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The most terrifying hotel room for those scared of heights……

September 28, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

PERCHED 4000m above a valley sits perhaps some of the most terrifying hotel rooms you’ll ever see — a series of cocoon-like transparent capsules hanging from the side of a mountain in Peru.

To get to Natura Vive’s three sky-high Skylodge Adventure suites near the city of Cusco, guests have to strap on some hiking boots, gloves and a helmet and climb a steel ladder up a 400m-tall rocky cliff face, which is part of the Andes mountain range.

Luckily, there’s a safety rope attached to you via a carabiner. An alternative to the ladder is a hike-and-zip-line route. And since you’re scaling the sides of the Sacred Valley, perhaps divine intervention will prevent injuries.

A three-hour slog brings you up to Skylodge’s cozy pods, which are made of aluminium and polycarbonate and measure seven metres in length and 2.4 metres in height and width.

Each capsule has four beds, a dining area and a shared bathroom.

Compensate for a rustic toilet with a stellar view, since the walls and ceiling of these suites are transparent.

Inside, four lamps and a reading light are all powered by solar panels.

For the particularly brave, there’s an open-air seating area on top of each polyhedron.

There’s no way to order room service, as servers would have a pretty tough time scaling the mountain, so meals are all included.

On TripAdvisor and Airbnb, guests rave about the experience, even those who initially had jitters.

These “condor’s nests” — oh, and you’ll see plenty of those feathered friends up there — opened in the summer of 2013.

Current rates start at $A412 ($US289) per night, including transportation from a Cusco hotel, guides, equipment, a snack for the ascent, dinner with wine and breakfast.

And since those three pods have a total capacity of only eight people, adventure travellers had better get a move on.

Is this the coolest hotel in the world?

Is this the coolest hotel in the world?Source:Picture Media

Close the curtains honey, I’m trying to sleep.

Close the curtains honey, I’m trying to sleep.Source:Picture Media

Should we pop over and meet the neighbours?

Should we pop over and meet the neighbours?Source:Picture Media

I’ve never seen stars look this good.

I’ve never seen stars look this good.Source:Picture Media

Time for some washing up.

Time for some washing up.Source:Picture Media

I hope those ropes are tied up well.

I hope those ropes are tied up well.Source:Picture Media

Where is the hotel shuttle bus?

Where is the hotel shuttle bus?Source:Picture Media

The world looks extra pretty from up here.

The world looks extra pretty from up here.Source:Picture Media

Lots of room to have a sleep over.

Lots of room to have a sleep over.Source:Picture Media

Source…..www.news.com.au

Natarajan

No one can figure out whether this little girl is underwater or jumping into the water…

September 28, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Confusion … Is this little girl underwater or jumping into the water? Picture: Imgur

IF there’s one thing the internet loves, it’s a mind-bending photo just like this.

Imgur user ‘maskari’ posted the image of a girl playing with some water over the weekend, and social media users were quick to point out its weirdness.

“This girl looks like she’s underwater and jumping into water at the same time,” the caption said.

At first glance, the splashes (bubbles?) around the child’s face makes it look like she is swimming underwater.

Illusion? … Millions have debated what this girl is actually doing in this photo. Picture: imgur/maskariSource:Supplied

But on closer inspection her hair is dry, meaning she hasn’t gone underwater yet?

“Her hair is dry. She is just jumping in a shallow pool and little droplets have flown around her looking like air bubbles,” one Imgur uses said.

“She’s neither underwater or jumping in… She’s obviously squatting down in a shallow pool and splashing the water up!!!” another said.

Since being uploaded the photo has been viewed close to 3.2 million times.

What can you see?

source….Michael MorrowNews Corp Australia Network….www.news.com.au

Natarajan

“இல்லத்தில்…அலுவலகத்தில்… பொது வாழ்வில்…மனித உறவுகள் சீராக இருக்க”….

