World's most unique island

1.Tristan da Cunha: Island of the World's Most Isolated

The island is located in the southern Atlantic Ocean, 2816 km from South Africa and 3360 km from South America. This very, very isolated from the outside world. Surrounded by mountains and sea make access to the island is very difficult. Not to mention the character of a difficult nature, such as harsh winds. The island is located in the sovereignty of Saint Helena, the UK, only has a population of 270 people.
The island was discovered by Portuguese sailors Ilha de Tristão da Cunha in 1506, so named after the sailor's name. Once the isolation of the island, up until the only means of transportation to reach the island is a boat because there was no airstrip there. What also matters is the existence of genetic diseases are believed to occur because the marriage between relatives. This is because the prohibition of the immigrants living here.

2.Dubai's Large-Scale Sand Art: Giant Palm Shaped Artificial Island

The super-rich emirate of Dubai to build a spectacular project that is artificial islands off the coast. Amazing job amazing world of artificial islands arranged like a giant palm tree.
The islands are the largest land reclamation project in the world, also the world's largest artificial islands. The islands are the Palm Jumeirah, Palm Jebel Ali and Palm Deira. Creator is Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum is aimed at increasing tourism in Dubai. Each palm tree-shaped island, topped by a crescent, and will be equipped with various facilities to make people comfortable. Palm Islands are located off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in the Persian Gulf and will add 250 km coastal city of Dubai.
The first two islands will comprise approximately 100 million cubic meters of rock and sand. Palm Deira about 1 billion cubic meters of rock and sand. All the material comes from the UAE. In all three islands will be built more than 100 luxury hotels, exclusive villas and apartments by the beach, marinas, water theme parks, restaurants, shopping malls, sports facilities and health spas.
Construction of the Palm Jumeirah began in June 2001. Then, the Palm Jebel Ali was announced and reclamation begins. Palm Deira, the planned area of ​​46.35 square meters and building company, Nakheel, claims exceeded the extent of Paris, construction began in 2003. Development will be completed for the next 10-15 years.

3.Samosir: Island on the Island

Samosir Island is located in the middle of Lake Toba, a large lake on the island of Sumatra, which is part of Indonesia. The island covers a surface area of ​​the lake as much as water does. But it is the unique culture and scenery idil that really makes this one world's most unique island. There are also two small lakes on the island. Samosir Island is an island in the middle of Lake Toba in North Sumatra, Indonesia. Samosir Island is believed to be the largest island within an island. The extent of 630 km2, only slightly smaller than the original area of 714 km2 Singapore.
Samosir Island is created about 30,000 years ago during a volcanic eruption. Toba lake itself is being created 75,000 years ago is also due to volcanic eruptions. In addition samosir island, volcanic eruptions also cause the appearance of the peninsula on mainland Sumatra island who is now a small town Prapat.

4.Spratly Islands: World’s Most Disputed Islands

Spratly Islands is a series of 650 coral islands located in the South China Sea, between the Philippines and Vietnam. The Spratlys, as they are called, are part of the three islands in the South China Sea, consists of more than 30,000 islands and coral reefs, and such a complicated geographical and economic governance in the region of Southeast Asia. Not yet clear what the potential of this island, but could hear the initial survey was done and as a result, the islands are indicated to the various oil and gas.
Unique of the island are 45 islands inhabited by a small number of military forces from various Countries that China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei.
5.Ellesmere: Small Island are Frozen

Ellesmere is one of the islands in the world where the temperature reaches freezing. But the island that are in Canada, to the west of Greenland is a barren nature of the 'laboratory' of the geologists and biologists who are studying the changes of nature.

6.Ometepe: Island Oldest in World Formed from Gunung Api

Ometepe: is one of the oldest island in the world. Formed from two volcanoes sticking out of the lake Nicaragua in the Republic of Nicaragua. Its name comes from the Nahuatl word ome (two) and tepetl (mountain), meaning two mountains. Two volcanoes Concepción and Maderas it is. Although this is a dangerous volcano island, but there are people living there, which number about 35,000 souls. The main livelihoods of agriculture, animal husbandry. The area is also included in the area of ​​tourism.

Gray Matters

  In the interior decor world Grays are getting lots of play these days... especially walls. I think we're just catching on to their versatility and how to use them.  With their many undertones they can be used as neutrals. Warm up the gray palette with wood finishes and colorful textiles. Gray has always worked well as an accent color.  What draws me into a gray space is the serenity created by the color. Pair it with soft textiles and let the space become an open invitation to the dweller.

