Rock balancing-as well as the approaches above-can also be a performance art, a spectacle, or a devotion, depending upon the interpretation by its audience. Essentially, it involves placing some combination of rock or stone in arrangements which require patience and sensitivity to generate, and which appear to be physically impossible while actually being only highly improbable.
South Korea’s Incheon International Airport was voted the best in the world for 2009 in an annual survey dominated by Asian airports. The survey, by British-based consultancy Skytrax, covered more than 190 airports and is based on the results from 8.6 million passenger questionnaires completed from 2008 to 2009. ‘Incheon is an airport that has been in the global top 5 ranking for the World Airport Awards during the past 5-6 years, and it is a great achievement for them to secure this premier mark of customer satisfaction,’Skytrax CEO Edward Plaisted said.. (Text courtesy: Reuters)
Incheon narrowly beat Hong Kong International Airport, last year’s number one which came in second. The Hong Kong airport is an important transit point and the gateway to China. The Hong Kong airport has infact won seven Skytrax World Airports Awards.
Singapore’s Changi, fell to third place this year from number 2 in 2008. Skytrax said in a statement that the final margins between the top three airports were so narrow that at one stage the company thought it would have a three-way tie for first place in the “World Airport Awards’.The survey evaluates traveller experiences across 39 different airport service and products, ranging from check-in, arrivals, transfer through to departure at the gate.
Japan’s Kansai is among the top 10. Japan’s Kansai Airport is located in the middle of Osaka Bay on an artificial island. This airport has consistently been among the top Airports in the world by Skytrax.
Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur airport also comes in the first 10. Malaysia’s main airport KL International Airport is situated in Sepang. It’s among the world’s busiest airports and is capable of handling around 35 million passengers annually.
New Zealand’s Auckland airport, which was also voted the best in the Australia-Pacific region, rounded up the top 10. New Zealand’s top airport is located in the western suburb of Manukau City. Auckland airport handles 5-15 million passengers annually.
Japan’s Centrair Nagoya airports was also among the top 10. A new entrant to the list of the best airports in the world, Centrair Nagoya airport is a first class airport that is also built on an artificial island in Ise Bay region.
Tel Aviv was voted the Middle East’s best airport. Also known as the Ben Gurion International airport is Israel’s largest and busiest airports that handled over 11.5 million passengers last year.
Cape Town is the best in Africa. A major gateway to tourists, South Africa’s second largest airports Cape Town International Airport is also a hub for the South African national carrier.
Jellyfish lake is famous for having millions of jellyfish in it.
Someone can say: “But they sting”, it is true. There is though a myth, that Ongeim’l jellyfish or Golden jelyyfish are stingless. It is not quite true. The fact is that the sting of the golden jellyfish is undetectable and normally harmless.
In turn, the jellyfish provides the algae with a safe haven from predators. The myth also said that this condition has evolved uniquely in this lake as the jellyfish gradually grew to depend solely upon their algae for energy.
Dubai’s Amphibious water/wonder bus. With Dubai as the next destination as far as tourism is concerned, its government have gone quite far as per plas to attract tourists from every hook and corner of the world. These buses are equipped with all modern and necessary facilities such as air-conditioning systems, an internal bathroom, sound systems, television, refreshment etc, to make people feel right at home – perhaps, even better as you tour Dubai.
Anyone interested in lions has heard the name George Adamson, a legend even called the “Father of Lions” who lived with them for decades in Kenya. Best known through the award-winning documentary Born Free, which recounts his rehabilitation efforts of the lioness Elsa, Adamson managed to treat lions as equals, resulting in reciprocal buddy behaviour from the beasts. See for yourself how Adamson achieved this astounding level of human-animal trust.
Hey Buddy, chill – George Adamson with Boy:
All images courtesy of Father of Lions unless otherwise noted.
Though it’s been almost 10 years since his violent death on 20th August 1989 – Adamson was shot by Somalian bandits at Kora Reserve – the fascination with George Adamson is still very much alive. People just can’t seem to comprehend how any human being could live so intimately with wild animals for so many years.
