Eastern Railway, a shopping center began to take shape along this street at the turn of the century. Harbin at that time was a semi-colonial city with a foreign population of many thousands. Politics and economy were actually controlled by foreign powers. Owing to the concentration of Chinese shops along this street, foreigners took it as a China town and called it China Street.
Have you noticed the cobbled road surface? This is the only cobbled street left in Harbin. This cobbled street was paved in 1925. Thanks to the good quality, the street has kept in good shape with a few repairs in the past. This street began to take shape as an international street in the 1920s. There were over a hundred shops and many were owned by forergners, such as Russians, Greeks, Czechs, Swedes, Swiss, Frenchmen, Germans and Englishmen. They built their shops in their individual styles. Therefore, the street not only looked like a foreign street, but also was controlled by foreigners. Now this smooth cobbled street may remind us of the past when foreigners were sitting in chariots along the street, as if we could still hear the horse-hoofs clicking on cobbles.
Over half a century is past, Zhongyang Street is weather-beaten. With the implementation of reform and opening-up, it is ready to welcome visitors with a new outlook.
The building in front of us is very attractive. Its some and arched windows are typical of the Byzantine Style popular in Europe during the Middle Ages. It was built in 1934 and it was a shoe shop owned by a Czech. After liberation, it became a specialty shop-Women and Children‘s Department Store. It is the biggest specialty shop along Zhongyang Street. There are a good variety of commodities. Now some world famous specialty chains have also set up branches down here, such as Crocodile, Bossini and so on. You can see some gentlemen also wandering in the Women and Children’s Department Store. At such a good shopping place, they will not walk out empty-handed.
Opposite the Women and Children‘s Department Store is the Central Shopping City opened in November 1994. On its original site there were five small stores run by Russians, which were built in 1932. After liberation, they were turned into one department store. In 1994, the old building was torn down, and this comprehensive department store was built. The architecture is a combination of a European castle with modern architecture. It has become a new scenic spot on Zhongyang Street.
At we go along the road, we are able to see the Central Pharmacy. It was a bungalow before. In 1912, German Sidemen‘s opened a shop here to sell electrical equipment and materials. After liberation, it was reconstructed. Now you can find not only medicine here, but also the Gold lion shop, a super-market and a Kentucky Fried Chicken Restaurant.
This shopping Center was opened in 1995. Its original site was a shop managed by a Swede. It dealt in china, porcelain and enamelware. After liberation, it became a food-store. The building you see now was designed by a famous architect in Heilongjiang. It is a masterpiece of adopting relief sculptures in modern construction. This building is an attractive site in Zhongyang Street.
The nost interesting building along Zhongyang Street is the Modern Hotel. It was constructed in 1913. It is of an attractive outlook and magnificently decorated. It has a typical Baroque style of the Neo-artistic period. At first, it was invested and managed by a Jewish Frenchman. The origin of its Chinese name once aroused the interest of many people. There was a column in newspaper for debating its origin. Some held its Chinese name came from the word “mother”, some said it came from “modern”. However, modern seemed to overwhelm mother as you can see the hotel now used the Modern Hotel as its English name.
Modern Hotel has all the facilities of a modern hotel including well-decorated suites, dining rooms and medium and small-sized meeting rooms in European palatial styles. There is a legendary oil painting hanging on a wall on the landing of the first floor. It was painted a famous Russian painter. He was inspired by “Divine Comedy”composed by Dante. It shows a pretty girl saved by angels from confinement by insects and demons;the girl who endured tortures in hell was about to rise to heaven. This picture was painted red during the Cultural Revolution. After the Cultural Revolution, the original painting was restored. Now we are able to appreciate its artistic charm.
In the past few decades, modern Hotel has catered to many famous people, such as well known Chinese writers Guo Moruo and Ding Ling, and a renowned painter, Xu Berhong. Those who have stayed here also include distinguished American celebrities such as Anna Louise Strong, Edgar Snow Yue-Sai Kan. Movie studios have shot movies here. “Harbin in the Dark Night”, “London Inspiration”, “The Orient Express to Moscow”have left people lasting memories.
