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Wrong Approach ….But Perfect Landing … Miraculous !!!

June 27, 2013Natarajan1 Comment

A pilot narrowly averted tragedy thanks to his quick thinking actions that saw him save the plane from crashing into an apartment block.

The plane, a Beechcraft Super King Air 200, was trying to land at Chicago Executive Airport in Illinois when the aircraft lost control just half a mile from the airport.

The pilot was able to angle the plane away from the Foxboro Apartment complex and even managed to land upright.

Disaster averted: The pilot reported a problem to the tower just before the Beechcraft Super King Air 200 crashed a half-mile short of the airport, according to airport officials

Escape: The pilot was able to walk away from the crash with just a few bruises and scratches. Nobody on the ground was injured

Miraculous: The Mayor of the town of Prospect Heights, Illinois, called the plane crash a 'Godsend' expressing his surprise that nobody was hurt

Miraculous: The Mayor of the town of Prospect Heights, Illinois, called the plane crash a ‘Godsend’ expressing his surprise that nobody was hurt

Incredibly, the pilot, the plane’s only occupant, was able to walk away, although he was transported to Glenbrook Hospital in Glenview with minor injuries.

‘Normally those planes come over the lake, and come down, but we saw it wasn’t going to come down where it was supposed to,’ said 11-year-old Jakaila Johnson. ‘We ran inside the house and screamed, ‘A plane crashed!’ . . . We thought it might blow up.’
An unusual sight: Locals began to gather to see the plane that looked as though it had been parked next to a group of cars

An unusual sight: Locals began to gather to see the plane that looked as though it had been parked next to a group of cars!!!

Airport Manager Dennis Rouleau said the pilot reported a problem to the tower just before the crash.

‘To develop a problem and then put it down on the road instead — it could have been a lot worse,’ Rouleau said. ‘It could have been in some buildings, but he was able to put it down on the street to avoid injuries to himself and people on the ground.’

‘There was a fair amount of damage, but for what he did, the airplane was pretty intact for landing short of the runway,” he said. “He did a spectacular job of avoiding homes and cars.’

The mayor of the small town of Prospect Heights where the plane came down called the incident ‘a Godsend.’ ‘I think we’re very fortunate to have an airplane accident that was a walkaway situation,’ said Nick Helmer. ‘It’s very fortunate that nobody was hurt — either on the ground or those in the air.
source:::::mailonline .com US

Good Gesture From CEO Delta Airlines !!!!

June 25, 2013NatarajanLeave a comment

AN AIRLINE boss has given his seat to a tired, stressed mum who needed to get home to her daughter.

Delta Airlines CEO Richard Anderson was booked on a flight from Washington D.C. to Atlanta on a day where the airline faced numerous delays and cancellations.

Jessie Frank was also trying to get to Atlanta, and had been waiting all day to get on a flight. Ms Frank was desperate to get home to pick up her diabetic daughter from summer camp.

At 9.30pm, she was eighth on the list of standby passengers waiting to fly to Atlanta before the D.C. curfew hit at 10pm.

Seven names went by. The system showed zero seats left.

Ms Frank was about to give up when the flight attendant from Delta airlines rushed her down the jetway and shook her head.

But then something wonderful happened.

The flight attendant paused, talked to someone and then waved her down to the plane.

“A vaguely familiar face met me at the doorway, not in uniform so probably an off-duty pilot I had seen before. He quickly grabbed my roll-aboard, helped clear a space in the overhead, and showed me to my seat.”

As the flight descended into Atlanta the flight attendant announced that the plane had a special guest on board flying in the jump seat – the spare seat behind the pilots in the cockpit. He was riding in that seat because he had given up his place to allow one more person on the flight.

That man was Richard Anderson, CEO of Delta Airlines.

Overwhelmed with emotion Ms Frank took to Facebook to pen an open letter to Mr Anderson.