September 28, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

A to Z 🔔

🔔APPRECIATION – மற்றவர்களின் நிறைகளை மனதாரப் பாராட்டுங்கள்.
> 🔔BEHAVIOR – புன்முறுவல் காட்டவும் சிற்சில அன்புச்சொற்களைச் சொல்லவும் கூட நேரம் இல்லாததுபோல் நடந்து கொள்ளாதீர்கள்.
> 🔔COMPROMISE – அற்ப விஷயங்களை பெரிதுபடுத்தாதீர்கள். நேரில் சந்தித்து மனம் திறந்து பேசுங்கள்.
> 🔔DEPRESSION – மற்றவர்கள் நம்மை புரிந்துகொள்ளவில்லையே என்று சோர்வடையாதீர்கள்.
> 🔔EGO – மற்றவர்களை விட உங்களையே உயர்வாய் நினைத்துக் கர்வபடாதீர்கள்.
> 🔔FORGIVE – கண்டிக்கக்கூடிய அதிகாரமும் , நியாயமும் உங்கள் பக்கம் இருந்தாலும் எதிர்த்தரப்பினரை மன்னிக்க வழி இருக்கிறதா என்று பாருங்கள்.
> 🔔GENUINENESS – எந்தக் கட்டத்திலும் சந்தேகம் வேண்டாம். எந்த விஷயத்தையும் நேர்மையாக கையாளுங்கள்.
> 🔔HONESTY – தவறு செய்தால் உடனே மன்னிப்புக் கேட்பதைக்
> கௌரவமாக கருதுங்கள்.
> 🔔INFERIORITY COMPLEX – எவரையும் பார்த்து பிரமிக்காதீர்கள் நான் சிறியவன் என்ற தாழ்வு மனப்பான்மையை விட்டு விடுங்கள்.
> 🔔JEALOUSY – பொறாமை வேண்டவே வேண்டாம். அது கொண்டவனையே அழிக்கும்.
> 🔔KINDNESS – இனிய, இதமான சொற்களை மட்டுமே பயன்படுத்துங்கள்.
> 🔔LOOSE TALK – சம்பந்தமில்லாமலும், அர்த்தமில்லாமலும், பின் அறியாமலும் பேச வேண்டாம்.
> 🔔MISUNDERSTANDING – மற்றவர்களைத் தவறாகப் புரிந்துகொள்ளதீர்கள்.
> 🔔NEUTRAL – எப்போதும் எந்த விஷயத்தையும் முடிவு எடுத்துவிட்டுப் பேச வேண்டாம் .பேசிவிட்டு முடிவு எடுங்கள். முக்கியமாக நடுநிலை தவறவேண்டாம்.
> 🔔OVER EXPECTATION -அளவுக்கு அதிகமாகவும், தேவைக்கு அதிகமாகவும் ஆசைப்படாதீர்கள்.
> 🔔PATIENCE – சில சங்கடங்களை சகித்துத் தான் ஆகவேண்டும் என உணருங்கள்.
> 🔔QUIETNESS -தெரிந்ததை மாத்திரமே பேசுங்கள். அநேகப் பிரச்சனைகளுக்குக்
> காரணம் தெரியாததைப் பேசுவதுதான். கூடுமானவரை பேசாமலே இருந்துவிடுங்கள்.
> 🔔ROUGHNESS – பண்பில்லாத வார்த்தைகளையும், தேவைஇல்லாத
> மிடுக்கையும் காட்டாதீர்கள்.
> 🔔STUBBORNNESS – சொன்னதே சரி, செய்ததே சரி என பிடிவாதம் பிடிக்காதீர்கள்.
>
> 🔔TWISTING – இங்கே கேட்டதை அங்கேயும், அங்கே கேட்டதை
> இங்கேயும் சொல்வதை விட்டு விடுங்கள்.
>
> 🔔UNDERESTIMATE – மற்றவர்களுக்கும் மரியாதை உண்டு என்பதை மறவாதீர்கள்.
>
> 🔔VOLUNTARY -அடுத்தவர் இறங்கி வரவேண்டும் என்று
> காத்திராமல் நீங்களே பேச்சை முதலில் தொடங்குங்கள். பிரச்சனை வரும்போது எதிர்தரப்பில் உள்ளவரின் கருத்துக்களுக்கு முதலில்
> காது கொடுங்கள். பின்பு அதற்கு பதில் கொடுங்கள்.
>
> 🔔WOUND – எந்தப் பேச்சும், செயலும் யார் மனதையும் காயப்படுத்தாமல் இருக்கட்டும்.
>
> 🔔XEROX – நம்மை மற்றவர்கள் எப்படி நடத்தவேண்டும் என்று எதிர்பார்க்கிறோமோ அப்படியே மற்றவர்களை நாம் நடத்தவேண்டும்.
>
> 🔔YIELD – முடிந்தவரை விட்டுக்கொடுங்கள். விட்டுகொடுப்பவன்
> கெட்டுப்போவதில்லை, கெட்டுப்போகிறவர்கள் விட்டுக்கொடுப்பதில்லை.
> 🔔ZERO – இவை அனைத்தையும் கடை பிடித்தால் பிரச்சனை என்பது பூஜ்ஜியம் ஆகும்.
>
>Source…..unknown….Input from a friend of mine