And Adamson’s beginnings did not point to a life in the midst of animals at all. He was born on 3rd February 1906 in Dholpur, Rajasthan in what was then British India. From there, he came to Kenya, first as an 18-year-old in 1924, and later tried his hand at various jobs like gold prospector, goat trader and professional safari hunter. Only in 1938, at the age of 32, did Adamson join Kenya’s game department and became Senior Game Warden of the Northern Frontier District – a job he held for 23 years, until 1961 when he retired at the age of 55.
An early picture of Adamson working for the Nairobi to Arusha mail service:
It was this job as a game warden that brought him close to Kenya’s wildlife, lions especially. In 1956, he shot the lioness whose cub Elsa he decided to raise together with his wife Joy and later released into the wild. This feat was well documented in the feature film Born Free (1966), which was based largely on his notes, turned into a book of the same name by Joy.
George Adamson with Elsa in 1956 (top) and with his wife Joy in 1970 (bottom):
After retirement, Adamson devoted himself completely to “his” lions and moved to Kora National Reserve in northern Kenya in 1970 where he continued the rehabilitation of captured or orphaned lions into the wild.
“Girl” trusted Adamson enough to let him be around her cubs:
Here’s a video of George Adamson in 1967 with the lions Boy and Girl, featured prominently in Born Free. Bill Travers, who plays George in the movie, narrates how Adamson was teaching them to live in the wild and his own encounter with the magnificent beasts.
Probably the most spectacular rehabilitation of a captive lion into the wild was that of Christian, a lion bought in London and brought to Africa. Described by George Adamson as the “cheerful, mischievous and courageous lion from London,” Christian came to the Kora National Reserve in 1970 and was released into the wild in 1973, where he lived for five years – a tough feat and ripe age for any lion male.
With his white beard and lined face, Adamson’s features are a bit lion-like; here with Christian:
Remarkable is the journey of a man who started out as a mercenary, trying his luck at anything the land had to offer – gold, goats and game – before being the one who was captured by the animals’ way of life.
Adamson, though close even at mealtimes, didn’t get the lion’s share:
What could better sum up the dedication of the Father of Lions than his own words? In a letter written on 1st February 1983 from his “Kampi ya Simba” at the Kora National Reserve, Adamson writes about the progress of the lion population, especially their offspring, words that read like the description of friends’ behaviour:
“‘Naja’ is an excellent and selfless mother. Without her help, none of ‘Koretta’’s’ cubs would have survived… At one time I entertained the suspicion that ‘Blakatan’ was responsible for the loss of ‘Koretta’s’ first litter of four beautiful cubs and that he might have killed and eaten them and I thought seriously about getting rid of him but decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. It was as well that I did so, as he has turned out to be a model and indulgent father, allowing the cubs to rough-house him, pull his tail and bite his ears.”
Website:http://www.oma.eu
The Interlace house design in Singapore is a mind-blowing project by Oma (Office for Metropolitan Architecture), and they just unveiled the latest plans about a month ago. This giant six-story complex will consist of 31 stacked apartment blocks with 170,000sqm of gross floor area for 1,040 apartments.
LoftCube Project
Website:http://www.loftcube.net
LoftCube is a small, nice, and very comfortable mobile house with a customized design of the four window spaces and the gross living area of 39 sqm / 420 ft. You can build it right on the roof of a house quite quickly and enjoy the scenery (of course if you can get permission to build it there). You can find a pretty interesting video on how the LoftCube prototype was built athttp://www.loftcube.net
Makao Homes For Slums Of Nairobi By Jennifer Margell
Website:http://www.jennifermargell.com
Makao by Jennifer Margell is a prototype of modular homes for the slums of Nairobi. Made of recycled materials, the houses are quite affordable and the modular system allows for custom configurations. The roof collects and filters water and can also be opened to release heat. The hollow plastic walls are filled with mud for insulation and some parts of the homes are made from recycled frosted panels.
House On The Water by Formodesign
Website:http://www.formodesign.pl
The House on the Water by Formodesign is a real piece of art. Designed as a rental house for people who don’t want to be disturbed, it has all the comfort of an on-shore building. It is located by Navagio Beach, NW coast of the Greek island Zante.
Upside-Down House in Germany
This unique and quirky upside-down house in Germany was created by two talented Polish designers as a part of the “The World Upside Down” project. Every piece of furniture is upside-down and, though the house is big enough to be lived in (it even has a bathroom), you can’t obviously live there. The house is situated in the town of Trassenheide on Germany’s Baltic Sea island of Usedom and is open as a tourist attraction.