Opposite the Modern Hotel, there is Huamei Restaurant. It was Malse Restaurant serving western food. After liberation, it was rebuilt several times and two more stories have been added. However, its original European Style had been kept. It was reported in 1973 that there were 260 Western restaurants in Harbin, with over 100 concentrated along Zhongyang Street. Huamei Restaurant was one of the best known. Now it serves many specialties, such as Russian dishes, potted cattle tail, French egg and fried prawns. It is said a Russian celebrity who used to serve in the army once visited Huamei. After dinner, he could not help praising food served in Huamei. He declared the Russian dishes here surpassed those in Russia. He would send chefs from Russia to Huamei to learn to cook when he got back home. Now that you know Huamei, your knowledge of Zhongyang Street will not be complete if you have not tried the food here.
Further in the front, we can see the Education Bookstore. It was constructed in 1909. It is a Baroque construction, extravagant and novel, with bold lines and strong contrast. Over the entrance, there are two staturs. They are Titans in Greek fairy tales. The male is Atlas and the female is Galliached. It is said they hold up the sky with heads and shoulders. Education relates to the future of a country. May these Titans hold up the building of education, and accompany us to a prosperous tomorrow.
Opposite to the Education Bookstore, the building in the Neo-artistic style is Qiulin Department Store. It is characterized by simple structure, flexible lay out, free style, and curved decoration. Qiulin was constructed in 1903. In the past few decades, it has transformed from a colonial company. It has witnessed great changes in Zhongyang Street.
Many people say Zhongyang Street is a street of architecture as over 70 buildings appear in different styles. Some state it is a small Paris in the Orient; some assert it is a Moscow in the Orient; some declare it is a symphony. When you step on this cobbled street, it is as if you could hear a prelude. As you go further along the street, you can see the Women and Children‘s Department Store, and the Flood Control Monument at the riverside, as if their varied structures were different chapters constituting a harmonious tune. This symphony accompanies the people in Harbin as they suffered before liberation, wandered through the Cultural Revolution, and ushered in the reform and opening up, and encourages them to face up to the magnificent 21st century.
I would like to call this street an international shopping mall. There are state owned stores and outlets of foreign products. There are banks and post-offices. There are hotels and restaurants. There are Jewelers‘and photographers’. People are able to stroll, shop and enjoy delicacies along the street. At night over 200 shops will be radiating with colorful neon lights. This century-old street will radiate its vigor and become more attractive.
Ladies and Gentlemen, if we go further forward, we are able to reach the Flood Control Monument. Now I will give you some free time for shopping and photography. We will meet at the Flood Control Monument in twenty minutes.
Sichuan - Leshan Giant Buddha
The city of Leshan is less than one hour's ride from the Baoguosi Monastery at the foot of Mt. Emei.Leshan is the home of the Giant Buddha at the conflueence of the Min,Dadu and Qingyi rivers.It qualifies as the largest Buddha in a sitting posture in the world .You must board a riverboat for the best view of the Giant Buddha.The massive Buddha was carved out of a cliff face more than a thousand years ago, but now it is still well preserved in good shape, with his full and serene face.
The Buddha is the largest Buddha in China,towering to 71m,with his 14.7m head,and 24m shoulders.The Buddha's ears are 6.72m long, insteps 8.5m broad, and a picnic could be conducted on the nail of his big toe, which is 1.5m long.
This carving project was begun in 713.Each summer at that time the Min,Dadu and Qingyi rivers flowed down.As the ghree rivers met,turbu-lent waves strucd each other hard,boats capsized and boatmen vanished.There was a Buddhist monkby the name of Haitong in Lingyun Hill,who saw the situation and was determined to carve a giant Buddha out of the cliff face, hoping that the Buddha's presence would subdue the swift currents and protect the boatmen .Haitong started travelling along the Changjiang river and other areas in China to collect funds for the gigantic carving. Once an evil official attempted to obtain by force the money collected by Haitong.The monk refused him in strong terms.He said,"I'd rather gouge out my eyes than give a penny to you,"The official shouted in anger,"gouge your eye out now!"Haitong resolutely dug out one of his eyes.
The monk's behavior in protecting the funding so greatly encouraged sculptors and other construction workers that the carving work went on smoothly. Unfortunately Haitong died before the completion of his life's work .However, this work continued due to the support of the local people as well as Weigao and Zhangchou Jianqing,the local top military commanders. The word took up 90 years until 803 when it was completed.Since then the Buddha has watched over the river traffic for more than a thousand years to offset the large number of serious accidents in the river. Modern Chinese question whether safer boat gravel is due to his presence or to sime later-day dredging.