Natarajan

Top executives of tech giants pledge support for Digital India initiative…

September 28, 2015September 28, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Google, Microsoft, Cisco, Qualcomm and Adobe executives express desire to deepen their participation in the Digital India initiative

PM Narendra Modi claps (2nd from right) with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella (centre), Cisco executive chairman John T. Chambers (2nd from left), Qualcomm executive chairman Paul E. Jacobs (right) as Google CEO Sundar Pichai (left) walks to his seat after his speech in San Jose on Saturday. Photo: PTI

Top executives of global information technology giants Google Inc., Microsoft Corp., Qualcomm Inc., Adobe Systems Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc. on Saturday said they are keen to join hands with India and deepen their participation in the Digital India initiative that aims to ensure that government services are available to citizens over the Internet.

The chief executives of the top technology firms were speaking at a Digital India forum in San Jose, California during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US.

“India has more than 300 million Internet users and smartphone users. People are educating themselves and their loved ones how to use technology,” said Sundar Pichai, chief executive, Google. “India is coming online at an unprecedented pace.”

“I can feel the change in the air,” he said. “I am excited about technology, and India will play a big part in its future.”

He also said India has become the fastest growing start-up nation.

Paul Jacobs, executive chairman of Qualcomm, told the forum that his semiconductor company is keen to promote the Digital India vision. “To promote ICT (information communication technology) in India, we will be setting up a $150 million fund to fuel innovation and foster promising Indian start-ups who are contributing to the mobile and ‘Internet of Everything’ ecosystem.”

“In line with the Make in India initiative,” he added, “the company will set up design centres in India to design products from India for the world.”

Microsoft chief executive officer Satya Nadella said the company is looking to bring low-cost Internet in India. “We want to help people make things and make things happen. It is time to collectively combine efforts to empower the people,” he said.

The company worked with researchers to bring low-cost Internet infrastructure to rural Andhra Pradesh using television’s white spaces, he said. “We are now looking to replicate the same pilot project in Varanasi.”

“We are in talks with state governments to expand it in 5,000 villages,” he added.

Modi, in his address, thanked the companies for their initiatives.

“We will see the perfect picture of US-India partnership emerge in the digital economy,” he said adding it is a new era of empowerment where global firms are creating infrastructure and services to support the government with the Digital India initiative.

“Technology is empowering people,” Modi said. “We are attacking poverty with network and smartphones.”

“In the digital age, we have the opportunity to transform the lives of people. About 170 e-governance applications are there to make government services available in better and faster way,” he added.

Stressing on the role of social media in empowering citizens, Modi said, “Facebook, Twitter, Instagram have become the new neighbourhoods. Social media has turned everybody into a reporter.”