In it she writes: “You, Richard Anderson, the CEO of Delta, did all that for me, just an average, middle-aged, woman with, as far as anyone at Delta knew, no special reason to get home. But more importantly, it was all of your employees that day that did so much helping me to get home – and now I know why. Because Delta is led by you, Richard Anderson, a dedicated and inspiring leader who so clearly demonstrates, at his very core, that he leads by example, and does not set himself above all those who allow this airline to exist.

“Thank you, Richard Anderson. As a result of your leadership and the actions of yourself and your employees, I had my special day with my special child. You and your employees gave us both one more day of happiness, and for that, we are both very grateful. I have always been a loyal Delta customer, but Thursday solidified that loyalty for life! To all Delta employees who helped me on Thursday: thank you again.”

Delta Airlines have confirmed the incident occurred but have so far declined to comment.

Ms Frank’s letter has since been shared 1697 times. Proof that good customer service may be the best PR of all.

Delta Airlines CEO Richard Anderson. Picture: Delta Airlines

source:::::news.com.au

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Dare Devil On A Tightrope Walk !!!

June 24, 2013NatarajanLeave a comment

Life in the balance: Wallenda explains at a press conference following his tightrope walk that the winds were unpredictable making it all the more risky

Daredevil Nik Wallenda has completed a breath-taking tightrope walk that took him a quarter mile over the Little Colorado River Gorge in northeastern Arizona.

Wallenda performed the stunt late on Sunday on a 2-inch-thick steel cable, 1,500 feet above the river on the Navajo Nation near the Grand Canyon.

He took just more than 22 minutes, pausing and crouching twice as winds whipped around him and the rope swayed.

‘Thank you Lord. Thank you for calming that cable, God,’ he said about 13 minutes into the walk.
Breath-taking: Nik Wallenda succeeded in crossing the Little Colorado River Gorge in Arizona on Sunday night

Breath-taking: Nik Wallenda succeeded in crossing the Little Colorado River Gorge in Arizona on Sunday night

Easy does it: Wallenda gives a thumbs-up sign as he nears the end of the rope and kneels for a short break

Balancing act: Wallenda is the first person ever to attempt walking across the Grand Canyon on a tightrope

Wallenda didn’t wear a harness and stepped slowly and steady throughout, murmuring prayers to Jesus almost constantly along the way. He jogged and hopped the last few steps.

Winds blowing across the gorge had been expected to be around 30 mph. Wallenda told Discovery after the walk that the winds were at times ‘unpredictable’ and that dust had accumulated on his contact lenses.

‘It was way more windy, and it took every bit of me to stay focused the entire time,’ he said
Steady as he goes: Wallenda held a 43lb metal balancing pole

Rock steady: The aerial walker Nik Wallenda makes his way across on the quarter-mile journey

Man on the wire: Wallenda's stunt was broadcast with a ten-second delay on the Discovery Channel

Almost there! Wallenda managed to run the last few feet of his tightrope walk over the Grand Canyon which was broadcast live on TV

The ranger Elmer Phillips said Wallenda appeared to be walking like any normal person would on a sidewalk. But he said he got a little nervous when Wallenda stopped the first time.

‘Other than that, a pretty amazing feat. I know I wouldn’t even attempt something like that,’ Phillips said. ‘Very nicely done.’

Wallenda told reporters after the walk that he hoped his next stunt would be a tightrope walk between the Empire State building and the Chrysler building in New York. But he said he would give up tightrope walking altogether if his wife and children ever asked him

Sunday’s stunt comes a year after he traversed Niagara Falls earning a seventh Guinness world record.

Wallenda wore a microphone and two cameras, one looking down on the dry Little Colorado River bed and one facing straight ahead. His leather shoes with an elk-skin sole helped him keep a grip on the steel cable as he moved across.

The event was broadcast live on the Discovery Channel with a ten-second delay. He was watched by 1.5million people compared to the 8million who watched Felix Baumgartner jump from space.

His parents — both highwire walkers — used to ram home the importance of being prepared for the unexpected, pelting him with pine cones as he swayed on a practice wire in their garden, or coming up behind him and shaking the wire.

