Archive for 2007
Flickr user DJB31st’s awesome picture is possibly caught by a life-a-time chance! It was taken from somewhere up in the hills overlooking Paphos, a coastal city in the southwest of Cyprus, during the storms in winter 2006.(Random Citations)
With a cock and a bird standing on his head for several years, Wu Qingxing(吳慶興), a Chinese street barber, is well-known as "cock king" in his hometown in Guangdong province of China.
The 60-year-old man is still single just because he only loves types of animals such as birds, geese and dogs, especially cherishes the beautiful cocks. He thinks the animals are his family members.
What a cool old man! (Random Citations & news.qq.com)
Varvara Semennikova is 117 years old. She is probably the main contender for the title of the world’s oldest human being. She was born in Yakutia in 1890. Semennikova is confident that her beloved husband was the source of her longevity.
Varvara met a hunter called Alexei Semennikov in 1944. Soon they got married. Varvara’s husband was her junior by 27 years.
"We used to share the yurt with his parents. We were a really close-knit family back then…" said Varvara.
She does not seem to be concerned about her age.
"Once I fell ill and had a dream. I saw myself lying in a casket in that dream. Then somebody helped me climb out of the casket right before I woke up. I think death was walking pretty close around me," Varvara said.
These days Varvara lives in a house made of timber. She shares it with her daughter Elena, 59, and her grandson Roma, 17. A TV set sits opposite to her bed. The TV is on all the time – the old lady loves following the news.
Varvara’s usual diet comprises fresh fish (she eats it in the raw after flaking away small pieces with a knife), boiled meat, tea with milk, jam, bread and butter, sour cream. Varvara seems to enjoy eating every bit of her food. At an average, her dinner lasts for two or three hours. The old lady does not look like a frail helpless creature. She seems to be fully coherent; her speech is loud and clear. Varvara Semennikova raised four children and ten grandchildren. (Pravda – 俄羅斯「真理報」)
Parts adorned in .999 hardened 24ct gold inc front full surround and 3/4 of the rear, the stunning gold iPhone is to be launched by Goldstriker International since the middle of this month. (www.goldstriker.co.uk)
British Alexandra Stevens, 29, of Haultwick, Herts, grows this cute duck-shaped ucumber. She revealed it has become an office mascot since she took it into work at the ccounty council.
She said: "It is a favourite. Everyone wants to have a look." Guess that makes it a peeking duck… (The Sun)
Nissan has worked up a new version electric-powered Pivo 2 concept car. Designed for urban use, the Pivo 2 features a 360-degree revolving cabin, allowing the driver to always face forward while driving, even when parallel parking, and to access the unique front door from any direction.
The three-seat car is equipped with safety systems such as Around View Monitor (AVM), Distance Control Assist System (DCAS) and also a Robotic Agent that uses facial monitoring technology to interact with the driver – in English or Japanese.
It will be on display on the 40th Tokyo Auto Show on October 26 to November 11.(MSN)
Yu Nakajima of Japan won the main event at the 2007 Rubik’s Cube world championship Sunday, October 7.
Nakajima, 16, was able to solve the classic 3×3 cube — which has six sides of a different color with nine tiles each on each side — in an average time of 12.46 seconds over five attempts.
He earned the top award of €5,000 (US$7,000), from total prize money of €20,000 (US$28,000) distributed at the three-day, which began Friday.
Andrew Kang of the United States was second and Mitsuki Gunji of Japan third.
Kang set the best time for a single attempt at the championship — 10.88 seconds. The world record is 9.86 seconds, held since May by Thibaut Jacquinot of France.
More than 250 competitors from 33 countries took part in the event, the fourth world championship overall and the first to be held in Hungary — where the game was invented by Erno Rubik in 1974 — since competition began in 1982.
Others showed their skill at solving the cube blindfolded, with one hand or with their feet.
Finland’s Anssi Vanhala was fastest with his feet at 49.33 seconds, although his favorite cube — which players customize with everything from silicon lubricants to talcum powder — was stolen during the competition.
"I am very happy with the victory because I had set myself a target of 50 seconds, which I bettered," said Vanhala, 15, who also was a finalist in the 3×3 category won by Nakajima.
Ryan Patricio, 18, a high school senior from Temecula, California, defended his world title in the one-hand category with a new world record, averaging 21.13 seconds in five attempts.
"Definitely there is room improvement and I expect a sub-20 (second) average at the next world championship in two years," said Patricio, who competed in an anorak.
Hungary’s Matyas Kuti was fastest solving the 4×4 and 5×5 cubes and also won several of the blindfold events, which seemed to draw the biggest respect from his peers.
Blindfold contestants try to solve the game by memorizing the position of key cubes before covering their eyes. Kuti’s best blindfolded time for the 3×3 cube was just over 1 minute, 7 seconds.
Electronic timers were used and players solved the cubes set to a certain position — which varied by category and were determined with the help of computers.
Rubik, an engineer who developed several other mechanical games after the cube, made a rare public appearance at the medal ceremony, helping to hand out the main awards.
"I’m glad the cube is reaching new generations, who face it with fresh wonder, curiosity and enthusiasm," the game’s creator said.
World championships were also held in Canada in 2003 and in the United States in 2005.(AP)
A bronze tobacco pipe weighing 116 kilograms is on display at an exhibition centre in Hangzhou, east China’s Zhejiang Province on Saturday, October 6, 2007. At 1.16 meters in diameter and 2.8 meters in length, the pipe is reported to be the largest in China.(CRIenglish.com)
When it comes to romantic hotels or romantic getaways in general, I’m always stressing here on Romance Tracker that the size of your pocketbook has little to do with whether or not you can put together an unforgettable honeymoon vacation or romantic escape. And truthfully, there are so many romantic hotels in the United States and throughout the world, that you shouldn’t have to be rich to find one that’s within your budget.
Admittedly, though, there are lots of romantic hotels in the world that are way outside the price range of myself and most of our readers! Even though we can’t afford to stay at the most romantic hotels in the world, though, doesn’t mean that we can’t still check them out and have fun imagining.
Of course, "most romantic hotel in the world" is a subjective categorization, and one person’s romantic hotel is another person’s nightmare vacation. Some of us might prefer a more low-key, inexpensive romantic hotel to the upscale, multi-million-dollar version… even if we did have the money to pay for it!
Below is a list of what many people in the world consider to be the top ten romantic hotels out there. I compiled the list through research on the Internet, and hope you enjoy it. Check out each romantic hotel website and have fun imagining yourself and your lover living in opulence… but remember: what truly makes a hotel romantic is the people who are staying there. If you have a truly romantic relationship, any hotel that you and your sweetheart stay in can be made into the most romantic hotel in the world!
Top Ten Most Romantic Hotels in the World
1. Twin Farms: Bernard, Vermont
2. Mala Mala Game Reserve: South Africa
3. The Inn at Irving Place, New York
4. La Villa Gallici, France
5. The Bauer, Venice
6. Dar Mimosas, Morocco
7. Four Seasons at Jimbaran Bay, Bali
8. La Sirenuse, Italy
9. The Point, Saranac Lake, NY
10. Hotel Ritz, Paris
(romancetracker.com)
Discovered in China’s Shaanxi Province in 2002, the butterfly Tongeia minima Shou et Yuan (小玄灰蝶), was recently officially confirmed as the world’s smallest butterfly. The full wing span of this kind of butterfly species ranges from only 12-17 mm.(Sina & Xinhua)
近期迴響