Briefing reporters later, foreign ministry spokesman Vikas Swarup said Modi had invited Apple to set up a manufacturing base in India.

The Prime Minister (in his meeting with Cook) said he would like Apple to start manufacturing in India. He mentioned the huge opportunities India offered,” Swarup told reporters. Taiwan-based Foxconn Technology Group, which is the largest manufacturer of Apple products, has already decided to set up a manufacturing base in India, Swarup said. “Cook responded positively. I think India does fits into his long term plans. He particularly was interested in the whole app development economy, which he said could be a very, very important factor for entrepreneurship where individual app developers can just become part of the app universe,” Swarup said.

There was also some discussion on how Apple Pay could be a part of India’s financial inclusion Jan Dhan Yojana and other such initiatives, he added.

Indian ambassador to the US, Arun Singh, told reporters that during the Modi-Cook meeting “there was a sense that a lot of design innovation is happening in India.”

“As Apple expands its presence in India, including a manufacturing presence there could be enhanced opportunity for app development related to the apple platforms,” he said.

During the meeting, Cook is said to have recalled how Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs came to India as a young man seeking inspiration.

Source…. Moulishree Srivastava &Elizabeth Roche ….www.livemint.com

Natarajan

Modi gets his message across in Silicon Valley…”Make in India” and “Digital India “

September 28, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Cisco’s John T. Chambers, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, Qualcomm’s Paul E. Jacobs and Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai during the Digital India dinner function in San Jose. Photo: PTI

Midway through his second visit to the US, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already addressed three of the four major constituencies he planned to reach out to—at the bilateral, multilateral and Indian diaspora levels.

The fourth—the US leadership—is next in line, say analysts.

At the multilateral level, Modi addressed the United Nations (UN) General Assembly where he spelt out the need for “climate justice” and chaired a meeting of Brazil, Germany, India and Japan—four nations that have demanded a place for themselves as permanent members of a revamped UN Security Council.

Before leaving the US, Modi is also set to address a conference on UN peacekeeping—a global duty that is substantially underpinned by Indian contributions.

On the bilateral economic front, Modi has held meetings with key US business leaders, seeking and enlisting their support for his “Make in India” and “Digital India” campaigns.

That a number of chief executive officers (CEOs) in Silicon Valley are Americans of Indian origin helped Modi link up with the diaspora—the third key constituency that he has reached out to on all his trips abroad. Modi was set to address an audience of 20,000 people of Indian origin in California on Sunday.

The fourth constituency is the US establishment, and Modi will be meeting US President Barack Obama overnight Monday before heading home.

Former foreign secretary Lalit Mansingh noted that Modi’s six-day US trip had a multilateral component focused on key foreign policy issues such as the revamp of the UN Security Council, while the bilateral agenda with the US was tied to domestic economic issues.

“On the whole, the tenor of the visit has been positive,” Mansingh, also a former Indian ambassador to the US, said on Sunday.

Economy—the key focus area

Arriving in New York late on Wednesday after a brief halt in Ireland, Modi’s first engagements on Thursday were back-to-back meetings with the US business community aimed at burnishing the image of Asia’s third largest economy as an investor-friendly destination. Last week, the Asian Development Bank cut India’s growth projection to 7.4% for 2015-16 from 7.8% predicted earlier. And there has been criticism, albeit muted, that the Modi government, elected to office last May on a pro-jobs and pro-development platform, has been slow in putting in place measures that would spur the economy.

Among those who met the prime minister were Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corp.; Ajay Banga, president and CEO of MasterCard who also chairs the US-India Business Council; Marilyn A. Hewson, chairman, president and CEO of Lockheed Martin Corp.; Citigroup chairman Michael O’Neill; Boeing International president Marc Allen, and Goldman Sachs president Gary Cohn. These meetings came on a day the Indian government formally announced that foreign companies without a permanent establishment in India will be exempt from the minimum alternative tax, levied on profit-making entities that do not pay corporate income tax because of exemptions and incentives.