His father and mentor, Terry, was the reassuring voice in his earpiece when Wallenda stepped out over the abyss.

Still, Nik admits that some eventualities can never be foreseen out on the wire. He was once stung by a bee and has had birds land on his balancing pole. Out in the Arizona desert, that could be a vulture.

As to how he copes with the extraordinary mental strain, Wallenda, an unshowy performer who usually does his walks in shorts and T-shirt, doesn’t shed much light on the subject.

It’s basically all he knows, he says. There’s certainly an otherworldly quality to a man who claims to get ‘very peaceful’ out on the wire.

In the past, Wallenda has hung from his teeth from a helicopter, and ridden a motorcycle up a steel cable. But he doesn’t like being called a daredevil.

‘I do consider what I do an art,’ he says. ‘And I consider a daredevil more of somebody who says: “I’m going to do something that’s never been done before but I haven’t trained for it.” I train and train and train and over-train for this.’

His wife Erendira, 32, is another wire walker

He got down on one knee to propose when they were both on a high wire!!!. But then who else would tolerate a husband with such a career?

She and the children watched him succeed in his breath-taking stunt on Sunday night.

They always say a family prayer, but there is no real ritual before his walks, he insists.

‘I’m not superstitious. I give my wife and kids a hug and a kiss, and say: “See you in a few minutes” — just like I do when I go out to get groceries

source:::::mailonline.com

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Joke for The Weekend ….Who was to Be Thrown Out ? !!!!

June 21, 2013June 21, 2013NatarajanLeave a comment

The train was quite crowded and a U.S. Marine walked the entire length looking for a seat,

But the only seat left was taken by a poodle belonging to a well dressed, middle-aged, French woman.
The war-weary Marine asked, ‘Ma’am, may I have that seat?’

The French woman just sniffed and said to no one in particular: ‘Americans are so rude. My little Fifi is using that seat.’

The Marine walked the entire train again, but the only seat left was under that dog.

‘Please, ma’am. May I sit down? I’m very tired
…….’

She snorted, ‘Not only are you Americans rude, you are also arrogant!’

This time the Marine didn’t say a word, he just picked up the little dog, tossed it out the train window, and sat down.

The woman shrieked, ‘Someone must defend my honour!

‘This American should be put in his place!’

An English gentleman sitting nearby spoke up:

‘Sir, you Americans seem to have a penchant for doing the wrong thing.

‘You hold the fork in the wrong hand.

‘You drive your cars on the wrong side of the road.

‘And now, sir, you seem to have thrown the wrong bitch out of the window.’

source:::::unknown….input from a friend of mine

Natarajan

Indonesia Installing Goddess Saraswathi Statue @ Massachusetts !!!

June 17, 2013NatarajanLeave a comment

From David McAuley. Email him at david[AT]borderstan.com.

Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) 2B, at its monthly meeting last night, April 10, unanimously supported a request by the Embassy of Indonesia to erect a statue of a Hindu goddess on public space on Massachusetts Avenue NW. It also unanimously called on DC’s Historic Preservation Office (HPO) to improve its operating procedures and communication both with ANCs and with the public.

An edited photo showing how the sculpture will appear in place on Massachusetts Avenue NW. (David McAuley)

Statue of Saraswati on Public Space

The Commission heard a presentation by Heru Subolo, Minister-Counselor for Press and Information Affairs of the Embassy of Indonesia, asking for ANC support for a proposed statue of Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of knowledge, music, arts and science, to be erected on a public space next to the grounds of the Embassy at2020 Massachusetts Avenue NW.

Subolo told the committee that the statue had been approved by the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Foreign Missions. Subolo also said that the planned site for the statue had been moved, at the request of the DC government’s Historic Preservation Office (HPO), from its original planned location at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and 21st Street (also adjacent to the Embassy), to a location next to the sidewalk further west along Massachusetts.

The location is currently fenced in. Subolo said that the fence would be removed to make the statue accessible to the public.