Rooms by designer Mary McDonald don't always come across simple.  But, this one does.  It's soft, elegant with straight clean lines from the drapes to the moulding.

This is one of my favorite grays... Sherwin Williams - Gray Area SW7052.


The finished living room... Gray Area.

Sherwin Williams Gateway Gray SW7644 brings a soothing sophisitication to urban living.

The best of contemporary gray.

Dura Lee Fabric Crush

Dura Lee has  beautiful fabric and I especially love their Thomas Paul prints. In fact I have a fabric crush on all of  them... They're fresh, fun, and versatile. Use them in a contemporary or traditional environment to add a bit of whimsy and a punch of color. Check out the DuraLee book below full of these fabulous designs.  Let me know if you want to order any and I'd be happy to send you a sample swatch. Sale: 20% off

 

Thomas Paul 2 - book # 2738

20959-19

20960-23

20956-19

20965-619

Boy Wonder In The World

1.Surgeon age 7 years

Nicknamed "the smartest children in the world" has been attached to the Akrit Jaswal, seoarang child from India. He surprised the public, when at the age of 7 years of performing surgery on a local girl in his place. the girl suffered burns on his hands, until his hands could not be opened, and jaswalpun fingers do the surgery until she could be open as usual.
Currently, he is listed as the youngest doctor in the world, he was accepted at the University at the age of 11 years.


2. Get the Nobel Prize At Age 12

Born in 1990, Gregory Smith listed his name on the nobel peace. thanks to his efforts in establishing the International Youth Advocates. Society of Young people around the world.
He never met directly with President Bush, and also Michael Gorbacev.
3.Cleopatra Stratan: 3 year old boy singer with the salary € 1000/song

Born On October 6, 2002, Chisinau. he is a chronicler in the music industry as a singer. With the 2006 album La vârsta de trei ani ("at age 3"). He noted the record of an artist who appeared on stage with thousands of fans. He was also awarded the MTV Awards in the youngest artist to score a # 1 Hits

4.Painter at the age of 2 years

Children born in Australia, the only two years old already showed its quality as a genius, he has a theater for abstract works.
At first, Mark Jamieson, director of the Brunswick Street Gallery in Melbourne's Fitzroy. Tretarik saw a photograph of the painting Aelita Andre. and he wants to join the group because of the talent that his paintings. When the invitation has been made, he had just realized that Aelita is a child as young as 22 months. However he continued to show it.

Keith Raffel: Doubling the odds in book publishing

It's not an easy thing to find lasting, lucrative success as a novelist. So this year Palo Alto mystery/thriller author Keith Raffel is trying to double the odds.



After publishing two books (both set in P.A.), Keith was ready to put out new titles. This time, he decided to go in two paths at once. "This spring I found myself with two finished manuscripts in hand and decided to practice a little literary portfolio diversification," he told me in an email. "I sent one to my agent for submission to publishers. We are still awaiting word. In the meantime, I myself e-published 'Drop By Drop' on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iTunes and Smashwords."



There's something to be said for e-publishing: immediacy. "I uploaded the manuscript and -- poof -- it was available to readers," Keith said.



And, no butting heads with the publisher over the cover. Keith just briefly worked with a designer for the book, which is about a Stanford professor who loses his wife to a bombing at SFO, then heads -- steely-eyed and grieving -- to work against terrorism through the Senate Intelligence Committee in Washington.



If you're driven enough to get two books written at once, it makes sense that you'd be enterprising as well. I salute Keith's effort. So, where is "Drop By Drop" now?



The author says sales are slower than they were for his earlier book "Smashers" at this stage, perhaps in part because he's not getting the reviews that he did for his traditionally published novels.



It's an interesting phenomenon. Why would publications such as newspapers decline to review an ebook when we ourselves are doing so much more non-print printing? Perhaps they're concerned more about the self-published nature than the medium; many self-published books could use a better editor, although Keith's looks pretty clean. (The Weekly hasn't reviewed "Drop By Drop," but not due to any concerns about the medium. We just don't have the resources to review more than a very few of the books sent to us.)



Still, many bloggers have noticed "Drop By Drop," and Keith had already garnered name recognition for the positive feedback for his first two titles.



"The tricky part of e-pubbing your own book is finding a way to stand out from the pack of tens of thousands. There, I was lucky," he said. "Because my first two books were published in paper-and-ink format, I had a following I could build on."