“The idea (behind the intensive engagement with the business community) is that while we have expanded in a significant way our political security and defence cooperation, we need to make enhanced effort in terms of expanding the economic engagement between the two countries,” India’s ambassador to the US, Arun Singh, told reporters last week.

“When President Obama had visited in January, the two leaders had declared a goal of taking our trade relationship to a level of $500 billion from the present level of $120 billion. So, it would be important to see what kind of new opportunities we can create in the economic sector and that is why an important part of Prime Minister’s engagement during his visit to the United States is certainly focusing on the economic sector,” Singh said.

If the emphasis of Thursday’s meetings was on investments and manufacturing, it was Digital India at the weekend, when Modi travelled to California. Digital India is the Prime Minister’s flagship programme seeking to promote the use of technology to deliver governance and services. Those who met Modi included John Chambers, executive chairman of Cisco Systems; Paul Jacobs, executive chairman of Qualcomm who announced a $150 million investment in Indian start-ups; Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft; Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google; Shantanu Narayen, president and CEO of Adobe; and Venk Shukla, president and trustee of Silicon Valley at The Indus Entrepreneurs, a group representing tech entrepreneurs.

“Today, more than 15% start-ups in Silicon Valley are attributed to Indian-origin tech entrepreneurs. Therefore, this is an additional dimension to the potential for cooperation between India and the United States,” ambassador Singh told reporters, underlining the potential role of the diaspora in the digital India initiative.

Ahead of the meeting with the leading lights of the Silicon Valley, Modi received Tim Cook, CEO of technology giant Apple, and invited the company to start manufacturing in India under the Make in India initiative that aims to boost India as a global manufacturing hub. Modi also visited Tesla Motors Inc., which designs and manufactures premium electric vehicles on Saturday, a visit that underlined the India’s growing emphasis on renewable energy, including plans to generate 100,000 megawatts solar power by 2022.

“The Prime Minister heard them and their concerns. How he deals with the problems once he is back home is to be seen,” Mansingh said.

At the UN

At the multilateral level, Modi has had two major engagements. On Friday he addressed the UN General Assembly on the occasion of the world community adopting the Sustainable Development Goals that aim to reduce global poverty. The second was early Saturday when he chaired a meeting of the Group of Four (G4) countries—Brazil, Germany, India and Japan—that seek to become permanent members of the UN Security Council.

In his address to the UN General Assembly, Modi spoke of how many of the initiatives launched by the Indian government—financial inclusion, education and skill development and pension schemes for the vulnerable—mirrored the Sustainable Development Goals. With an eye on the Paris climate change conference scheduled later this year in Paris, Modi urged developed nations to transfer technology, innovation and finances to developing countries in order to tackle the challenge of climate change.

Highlighting India’s plans to produce 175 gigawatts of electricity by 2022 through renewable energy sources, energy efficiency measures, improving public transportation, cleaning up cities and rivers, and the waste-to-wealth project, Modi said: “The objective of our collective efforts is common but differentiated responsibilities.” The principle institutionalizes the idea that rich nations must bear historical responsibility for global warming and therefore must take the global lead in efforts to reduce carbon emissions that cause climate change.

“Climate justice” was appropriate to taking the concerns of the poor in sustainable development, Modi said.

Modi also used the UN platform to stress the need to reform the Security Council, seven decades after the body was constituted at the end of the Second World War. “We must reform the UN and the Security Council. This is essential so that the institutions have greater credibility and legitimacy. With a broad-based representation, we will be more effective in achieving our goals,” Modi said.

To drive the message home, Modi invited Brazilian President Dilma Rouseff, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to a summit level conference of the G4 countries pushing for the reform of the UN Security Council. The four countries support each other’s candidature for permanent membership of a reformed UN Security Council and, in a joint statement, sought such reform “within a fixed time frame”.

This is the first summit of the four countries in a decade and comes against the backdrop of the previous 69th UN General Assembly deciding earlier this month to begin negotiations based on a broadly agreed text on reforming the Security Council. “With this summit, I think the prime minister has underlined this as a key foreign policy objective,” Mansingh said.