“I’m really happy to open up a fenced space,” said Kevin O’Connor, ANC commissioner for district 2B-02.

“This is a wonderful addition to our neighborhood and to our nation’s capital. Hindus across DC and around the world are ecstatic about this beautiful statue of Saraswati. It is so fitting that it will be installed just a stone’s throw from the also magnificent statue of Mahatma Gandhi — the only statue of a Hindu in DC,” said Kishan Putta, ANC 2B-04 commissioner.

source::::borderstan.com

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A Gorgeous Photo….Taken by Delta Airlines Captain !!!

June 14, 2013NatarajanLeave a comment

one world trade center tower cloudes

Last month, the spire was installed on top of Manhattan’s One World Trade Center, bringing the new tower to its full height of 1,776 feet.

That was just tall enough to peek above the clouds for this photo, taken by Delta Airlines Captain Jerry Walsh. The Port Authority of NY & NJ posted the shot to Facebook yesterday.

Beautiful:

source:::::businessinsider.com

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Too Beautiful to be Real !!!

June 14, 2013Natarajan1 Comment

These bizarre locations may seem like a series of elaborate movie sets, but they are real destinations that you might want to see for yourself!!!!

The Wave in Arizona

The Wave, Arizona, U.S.

Travertines in Pamukkale, Turkey

Travertines, Pamukkale, Turkey

Prismatic Springs

Grand Prismatic Spring, Yellowstone National Park, U.S.

Red beach in China

Red beach, Panjin, China

Salar De Uyuni

Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia

Dragon's Blood trees in Socotra

Dragon’s blood trees, Socotra, Yemen

Sossusvlei, Namibia

Sossusvlei, Namibia

Bali rice terraces

Rice terraces, Bali, Indonesia

Cappadocia

Cappadocia, Anatolia, Turkey

Hell's Gate

“Door to Hell,” Derweze, Turkmenistan

Giant's Causeway

Photo: Wenxiang Zheng/Flickr

Giant’s Causeway, Antrim, Northern Ireland, U.K.

Hitachi Seaside Park, Hitachinaka, Japan

Giant Buddha, Leshan, China

Photo: Shutterstock

Tunnel of Love, Klevan, Ukraine

Antelope Canyon, Arizona, U.S.

Odle Mountains, Italy

source::::::The Telegraph…travel…UK

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An Unexpected VIP Guest On Board !!!…..

June 10, 2013NatarajanLeave a comment

One lucky sailor had an incredible experience when a baby sea lion boarded his boat in California then spent over half an hour affectionately snuggling into his leg.

The man, called J.R. Gilkinson, uploaded a video of the astonishing event to YouTube where it has had 290,000 views.

Gilkinson described the footage as ‘My Life Changing Experience with a Baby Sea Lion’ and ‘A day at sea that I will never forget!!!’

The sailor said that the welcome visitor hopped on their boat approximately two miles off the coast of Newport Beach, California, on May 18.

The pup first swims round the boat and then climbs aboard. Eventually the creature moves closer to the Gilkinson and then nuzzles and rubs its head against the man’s leg.

Throughout the video he can be heard urging his 11-year-old niece not to touch the wild animal. But after several minutes of unusual affection from the animal, he can resist the temptation no longer.

The sea lion then apparently stayed with Gilkinson for some time. The man told The Huffington Post: ‘It was one of the most amazing experiences I’ve ever had.

‘I appreciated every second because I didn’t know how long it was going to last.’ He continued that the encounter was ‘completely on the sea lion’s terms.’

‘He wanted to come rest on me,’ Gilkinson said. ‘So we let him.’

Wildlife experts are concerned about the health of sea lion pups in California this year.

Sarah Wilkin, the marine mammal stranding coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told Global Post that five times the usual number of the baby animals are coming into the Southern Californian coastline weak and near death.

‘Nobody was quite prepared for the scope of this,’ said Wilkin. ‘The major common factor for all these stranded pups is that they’re coming in emaciated, dehydrated, basically starving.