As you get close to the Buddha,we can find out some scattered holes im rows around the Buddha.They are remains of so Called the Giant Buddha Pavilion . It was a nine-storied building set up during the Tang Dynasty to shelter the Buddha.It was renamed as the Lingyun Pavilion with 13 stories during the Song Dynasty. Unfortunately it was destroyed by a war during the Ming Dynasty. Since then the Buddha remains outside in the open space.
The Giant Buddha has lasted over a thousand years, and still survives in good shape.Why? First of all, according to the studies on the ancient construction of the Buddha,the cliff face the Buddha occupies enjoys topographical advantages. It is on the southern side of the hill,where verdant trees grow so well as to protect rocks and slope from erosion.Secondly although the Buddha seats bordering on the confluence of the three rivers, the immense statue is carved into the cliff face inside the hill,which alleviate the severe damage by wind and water erosion.Finally there is a water-drainage system,hidden from view.The system starts with 1021 fastened hairs, which conect one another at the bace of the bead .The end of the hairs inter-links the shoulders,joining the simple-patterned robe pleats carved on the body.The hairs,shoulders and pleats naturally reveal a complete system that carries away the entire surface water on the body, where the water disappears underground.
It is worth making several passes at the Buddha.From the ferry pier on the island,you climba steep road and through Lingyun Temple to a vantage point for viewing the buddha.You can go to the top,opposite the head, and then descend a short zigzag stairway carved into the cliff to the feet for the top,oppoosite the head,and then descend a short zigzag stairway carved into the cliff to the feet for the different perspective viwepoints.A local boat passes by for a frontal view, which reveals two guardians in the cliff side, not visible from land,Wuyou Buddhist Monastery can be reached in 15 minutes by footpath from the Buddha,which is also from the Tang Dynasty with Ming and Qing renovations,Its layout is very similar to the other monasteries as we mentioned before.Walking along up Wuyou Hill,you can enjoy the quiet and beartiful scenery, The top of Wuyou Hill affords you a vision of an emerald-green tree forest, glazed golden tiles of the monastery roofs and the distant rivers.
It would be a mistake to thind of Leshan as ome big Buddha, but it is wouth making a trip to Leshan,which will provide you with a pleasant picture made by the ancient Chinese sites and the beautiful nature being combined into a whole.
The Buddha is the largest Buddha in China,towering to 71m,with his 14.7m head,and 24m shoulders.The Buddha's ears are 6.72m long, insteps 8.5m broad, and a picnic could be conducted on the nail of his big toe, which is 1.5m long.
This carving project was begun in 713.Each summer at that time the Min,Dadu and Qingyi rivers flowed down.As the ghree rivers met,turbu-lent waves strucd each other hard,boats capsized and boatmen vanished.There was a Buddhist monkby the name of Haitong in Lingyun Hill,who saw the situation and was determined to carve a giant Buddha out of the cliff face, hoping that the Buddha's presence would subdue the swift currents and protect the boatmen .Haitong started travelling along the Changjiang river and other areas in China to collect funds for the gigantic carving. Once an evil official attempted to obtain by force the money collected by Haitong.The monk refused him in strong terms.He said,"I'd rather gouge out my eyes than give a penny to you,"The official shouted in anger,"gouge your eye out now!"Haitong resolutely dug out one of his eyes.
The monk's behavior in protecting the funding so greatly encouraged sculptors and other construction workers that the carving work went on smoothly. Unfortunately Haitong died before the completion of his life's work .However, this work continued due to the support of the local people as well as Weigao and Zhangchou Jianqing,the local top military commanders. The word took up 90 years until 803 when it was completed.Since then the Buddha has watched over the river traffic for more than a thousand years to offset the large number of serious accidents in the river. Modern Chinese question whether safer boat gravel is due to his presence or to sime later-day dredging.
As you get close to the Buddha,we can find out some scattered holes im rows around the Buddha.They are remains of so Called the Giant Buddha Pavilion . It was a nine-storied building set up during the Tang Dynasty to shelter the Buddha.It was renamed as the Lingyun Pavilion with 13 stories during the Song Dynasty. Unfortunately it was destroyed by a war during the Ming Dynasty. Since then the Buddha remains outside in the open space.