Haines Shoe House
The Shoe House was built in 1948 by a Mahlon N. Haines for advertising purposes. Haines walked up to an architect, handed him an old work boot, and said “build me a house like this.” Thank God he didn’t own an adult toys company!
Cocoon by Bellemo & Cat
Website:http://www.bellemocat.com
Not very attractive from the outside, the Cocoon by Bellemo & Cat is actually pretty cozy. It’s situated in a bushy coastal hamlet on the Great Ocean Road and opens on one side to a magnificent landscape. Though the project is interesting and unique, any other construction could probably easily replace it.
Nunnmps by Cheungvogl
Website:http://www.cheungvogl.com
Nunnmps, by Hong Kong architects Cheungvogl, is one of those tremendous projects meant to save nature. What you see in the picture is the design of a research studio on stilts for Chicago, Illinois. The studio construction will be elevated both to preserve the surrounding natural habitat and protect the secrecy of the research while a reception area and administration office will be below on ground level overlooking the lake.
The Shard is a super tall glass skyscraper in London. Not much to say — the building looks terrific and at the same time very sophisticated. When completed in 2012 it will be the tallest building in the United Kingdom and one of the tallest buildings in Europe!
Solar Shanghai Pavilion Made From Used CD Cases
The Shanghai World Expo 2010 will feature a building made from recycled CD cases, built by Atelier Feichang Jianzhu. That’s a great example of how otherwise useless things can be reused! The CD cases have been transformed into transparent polycarbonate tubes arranged in a grid-like matrix, and they will be used in the construction. The Shanghai Corporate Pavilion also features a solar energy system and multi-colored LED lights so, when complete, the building will resemble a big shining cube.
Lego House by James May
The Lego House was built as part of the BBC series called James May’s Toy Stories in which the TV presenter took Britain’s best-loved toys and used them in new adventures. The idea for this house came spontaneously when having beer with friends — James and others were discussing what they dreamed of building from Legos when they were kids. And from there, the Lego House was built from millions of small pieces… to be demolished just weeks after completion for James May’s Toy Stories show. Legoland didn’t want it and the used LEGO blocks will be donated to charity.
Photos from www.dailymail.co.uk
Image and Audio Museum in Rio de Janeiro
Website:http://www.dillerscofidio.com
The Museum of Image and Sound, designed by Diller Scofidio+Renfro looks like a big steel and glass example of origami. Construction will be finished some time in 2011. Speaking of origami, on the website they show you how to make it from paper.
New Orleans Arcology Habitat- NOAH
Website:http://www.ahearnschopfer.com/schopfer/planning/noah/index.html
New Orleans Arcology Habitat or NOAH was designed in an effort to rebuild the city. This structure will be a safe place for its residents no matter what happens and it can resist any natural disasters. NOAH proposes to be a habitat for 40,000 residents and will include residential units, a school system, commercial and retail outlets, hotels, casinos, parking, and public works facilities.
OMA’s Design For MahaNakhon Unveiled
Website:http://www.oma.nl
The 77 story MahaNakhon (also known as the pixel tower) will be the tallest building in Thailand’s capital. That’s an interesting concept and will definitely be loved by thousands of graphic designers.
Mercury House One by Architecture and Vision
Mercury House One is a big computer mouse living room by multinational firm Architecture and Vision. It’s designed to be easily transportable — kind of useless but still an exciting approach to the design.
Life in Plastic by Moomoo Achitects
Website:http://moomoo.pl
Here’s an amazing example of Polish modern architecture by Moomoo Architects. Scheduled for completion in 2010 in Lodz, Poland, this unconventional house design takes a modern approach to traditional Polish homes.
Cottbus University Library by Herzog & DeMeuron
The castle from the distance — this is the Cottbus University Library by Herzog & DeMeuron. The seven upper and two basement levels of the library are all different in design and the brightly-colored spiral staircase makes study seem like fun.
University Duisburg-Essen Bibliosphere
Can you imagine that’s really a library that you see in the pictures below? I guess that was the only way to make students read — make them think they are going to some cool night club!