‘They have been unable to find enough food to sustain themselves.’
Affection: JR Gilkinson said it was a life-changing experience

source::::mailonline.com

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Mesmerizing Self Portraits Made by 14 years Boy !!!!

June 10, 2013NatarajanLeave a comment

A 14-year-old photographer has taken the internet by storm with his creative and dreamlike images that make normal-sized people appear tiny.

Zev Hoover, from Natick, Massachusetts, goes by the Flickr username Fiddle Oak, a play on ‘little folk’, which adequately describes the incredible images that make up his ‘miniature world’.

In his fantastical photos in which people are digitally shrunken, acorns make excellent seats, Popsicle sticks are the ideal size for building rafts, and paper airplanes are viable modes of transport.

Zev Hoover

Zev told Today.com that while he takes the photos with his own camera, his older sister Nell, 18, was the brains behind the original tiny people concept.

‘She is sort of my partner in crime,’ he said, adding that she is ‘more of a writer’.

While Nell may have come up with the idea, Zev executes the images beautifully, and his unique work has attracted the attention of professional photographers and designers.

The 14-year-old, who also writes a blog, explained the complicated process of how he creates his dreamlike images, many of which feature him as the main subject.
Zev Hoover

Complex: The process involves capturing the background, shrinking photos of people in similar lighting, manipulating the images in Photoshop and editing the color scheme so that it all matches

Zev Hoover

In one of the photos that plays with size ratio, a miniscule-looking boy sits on the edge of a rock, a violin in his hand

Miniscule: In another image, a boy appears small enough to fit inside a tiny paper boat, made from a page in a book

The process involves capturing the background image first, shrinking photos of people in similar lighting, manipulating the images in Photoshop and editing the color scheme so that it all matches.

‘It takes a long time,’ he said of the resulting images, which are so otherworldly that they almost look like drawings.

One image shows a boy constructing a house of playing cards, his body the same size as the cards.

In another image, a ‘miniature’ boy and girl sit upon a raft made of Popsicle sticks, the sail of which is a single leaf.
Zev Hoover

Stimulating: Zev gets a lot of support from the Flickr community, where he shares his work. ‘It’s two-way, and it inspires and invigorates me a lot,’ he said of the website. ‘There is so much good energy’

Many of Zev’s images explore nature, including one in which a boy perches inside the shell of an acorn.

Another nature-themed photo, which plays with and distorts size ratio, shows a miniscule-looking boy sitting on the edge of a rock, a violin in his hand.

Photography and design websites have picked up on Zev’s work, lauding him for being so talented and creative at such a young age.

‘Zev has proven to be one photographer to keep an eye on,’ wrote one MyModernMet.com writer.

Zev Hoover

At one with the outdoors: In one photo, a miniature boy perches comfortably inside the shell of an acorn

Zev Hoover

Natural environment: A number of the teen’s images explore humans’ relationship with nature

The blogger goes on to praise Zev’s style, which ‘takes the viewer along on a magical journey of rediscovering the world around us.’

The youngest of four, Zev – who is home-schooled by his sculptural artist mother – grew up in a household that fostered creative pursuits.

He began taking his first photos at the age of eight with a cell phone camera, before acquiring two professional instruments – a regular camera and a video camera – which he lovingly named ‘Betsy’ and ‘Diana’.

Not only is he a talented photographer, but Zev also seems to be wise beyond his years in other fields as well.

Zev Hoover

In his spare time, he browses technology blogs, builds and flies model airplanes, and dreams about going to college to study art or graphic design.

But despite all his ambition and success thus far, Zev is markedly down-to-earth.

When asked about all the attention he has been getting recently, he told Today.com: ‘It’s just so lucky and random

SOURCE:::Margot Peppers in Mailonline.com

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Stunning Images Of The Week!!!!….Part 2 !!!

June 8, 2013June 8, 2013NatarajanLeave a comment

15 STUNNING photos from the week that was!

A sculpture titled ‘Pentateuque’ representing an elephant balancing on the back of a man by French artist Fabien Merelle on May 23, 2013 in Hong Kong.