The Giant Buddha has lasted over a thousand years, and still survives in good shape.Why? First of all, according to the studies on the ancient construction of the Buddha,the cliff face the Buddha occupies enjoys topographical advantages. It is on the southern side of the hill,where verdant trees grow so well as to protect rocks and slope from erosion.Secondly although the Buddha seats bordering on the confluence of the three rivers, the immense statue is carved into the cliff face inside the hill,which alleviate the severe damage by wind and water erosion.Finally there is a water-drainage system,hidden from view.The system starts with 1021 fastened hairs, which conect one another at the bace of the bead .The end of the hairs inter-links the shoulders,joining the simple-patterned robe pleats carved on the body.The hairs,shoulders and pleats naturally reveal a complete system that carries away the entire surface water on the body, where the water disappears underground.
It is worth making several passes at the Buddha.From the ferry pier on the island,you climba steep road and through Lingyun Temple to a vantage point for viewing the buddha.You can go to the top,opposite the head, and then descend a short zigzag stairway carved into the cliff to the feet for the top,oppoosite the head,and then descend a short zigzag stairway carved into the cliff to the feet for the different perspective viwepoints.A local boat passes by for a frontal view, which reveals two guardians in the cliff side, not visible from land,Wuyou Buddhist Monastery can be reached in 15 minutes by footpath from the Buddha,which is also from the Tang Dynasty with Ming and Qing renovations,Its layout is very similar to the other monasteries as we mentioned before.Walking along up Wuyou Hill,you can enjoy the quiet and beartiful scenery, The top of Wuyou Hill affords you a vision of an emerald-green tree forest, glazed golden tiles of the monastery roofs and the distant rivers.
It would be a mistake to thind of Leshan as ome big Buddha, but it is wouth making a trip to Leshan,which will provide you with a pleasant picture made by the ancient Chinese sites and the beautiful nature being combined into a whole.
Bali
Have you heard of Bali, a place to the south of Indonesia? It's a small island but is becoming more and more famous by its fascinating tourist attractions enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of people from world at large. Bali is so picturesque that you could be fooled into thinking it was a painted backdrop: rice paddies trip down hillsides like giant steps, volcanoes soar through the clouds, the forests are lush and tropical, and the beaches are lapped by the warm waters of the Indian Ocean. But the postcard paradise gloss has been manufactured and polished by the international tourist industry rather than by the Balinese themselves who don't even have a word for paradise in their language.
When to Visit
Just considering the weather, the cooler dry season from April to October is the best time to visit Bali. The rest of the year is more humid, cloudier and has more rainstorms, but you can still enjoy a holiday.
There are also distinct tourist seasons that affect the picture. The European summer holidays bring the biggest crowds —— July, August and early September are busy. Accommodation can be tight in these months and prices are higher.
Balinese festivals, holidays and special celebrations occur all the time, so don't worry about timing your visit to coincide with local events. It could be a nice treat to fuse into the local culture and enjoy the traditional cuisine and local delicacies.
Off-beaten Tourist AttractionsKuta and Legian
Including the two beach sites of Kuta and Legian, this area is a major sightseeing for travelers, offering cheap accommodation, Western food, great shopping, surf, sunsets and riotous nightlife. Although it's fashionable to contempt Kuta for its rampant development, low-brow nightlife, the cosmopolitan mixture of beach-party and entrepreneurial energy can be exciting.
Kuta is not pretty but it's not dull either, and the amazing growth is evidence that a lot of people still find something to appreciate in Kuta. It's still the best beach in Bali, with the only surf, which breaks over sand instead of coral. Lots of cheap accommodation is available and there's a huge choice of places to eat. Shops and venders offer everything from local handcrafts to genuine antiques. Even the tourists themselves have become a tourist attraction, with visitors swarming into this small island on the tropical area.Behind the beaches, roads and alleys lead back to the most amazing district of hotels, restaurants, bars, food stalls and shops. The renowned Poppies Gang, running directly back from Kuta Beach, is where most of the quieter, inexpensive hostels and restaurants are located. Cheap beachfront accommodation is available in Legian; the lanes running parallel to the beach are the best places to start trawling for a decent bed.
The Bali Museum
The Bali Museum consists of an attractive series of separate buildings, including examples of both palace and temple architecture. The exhibits themselves are not always well presented, but there are enough arts and crafts and everyday items displayed to make it worthwhile. The tiny cane cases for transporting fighting crickets are pretty special. The Abiankapas arts center houses a collection of modern painting and woodcarving. Dancing groups and gamelan orchestras regularly perform here, mostly for the benefit of tourists.