Menlo Park author Barry Eisler has also built on his following with these dual paths. After traditionally publishing several best-selling thrillers including the popular John Rain series, he's also been active in the ebook world. For instance, he's self-published several short stories as digital publications, and plans to continue doing so. "There's no cost-effective way to distribute a short story in paper today," he said on his website.



As for Keith Raffel, he added that prices are better for digital editions, making them more accessible to buyers. "Drop By Drop" sells for $3.99, as compared to his traditionally published books, which sell for $13.95 or $14.95. He said he still makes more in royalties in eland.



"By going the ebook route, I'm convinced I'll sell more copies, make more money, and help blaze new trails as compared to my first two books. My agent has quite a challenge on his hands with Book #4 to top all that," he said.



But Keith still hasn't left the charms of paper behind on the trail. (Nor have I, surprisingly enough.)



"I still do love holding a book in my hands, visiting bookstores and seeing someone on a plane reading one of my titles," he said, adding of his agent, "I'm rooting for him."



I'll be watching with interest to see what happens. Will Book #4 sell, and if not, will Keith choose to self-publish it as an ebook? If so, then how will Book #5 be published?



Pictured: Author Keith Raffel, in a photo from his website, keithraffel.com.

The Living Ancient Fish

1.Hagfish

According to records, hagfish have been around for more than 300 million years. Found in waters that are relatively deep, the animal is sometimes called slime eels, but they are not actually eels, and in fact they do not even like fish at all, loh continue what is? according to some scientists. They are a very strange animal in all respects, they have the skull but did not have a spine, and they have two brains. Nearly blind, they eat at night they ate carcasses of large animals (fish, whales, etc.) that falls into the seabed. they have almost no natural enemies.


2.Arowana 

Osteoglossids (Arowana), these fish already exist in the Jurassic period. Today, they are found in the Amazon, and in some parts of Africa, Asia and Australia. Sometimes kept as exotic pets. Arowana fish that eat small animals and worms that they could get, including birds and bats which they catch while flying, Arowana can also jump up to 2 meters into the air. In China, the arowana is known as "fish-dragon" because of their appearance, and they are considered a sign of good fortune brought aka hockey.

3.Frilled Shark 

This deep-sea predators, one of the most primitive shark alive today, is a relic of the Cretaceous period, frilled sharks can grow up to 2 meters (size larger than the female shark shark men) and they live in deep water, where they eat mostly squid. They are harmless to humans, and as a matter of fact, sharks spend their entire lives without seeing human beings as they live in the deep sea. Only the dead specimens are usually visible on the surface and recorded by fishermen or scientists.

4.Sturgeon Fish

Sturgeon has been known as one of the main sources of caviar (fish eggs) due to overfishing, the population is being threatened at this time. Largest sturgeon species can grow up to 6 meters, equal to the white shark, Sturgeon eat small animals from the seafloor and do not pose danger to humans unless provoked

5. Saw Fish

These animals are the victims of the Cretaceous period, and can be found either at sea or in the river at a depth of 100 km with a length of 7 meters, this fish looks like a shark with a mouth like a chainsaw, but not included in Sawfish species of sharks just like .
Sawfish diliat2 if it's actually not a race but including race sharks stingrays, from under his body shape is flat, unlike the shark underneath a more slender streamlined shape that allows sharks to swim fast in the aer, and Sawfish have a small mouth that is parallel with lower body fused with his body like a manta ray, while the shark? more sharks seem to have a big jaw itself. also can see a flat head Sawfish does not like sharks. Sawfish fins also have a front parallel to the bottom.
yah some adult Sawfish can grow up to 5.8 m. oh yes there are some people who are often mistaken with Sawfish and sawshark., if Sawfish it like that already in jelasin above, while sawshark is like having a big jaw like  other sharks , and certainly his body shape is different, more like a shark.

6.Polypterus Senegalus 

Fish Africa is often called the "dinosaur eel", because of their appearance and jagged dorsal fins. They're actually not an eel, but family members Bichirs. Although often sold as exotic pets "dinosaur eel", they can survive out of water for long periods during their skin remains moist.