Modi’s last few engagements on Monday include a meeting with President Obama in New York and a separate meeting of countries that send troops for UN peacekeeping missions.

Elizabeth Roche….www. livemint.com

Natarajan

Images of the Day… Super Moon Night …!!!

September 28, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

The moon is seen against the peak of the tomb of Jama Masjid in New Delhi. Picture: AFP / Chandan KhannaSource:AFP

The full moon is seen on the city skyline as Indian devotees carry statues of elephant-headed Hindu god Lord Ganesha for immersion in the Arabian Sea in Mumbai. Picture: AFP / Punit ParanjpeSource:AFP

An Indian man leans on a wall on top of a building in New Delhi as the moon does time as a backdrop. Picture: AFP / Roberto SchmidtSource:AFP

A full moon shines behind a tower of the Jama Masjid mosque in New Delhi. Picture: AFP / Roberto SchmidtSource:AFP

Source…..www.news.com.au

Natarajan

The Best Pictures of the Super Moon….

September 27, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Hello pretty … the full moon rises between clouds in Berlin. Picture: AP Photo/Gero Breloer

LAST night’s spectacular full moon was a treat for many Australian skywatchers, but in other parts of the world it was merely the overture to a total lunar eclipse.

When a full or new moon makes its closest approach to Earth, that’s a supermoon. A combination of a supermoon and a total lunar eclipse has not been seen since 1982 and will not happen again until 2033.

The supermoon rises behind Glastonbury Tor in Somerset, England. Picture: Matt Cardy/Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images

A flock of birds fly by as a perigee moon, also known as a super moon, rises in Mir, Belarus. Picture: AP / Sergei GritsSource:AP

A perigee moon rises in the sky above the La Concha Beach, in San Sebastian, northern Spain. Picture: AP Photo/Alvaro BarrientosSource:AP

Although still about 220,000 miles (354,055 km) away, it was still the closest full moon of the year, about 30,000 miles (48,280km) closer than the average distance. (The moon’s orbit is far from a perfect circle.)

Skywatchers in North and South America, Europe, Africa and western Asia are expected to be able to see the lunar eclipse, when the moon, Earth and sun will be lined up, with Earth’s shadow totally obscuring the moon

The moon is seen against the peak of the tomb of Jama Masjid in New Delhi. Picture: AFP / Chandan KhannaSource:AFP

The full moon rises behind Lisbon’s St. George castle. Picture: AP / Armando FrancaSource:AP

The event is due to happen at 10.11pm on America’s east coast (12pm AEST) and the ellipse should be visible for more than an hour, weather permitting.

There won’t be another total lunar eclipse until 2018.

This eclipse marks the end of a tetrad, or series of four total lunar eclipses set six months apart. This series began in April 2014.

The 21st century will see eight of these tetrads, an uncommonly good run. From 1600 to 1900, there were none.

NASA planetary scientist Noah Petro is hoping the celestial event will ignite more interest in the moon. He is deputy project scientist for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, which has been studying the moon from lunar orbit since 2009.

Rising big and full in Lausanne, Switzerland. Picture: AFP / Fabrice CoffriniSource:AFP

An Indian man leans on a wall on top of a building in New Delhi as the moon does time as a backdrop. Picture: AFP / Roberto SchmidtSource:AFP

A full moon shines behind a tower of the Jama Masjid mosque in New Delhi. Picture: AFP / Roberto SchmidtSource:AFP

“The moon’s a dynamic place,” Petro said Wednesday. “We’re seeing changes on the surface of the moon from LRO. We’re seeing that it’s not this static dead body in the sky … it’s this great astronomical object that we have in our backyard, essentially. So people should get out and start looking at it.”

Many stargazers, professional and amateur alike, dislike the term “supermoon,” noting the visible difference between a moon and supermoon is slight to all but the most faithful observers.