Ubud
Situated in the hills 20km north of Denpasar, Ubud is the serene cultural center of Bali. Extensive development in recent years has meant that Ubud has engulfed a number of nearby villages, although these have retained their distinct identities. Head off in any direction and you're in for an interesting walk to a secluded craft hamlet, through the rice paddies or into the dense Monkey Forest, just south of the town center.
In Ubud itself, the Puri Lukisan Museum displays fine examples of all schools of Balinese art in a beautiful garden setting. There are several other quality galleries such as Museum Neka, which features work of some Western artists who have painted in Bali, and Agung Rai Gallery, a commercial operation which also houses a small, but important, permanent collection. The homes of influential Western artists Walter Spies and Rudolf Bonnet, who played key roles in transforming Balinese art from the purely decorative, can also be viewed. Ubud is a good place to see Balinese dancing and hear Balinese music, and it has some of the finest restaurants on the island.
Tenganan
The ancient village of Tenganan, inland from the east coast port of Padangbai, can only be reached by motorbike or on foot. It's a walled Bali Aga village, busy with unusual customs, festivals and practices. It's the center for the weaving of the little-seen double ikat cloth, and ancient versions of gamelan and accompanying dances are performed here. The nearby towns of Amlapura and Tirtagangga are known for their decaying water palaces - relics of the power of the Balinese rajahs - which are surrounded by beautiful terraced rice paddies.
The Bali Barat National Park
The Bali Barat National Park covers nearly all the coral reef and coastal waters. Most of the natural vegetation in the park is coastal savanna with deciduous trees, which become bare in the dry season. Over 200 species of plants inhabit the various environments. Animals include black monkeys, leaf monkeys and macaques; Java, barking, sambar and mouse deer; squirrels, wild pigs, buffalos, iguanas and pythons. The bird life is prolific, with many of Bali's 200 species represented, including the striking Bali starling. The park's attractions include hot springs, uninhabited Deer Island (which has great diving) and guided jungle treks.
Transportation
Transport from Ngurah Rai international airport, 2.5km south of Kuta, is quite simple. Choose from an official taxi counter, where you pay a set price in advance, or walk across the airport car park and hail a metered cab. The lightly-laden can walk straight up the road to Kuta, although it's a more pleasant stroll along the beach. The main forms of public transport on Bali are the cheap buses and bemos (minibus) that run on more or less set routes within or between towns. If you want your own transport, you can charter a bemo or rent a car, motorcycle or bicycle. The Balinese drive on the left, use their horns a lot and give way to traffic pulling onto the road. Tourist shuttle buses, running between the major tourist centers, are more expensive than public transport but are also more comfortable and convenient.
So, after such a descriptive guide about this tiny little island in the South East Asia, are you in the mood of visiting it. It's worthwhile for sure.
When to Visit
Just considering the weather, the cooler dry season from April to October is the best time to visit Bali. The rest of the year is more humid, cloudier and has more rainstorms, but you can still enjoy a holiday.
There are also distinct tourist seasons that affect the picture. The European summer holidays bring the biggest crowds —— July, August and early September are busy. Accommodation can be tight in these months and prices are higher.
Balinese festivals, holidays and special celebrations occur all the time, so don't worry about timing your visit to coincide with local events. It could be a nice treat to fuse into the local culture and enjoy the traditional cuisine and local delicacies.
Off-beaten Tourist AttractionsKuta and Legian
Including the two beach sites of Kuta and Legian, this area is a major sightseeing for travelers, offering cheap accommodation, Western food, great shopping, surf, sunsets and riotous nightlife. Although it's fashionable to contempt Kuta for its rampant development, low-brow nightlife, the cosmopolitan mixture of beach-party and entrepreneurial energy can be exciting.
Kuta is not pretty but it's not dull either, and the amazing growth is evidence that a lot of people still find something to appreciate in Kuta. It's still the best beach in Bali, with the only surf, which breaks over sand instead of coral. Lots of cheap accommodation is available and there's a huge choice of places to eat. Shops and venders offer everything from local handcrafts to genuine antiques. Even the tourists themselves have become a tourist attraction, with visitors swarming into this small island on the tropical area.Behind the beaches, roads and alleys lead back to the most amazing district of hotels, restaurants, bars, food stalls and shops. The renowned Poppies Gang, running directly back from Kuta Beach, is where most of the quieter, inexpensive hostels and restaurants are located. Cheap beachfront accommodation is available in Legian; the lanes running parallel to the beach are the best places to start trawling for a decent bed.