7.Coelacanth

A group of researchers from the University of Sam Ratulangi
Indonesia Institute of Science and Aquamarine Fukushima Japan regained its prehistoric fish called the coelacanth. The fish was estimated to have existed 380 million years ago.
Fish were found in the first day of the investigators on Monday (14 / 9) using the ROV (remotely operated vehicle). The fish was found in the waters of Talise, North Minahasa, in the depths of 155 meters. "This discovery is very surprising. Fish was found alive and swimming freely habitat, "says Prof. Alex Masengi, Dean of the Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Sam Ratulangi University. On 27 June 2007, the same team found a coelacanth fish in the waters Malalayang, the bay of Manado, North Sulawesi at a depth of 190 meters. The second discovery is about 120 kilometers north of the previous one.
Coelacanth fish habitat to be around a depth of 180 meters with a maximum temperature of 18 degrees Celsius in mountain basins of the sea. These fish live only in waters
South Africa and the western waters of eastern Indonesia each
respectively called Latimeria chalumnae and Latimeria menadoensis. New species found in Manado in 1999 shocked the world because since 1940 the coelacanth species known only from the western part of Madagascar. Coelacanth prehistoric fish and categorized as living fossils because it allegedly has existed since the Devonian era, about 380 million years ago.

Music@Menlo: Lovely, lilting Lieder

Everyone in theater knows this old saw: "Bad dress rehearsal, good opening night." Maybe the Music@Menlo folks should have worried when the last rehearsal for the Aug. 2 concert of German art songs was fantastic.

After that, things started to fall apart, pianist Wu Han told the audience Tuesday. First, soprano Erin Morley called, croaking that she'd lost her voice. A search was launched for a replacement. Canadian soprano Katherine Whyte knew the repertoire, and she got on a plane.

Then baritone Kelly Markgraf started having trouble with his voice.

"Life would be way too boring if we didn't have some drama in this festival," said Wu Han, who founded Music@Menlo with her husband, cellist David Finckel.

Markgraf opted not to sing his solo Robert Schumann Lieder. But he was able to join the group songs with Whyte, tenor Paul Appleby and mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke; and pianists Wu Han and Gilbert Kalish; and the show went on.

And the show was sublime.

The "Songs of Love" program featured art songs by Schumann, Franz Schubert, Johannes Brahms and Alban Berg. There were playful waltzes, tender lullabies and love songs, and the atmospheric "Seven Early Songs" of Berg, more tonal than his later work.

The Berg songs were highlights. Whyte, performing with Kalish, was as confident and present as if she'd planned this concert for months, her voice shimmering. The song "Nacht (Night)" was especially gorgeous, with piano and voice conjuring up silvery, moonlit mystery.

Whyte also has the storytelling sensibility of a natural actress. Her open face offers an emotional subtext to every line of text. "How gently do the minutes pass!" became both a memory of sweet love and an expression of grief.

Appleby began the concert paired with Wu Han, performing three Lieder by Schubert. The lightness of his tone matched both Wu Han's rippling, precise touch and the airiness of "Liebesbotschaft (Love's Message)." In "Nachtstuck (Nocturne)," Appleby showed such a fine control of momentum and movement that I held my breath between phrases. His wide-eyed emotions were a bit overdone at times, particularly in the later Spanische Liebeslieder by Schumann, but mostly endearing.

I had trouble hearing Markgraf in these energetic Schumann songs and later in the sprightly Brahms Liebeslieder Waltzes that concluded the concert, which could be forgiven due to his illness. These selections were nonetheless thoroughly charming.

I was a bit disappointed, though, in the first of the two Brahms songs performed by Cooke. I had seen her sing twice before and was taken by her poise and the luxuriousness of her tone. The first, "Gestillte Sehnsucht (Stilled Desire)," seemed hesitant, with Cooke's lower register sometimes overwhelmed by violist Paul Neubauer.

But everything warmed with "Geistliches Wiegenlied (Sacred Lullaby)." Cooke, who recently had a baby, seemed to find real peace in the text, her eyes dreamy on "You holy angels, silence the treetops! My child is sleeping." Neubauer's playing mingled delicately with Kalish's.

Cooke was in her element after that. Her Schumann duet with Whyte, "Cover me with flowers together," was a lush blend, and her solo "The mountains are high" a bright, coquettish treat. All throughout, her voice was supple -- and very strong. Impressed, my companion remarked after the concert, "I'd like to hear her sing Wagner."



Pictured: Top: From left, Katherine Whyte, Sasha Cooke, Kelly Markgraf and Paul Appleby performing Tuesday night at Music@Menlo. Wu Han and Gilbert Kalish are playing piano behind them. Photo by Tristan Cook. Above: Sasha Cooke singing with violist Paul Neubauer. Photo by Ashley Pinnell.