Austrian tightrope walker Christian Waldner passes the roof of St. Stephens cathedral on a high line in Vienna.

The line was fixed between St. Stephen’s cathedral’s two south towers 60 meters above ground.

Model Hannah Fraser dressed as a mermaid swims in an aquarium to promote the film “Tears of a Mermaid” in Cannes during the 66th Cannes Film Festival May.

Liu Lingchao, 38, carries his makeshift dwelling as he walks along a road in Shapu township of Liuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.

Five years ago, Liu decided to walk back to his hometown Rongan county in Guangxi from Shenzhen, where he once worked as a migrant worker. With bamboo, plastic bags and bed sheets, Liu made himself a 1.5-metre-wide, 2-metre-high, “portable room” weighing about 60 kg, to carry with him as he walks an average of 20 kilometres everyday.

To support himself, Liu collects garbage all the way during the journey and he is now 20 miles away from his hometown, according to local media.

A car is seen in the water as a span of highway bridge sits in the Skagit River, 2013 after collapsing near the town of Mt Vernon, Washington late Thursday.

The bridge collapse that sent cars and drivers tumbling into a frigid river in Washington state appears to have been caused when a semi-trailer truck carrying an oversize load struck a bridge support beam, officials said on Friday.

The truck crossed the bridge safely before a portion of the structure collapsed, sending two vehicles and a mass of concrete and steel into the Skagit River.

Three people had to be rescued, officials said.

A man carries his wife as they wade through a flooded street in Zhuhai, Guangdong province. Heavy rainfall since Saturday has killed two people in south China’s Guangdong Province, bringing the death toll resulting from rainstorms to 36 this year.

A pedestrian carrying an umbrella walks through a Memorial Day display of United States flags on the Boston Common in Boston, Massachusetts.

According to the Massachusetts Military Heroes Fund, the flags are planted on the Common for fallen Massachusetts service members at the Memorial Day holiday, which will be celebrated May 27 in the United States.

The clouds of a thunderstorm roll over neighborhoods heavily damaged in a tornado in Moore, Oklahoma.

A house built on a rock on the river Drina is seen near the western Serbian town of Bajina Basta, about 160km from the capital Belgrade.

The house was built in 1968 by a group of young men who decided that the rock on the river was an ideal place for a tiny shelter, according to the house’s co-owner, who was among those involved in its construction.

A shepherd holds an umbrella as he watches over his flock of goats at the bank of Mahanadi river in Cuttack district, about 45 km from Bhubaneswar.

A man tows a damaged car from a property in Moore, Oklahoma, four days after the Oklahoma City suburb was left devastated by a tornado.

Tornadoes that struck the United States from May 18 to May 20 caused between $2 billion to $5 billion of insured losses, disaster modeling company Eqecat said late Thursday.

Eqecat said most of the losses were attributed to the tornado that devastated Moore, Oklahoma. That storm, with winds that exceeded 320 kph, killed 24 and flattened two elementary schools

15 STUNNING photos from the week that was!

A week-old shire horse foal rest her head on her mother Orla at Cornwall’s Crealy Adventure Park near Wadebridge, England.

Once a common sight in the United Kingdom, shire horses are now classed as “at risk” by the Rare Breed Survival Trust.

The yet-to-be-named filly foal, bred in a breeding programme by the adventure park as part of a endangered species prtotection project, will be one of less than 300 predicted to be born in the country this year.

A man collects water as he bathes in an industrial waste-foam polluted section of the Yamuna River, on the outskirts of New Delhi.

The Yamuna River, holy to Hindus, traverses various urban centers like Delhi, Mathura, and Agra. These large urban centers draw fresh river water for various activities. In return, almost the entire waste water generated by these centers is disposed off into the river.

This is the prime reason for deterioration of Yamuna River water quality, according to the Central Pollution Control Board.

source::::rediff.com

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