The Bali Museum
The Bali Museum consists of an attractive series of separate buildings, including examples of both palace and temple architecture. The exhibits themselves are not always well presented, but there are enough arts and crafts and everyday items displayed to make it worthwhile. The tiny cane cases for transporting fighting crickets are pretty special. The Abiankapas arts center houses a collection of modern painting and woodcarving. Dancing groups and gamelan orchestras regularly perform here, mostly for the benefit of tourists.
Ubud
Situated in the hills 20km north of Denpasar, Ubud is the serene cultural center of Bali. Extensive development in recent years has meant that Ubud has engulfed a number of nearby villages, although these have retained their distinct identities. Head off in any direction and you're in for an interesting walk to a secluded craft hamlet, through the rice paddies or into the dense Monkey Forest, just south of the town center.
In Ubud itself, the Puri Lukisan Museum displays fine examples of all schools of Balinese art in a beautiful garden setting. There are several other quality galleries such as Museum Neka, which features work of some Western artists who have painted in Bali, and Agung Rai Gallery, a commercial operation which also houses a small, but important, permanent collection. The homes of influential Western artists Walter Spies and Rudolf Bonnet, who played key roles in transforming Balinese art from the purely decorative, can also be viewed. Ubud is a good place to see Balinese dancing and hear Balinese music, and it has some of the finest restaurants on the island.
Tenganan
The ancient village of Tenganan, inland from the east coast port of Padangbai, can only be reached by motorbike or on foot. It's a walled Bali Aga village, busy with unusual customs, festivals and practices. It's the center for the weaving of the little-seen double ikat cloth, and ancient versions of gamelan and accompanying dances are performed here. The nearby towns of Amlapura and Tirtagangga are known for their decaying water palaces - relics of the power of the Balinese rajahs - which are surrounded by beautiful terraced rice paddies.
The Bali Barat National Park
The Bali Barat National Park covers nearly all the coral reef and coastal waters. Most of the natural vegetation in the park is coastal savanna with deciduous trees, which become bare in the dry season. Over 200 species of plants inhabit the various environments. Animals include black monkeys, leaf monkeys and macaques; Java, barking, sambar and mouse deer; squirrels, wild pigs, buffalos, iguanas and pythons. The bird life is prolific, with many of Bali's 200 species represented, including the striking Bali starling. The park's attractions include hot springs, uninhabited Deer Island (which has great diving) and guided jungle treks.
Transportation
Transport from Ngurah Rai international airport, 2.5km south of Kuta, is quite simple. Choose from an official taxi counter, where you pay a set price in advance, or walk across the airport car park and hail a metered cab. The lightly-laden can walk straight up the road to Kuta, although it's a more pleasant stroll along the beach. The main forms of public transport on Bali are the cheap buses and bemos (minibus) that run on more or less set routes within or between towns. If you want your own transport, you can charter a bemo or rent a car, motorcycle or bicycle. The Balinese drive on the left, use their horns a lot and give way to traffic pulling onto the road. Tourist shuttle buses, running between the major tourist centers, are more expensive than public transport but are also more comfortable and convenient.
So, after such a descriptive guide about this tiny little island in the South East Asia, are you in the mood of visiting it. It's worthwhile for sure.
Disneyland
Walt and Roy Disney began their partnership on October 16, 1923 when they signed a contract to produce the Alice Comedies, a series of six- to eight-minute animated films, or "shorts," combining live-action and animation. What began as the Disney Brothers Studio evolved into The Walt Disney Company.
Throughout the decades, the company has expanded worldwide from shorts to feature-length animated and live-action films and television production; character merchandise licensing; consumer products retailing; book, magazine and music publishing; Internet activities; television and radio broadcasting; cable television programming; and the operation of theme parks and resorts.
From the creation of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in 1927 and the debut of Mickey Mouse in 1928 to the premiere of Tarzan in 1999, animation has remained the defining signature of the company. Along the way, Disney has added successful TV shows like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, opened theme parks in California, Florida, France and Japan, launched more than 700 Disney Stores and added brands such as Touchstone, Miramax, ABC and ESPN to the fold.
To make the most of Disneyland - the ultimate escapist fantasy and the blueprint for imitations worldwide - throw yourself right into it. Don't think twice about anything and go on every ride you can. The high admission price ($36) includes them all, although during peak periods each one can entail hours of queueing. Remember, too, that the emphasis is on family fun; the authorities take a dim view of anything remotely anti-social and eject those they consider guilty.