“It’s not like the difference between an ordinary man and Superman,” said Alan MacRobert, a senior editor at Sky & Telescope magazine. “It really ought to be called a tiny, slightly little bit bigger moon, rather than the supermoon.”

People watch a full moon rising in Berlin. Picture: AP Photo/Gero BreloerSource:AP

Source….www.news.com.au

Natarajan

This Artist Decided To Bring A Van Gogh Painting To Life In A Very Literal Way…

September 27, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

Flying into Minneapolis, you might be surprised to find yourself face-to-face with a Van Gogh painting — one that stretches out over more than a square acre of land. The unique thing about this version of the painting is that it is etched directly into the ground.

Vimeo / Minneapolis Institute of Art

This is the latest project by landscape artist Stan Herd, who uses fields as canvases to create large-scale interpretations of art. He recreates famous pieces (like the Van Gogh painting seen here) and even works on some originals. They’re unique because they can only be seen in full from the air.

This piece is composed of different plants, tracks, and soil patterns. Herd used grass of different lengths to create various tones and values.

This is the painting that Herd recreated with living plants.

Wikimedia Commons

It’s Vincent Van Gogh’s 1889 piece called Olive Trees.

First, the painting was measured and the land was parceled out.

Vimeo / Minneapolis Institute of Art

The grid you see on the print helped Herd and his team create a scale model.

After that, the real work began.

Vimeo / Minneapolis Institute of Art

This piece of landscaping art is located near an airport in Minneapolis, and it’s visible to passengers as they enter the city. Herd has been working on these landscaping projects, which he calls “earthworks,” since 1981.

The project was commissioned by the Minneapolis Institute of Art (which is home to the original painting) in an effort to get people excited about visiting the city.

Each element of the painting had to be carefully planned out to ensure that the proportions were right.

Vimeo / Minneapolis Institute of Art

Creating an earthwork like this is no simple feat, and it requires a lot of physical labor.

Vimeo / Minneapolis Institute of Art

And this isn’t even the largest earthwork that Herd has created.

Vimeo / Minneapolis Institute of Art

In the early 1980s, he made one that covered 160 acres of land in Kansas.

With patience and hard work, the image started coming together.

Vimeo / Minneapolis Institute of Art

(via Colossal)

The Van Gogh earthwork will be on display near the airport throughout the autumn season. Herd plans to mow down the creation when winter arrives, but even his method of destruction is symbolic. He will remove the earthwork in a concentric circle pattern that mimics Van Gogh’s painting method.

You can see more of Herd’s earthworks on his website, and learn more about the original Van Gogh painting from the Minneapolis Institute of Art. If you happen to fly into Minneapolis this fall, snap a picture of the field and share it with the tags #BDayMia and #vangrow.\

Source….www.viralnova.com

Natarajan

Never Laugh at an Old Man…He may Surprise You !!!

September 27, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

This group of friends were playing football (soccer), when old grandfather Memo came and insisted to be given a place on one of the teams. While they didn’t want to disrespect their elders, they weren’t happy about this. That is, until this old man gives the game a real twist. In reality, this old man is a freestyle football legend who has gone through hours of make-up to make him look 30 years older. Find out what happened on the court, as he shocks everyone in sight, and will even cast a spell on you, because this guy – he’s good.

Source……www.ba-bamail.com and http://www.youtube.com

Natarajan

Da Vinci’s Inventions that Were Ahead of their Time….

September 27, 2015NatarajanLeave a comment

When I hear the name Leonardo Da Vinci, my first associations are his incredible works of art, such as “The Mona Lisa” or “The Last Supper”. Da Vinci, however, was a man of many talents and not just a mere painter – he was also a prolific inventor who came up with concepts that were so advanced, they could only have been realized in our time.

Da Vinci used to write down his ideas and sketch designs in his notebook; most of them were preserved after his death in 1519. There isn’t any evidence that most of Da Vinci’s inventions were constructed during his lifetime, but these 6 designs most definitely were centuries ahead of their time.