Over four hundred "Imaginers" worked to create the Indiana Jones Adventure, Disneyland's biggest opening in years. Two hours of queueing are built into the ride, with an interactive archeological dig and 1930s-style newsreel show leading up to the main feature - a giddy journey along 2500ft of skull-encrusted corridors in which you face fireballs, falling rubble, venomous snakes and, inevitably, a rolling boulder finale. Disney claims that, thanks to computer engineering, no two Indiana Jones rides are ever alike. Judge for yourself.
Among the best of the older rides are two in Adventureland: the Pirates of the Caribbean, a boat trip through underground caverns, singing along with drunken pirates; and the Haunted Mansion, a riotous "doom buggy" tour in the company of the house spooks.
Tomorrowland is Disney's vision of the future, where the Space Mountain roller coaster zips through the pitch-blackness of outer space, and the Star Tours ride simulates a journey into the world of George Lucas. The Skyway cable-car line that connects Tomorrowland with the clever but cloyingly sentimental Fantasyland is the only spot in the park from which you can see the outside world.
As for accommodation, try to visit Disneyland just for the day and spend the night somewhere else. Most of the hotels and motels nearby cost well in excess of $70 per night.
You're not permitted to bring your own food to the park; you can only consume the fast food sold on the premises.
Disneyland is at 1313 Harbor Blvd, Anaheim, 45 minutes by car from downtown using the Santa Ana Freeway. In summer, the park is open daily between 8am and 1am; otherwise opening hours are weekdays 10am to 6pm, Saturday 9am to midnight, and Sunday 9am to 10pm. Arrive early; traffic quickly becomes nightmarish, especially in the summer. For further information, including public transportation details, call 714/999-4565.
Throughout the decades, the company has expanded worldwide from shorts to feature-length animated and live-action films and television production; character merchandise licensing; consumer products retailing; book, magazine and music publishing; Internet activities; television and radio broadcasting; cable television programming; and the operation of theme parks and resorts.
From the creation of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit in 1927 and the debut of Mickey Mouse in 1928 to the premiere of Tarzan in 1999, animation has remained the defining signature of the company. Along the way, Disney has added successful TV shows like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, opened theme parks in California, Florida, France and Japan, launched more than 700 Disney Stores and added brands such as Touchstone, Miramax, ABC and ESPN to the fold.
To make the most of Disneyland - the ultimate escapist fantasy and the blueprint for imitations worldwide - throw yourself right into it. Don't think twice about anything and go on every ride you can. The high admission price ($36) includes them all, although during peak periods each one can entail hours of queueing. Remember, too, that the emphasis is on family fun; the authorities take a dim view of anything remotely anti-social and eject those they consider guilty.
Over four hundred "Imaginers" worked to create the Indiana Jones Adventure, Disneyland's biggest opening in years. Two hours of queueing are built into the ride, with an interactive archeological dig and 1930s-style newsreel show leading up to the main feature - a giddy journey along 2500ft of skull-encrusted corridors in which you face fireballs, falling rubble, venomous snakes and, inevitably, a rolling boulder finale. Disney claims that, thanks to computer engineering, no two Indiana Jones rides are ever alike. Judge for yourself.
Among the best of the older rides are two in Adventureland: the Pirates of the Caribbean, a boat trip through underground caverns, singing along with drunken pirates; and the Haunted Mansion, a riotous "doom buggy" tour in the company of the house spooks.
Tomorrowland is Disney's vision of the future, where the Space Mountain roller coaster zips through the pitch-blackness of outer space, and the Star Tours ride simulates a journey into the world of George Lucas. The Skyway cable-car line that connects Tomorrowland with the clever but cloyingly sentimental Fantasyland is the only spot in the park from which you can see the outside world.
As for accommodation, try to visit Disneyland just for the day and spend the night somewhere else. Most of the hotels and motels nearby cost well in excess of $70 per night.
You're not permitted to bring your own food to the park; you can only consume the fast food sold on the premises.
Disneyland is at 1313 Harbor Blvd, Anaheim, 45 minutes by car from downtown using the Santa Ana Freeway. In summer, the park is open daily between 8am and 1am; otherwise opening hours are weekdays 10am to 6pm, Saturday 9am to midnight, and Sunday 9am to 10pm. Arrive early; traffic quickly becomes nightmarish, especially in the summer. For further information, including public transportation details, call 714/999-4565.
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