Da Vinci's Inventions

The Flying Machine

Da Vinci's Inventions

Da Vinci had hundreds of sketches in his notebook that revolved around flight. The design he put most of his time into, was based off of the body structure of birds and bats.

The design included a set of very large wings, attached to a wooden frame where the pilot is meant to lie down on his stomach and control the device with some levers. Sadly, Da Vinci never constructed the flying machine, and experts claim that even if he did – it wouldn’t be able to get off the ground or sustain flight without an engine.

It took 400 years until people managed to build a machine that can actually fly.

Da Vinci's Inventions

Da Vinci’s Tank

Da Vinci's Inventions

Most people consider Da Vinci to be a delicate soul, mainly concerned with creating art. Da Vinci was also heavily involved in military technologies, and one of his greatest patrons, Ludovico Sforza, the duke of Milan was the man entrusted with defending Italy from the invading French army.

To receive Sforza’s financial patronage, Da Vinci designed a variety of military contraption, an armored tank being one of them. The invention included a human-powered carriage, covered in sheets of metal with slits that would allow Italian soldiers to fire their rifles safely.

Like his flying machine, Da Vinci’s tank also never saw the light of day. 400 years later, tanks became commonplace in all of the world’s armies.

Da Vinci's Inventions

Diving Suit

Da Vinci's Inventions

Even though he wasn’t the first person to come up with the idea of a diving suit, his design was the most ingenious and advanced for its time. According to his sketches, the suit was to be made almost entirely of leather and included a full body combination of a jacket, pants and a helmet with tiny glass windows. Air was to be kept in the front bulge of the jacket with tubes attached to the mask to allow the diver to breath.

The suit even had a small compartment for urine collection, because Da Vinci didn’t know how long the diver will have to remain underwater. Special pockets for various tools were also designed into the suit, including a knife, and even a horn he can blow to signal he needs to surface.

It was not until Jacque Cousteau invented the “water lung” in the middle of the 20th-cetury that diving suits became common.

Da Vinci's Inventions

The Machine Gun

Da Vinci's Inventions

Another one of Da Vinci’s ingenious military designs was the machine gun, which has some resemblance to modern-day weapons. The design was for a typical cannon, but with 12 barrels. The device could shoot one cannonball, then quickly be moved to the next loaded barrel and show again, as the used barrel is being loaded.

This design was also never constructed during Da Vinci’s lifetime, and the first modern machinegun appeared on the battlefield in 1862, during the American Civil War.

Da Vinci's Inventions

The City of the Future

Da Vinci's Inventions

During the 15th-century, Europe was still recovering from the black plague, which annihilated more than a third of Europe’s population. Da Vinci noticed that cities were more vulnerable to the plague in comparison with rural areas and hypothesized that the cause if how cities were constructed, making them more vulnerable.

The solution was a whole new futuristic city, full designed from top to bottom to provide the best sanitary conditions to the inhabitants. Da Vinci’s City of the Future was divided to several “layers”. Anything that was considered to be unhygienic would be located at the bottom layer, to be evacuated via canals. Each part of the city would enjoy running water thanks to an intricate hydraulic system that also served as the basis of modern plumbing.

The result was a marvel of city planning, but its construction was beyond Da Vinci’s means, and he couldn’t find a patron that would support his endeavors.

Da Vinci's Inventions

The Robotic Knight

Da Vinci's Inventions

Even today, autonomous, human-like robots seem like a piece of science fiction, but under Sforza’s patronage, Da Vinci invented a “Mechanical Knight”, which was supposedly capable of moving its arms, neck and even open and close its “mouth”. This strange mechanical doll was controlled via external cables that were attached to sets of pulleys inside the robot’s body.

The design was discovered nearly 450 years later and in 2002, a functioning replica of the “Robotic Knight” was built by Mark Rosheim – A robotics researcher from NASA.

Da Vinci's Inventions

Source…..www.ba-bamail.com

Natarajan