India's 50 Most Powerful People 2009

 From BUSINESS WEEK

In India, change is so rapid it surprises even the powerful. Fortunes vanish, markets melt down, and the most die-hard fans find someone else to love, someone else to vote for. Take, for instance, Navin Chawla. With 712 million voters considering their ballot as Indians vote on who will lead their country, one of India's most powerful men is perhaps the Chief Election Commissioner, N. Gopalaswami. India's elections began on Apr. 15 and take place in stages nationwide over several weeks. During that time, Gopalaswami is a bureaucrat with almost unlimited powers to impose order on an unruly process, moderate hate speech, and herd the world's largest democracy through a peaceful transfer of power. But on June 16, the elections will end, and he will vanish back into the labyrinth of the Indian bureaucracy. In modern India, even powerful reigns can be short-lived. In the newest edition of BusinessWeek's list of the 50 most influential Indians, politicians jostle for space with professors, businessmen with cricketers. The attempt is to pinpoint the shifts in power that defined India in the past year, and to predict the players to watch for in the next year.

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Amazing Fantasy Garden - Get Lost in it

  Bruno Torf is an artist that creates beautiful works of fantasy art in his sculpture garden. This garden resides in Marysville, Victoria hidden away in a magical rainforest setting.

Originally from South America, Bruno moved his family to Marysville in 1995. He originally started his career as a sign writer, but gradually made the transition to being a fulltime artist. He wanted a place to exhibit his artwork, so he opened Bruno's Art and Sculpture Garden.

He travels around the world quite frequently, studying different styles of art. This is definitely apparent in his garden sculptures. He decided to create the sculpture garden so that he could run it as a permanent attraction. The garden began with a little over 15 life-size terracotta sculptures and now has over 115 on display. Combined with his oil paintings, sketches and small sculptures, there are now over 300 works of art on display at Bruno's Art and Sculpture Garden.











I would love to go to this garden to see these sculptures. It reminds me of a Lord of the Rings type setting. Now that I think about it....I don't want to just visit, I'd totally live in a place like this. Imagine waking up in this fantasy world every day. But then I'd be on display for all of the tourists....they would probably think I was a scary gnome when they see what I look like waking up in the morning.

Every house has a beach - Architecture @ its best

Palm Jumeirah @ DUBAI new pics

Now see this stuff………………….
This is taken from world's tallest building "Burj Dubai" @ 2,620 ft / 801m!!!

What do you think guys…………………

The world's most expensive Indian Saree

How often have you come across a Rs. 40 lakh ($100,000) ? Silk Saree? Chennai Silksof its kind and it is seeking an unmistakable entry into the Guinness Book of World Records for being the most unique and expensive saree.

The exceptionally stunning saree is meticulously woven with 12 precious stones and metals to depict 11 of Raja Ravi Verma's popular paintings. Explicitly projected is 'Lady Musicians.'Besides, the border of the saree pictures 10 other paintings of the artist that pays tribute to 20th century artist.

The best part of the saree being that the women in the paintings are intricately hand-woven and beautified with jewels of gold, diamond, platinum, silver, ruby, emerald, yellow sapphire, sapphire, cat's eye, topaz, pearl and corals.

Already in the Limca Book of Records, this 40 lakh saree will be the first silk saree that required the use of 7,440 jacquard hooks and 66,794 cards during the weaving process. Moreover, a group of consummate workers took nearly 4,680 hours.

9 Most Amazing Overlooked Mysteries in History

9. Lost City of Heike

In the late 2nd century AD, the Greek writer Pausanias wrote an account of how (4-500 years earlier?) in one night a powerful earthquake destroyed the great city of Helike, with a Tsunami washing away what remained of the once-flourishing metropolis. The city, capital of the Achaean League, was a worship centre devoted to the ancient god Poseidon, god of the sea. There was no trace of the legendary society mentioned outside of the ancient Greek writings until 1861, when an archeologist found some loot thought to have come from Helike - a bronze coin with the unmistakable head of Poseidon. In 2001, a pair of archeologists managed to locate the ruins of Helike beneath the mud and gravel of the coast, and are currently trying to peice together the rise and sudden fall of what has been called the “real” Atlantis.

8. The Bog Bodies

This mystery may even be a problem for those legendary investigators from CSI and the like! The bog bodies are hundreds of ancient corpses found buried around the northern bogs and wetlands of Northern Europe. These bodies are remarkably well preserved, some dating back 2,000 years. Many of these bodies have tell-tale signs of torture and other medieval “fun”, which have made some researchers postulating that these unfortunate victims were the result of ritual sacrifices.

7. Fall of the Minoans

The Minoans are best known for the legend of Theseus and the Minotaur, but it is in fact the demise of this once-great civilisation that is more interesting. While many historians concentrate on the fall of the Roman Empire, the fall of the Minoans, who resided on the island of Crete, is an equal, if not greater mystery. Three and a half thousand years ago the island was shaken by a huge volcanic eruption on the neighbouring Thera Island. Archeologists unearthed tablets which have shown that the Minoans carried on for another 50 years after the eruption, before finally folding. Theories of what finally ended them have ranged from volcanic ash covering the island and devastating harvests to the weakened society eventually getting taken over by invading Greeks

6. The Carnac Stones

Everyone has heard of Stonehenge, but few know the Carnac Stones. These are 3,000 megalithic stones arranged in perfect lines over a distance of 12 kilometers on the coast of Brittany in the North-West of France. Mythology surrounding the stones says that each stone is a soldier in a Roman legion that Merlin the Wizard turned in to stone. Scientific attempts at an explanation suggests that the stones are most likely an elaborate earthquake detector. The identity of the Neolithic people who built them is unknown.

5. Who Was Robin Hood ?

The historical search for the legendary thief Robin Hood has turned up masses of possible names. One candidate includes the Yorkshire fugitive Robert Hod, also known as Hobbehod or Robert Hood of Wakefield..

The large number of suspects is complicated further as the name Robin Hood became a common term for an outlaw. As literature began to add new characters to the tale such as Prince John and Richard the Lionheart the trail became more obscure. To this day no one knows who this criminal really was.

4. The Lost Roman Legion

After the Parthians defeated underachieving Roman General Crassus’ army, legend has it that a small band of the POWs wandered through the desert and were eventually rounded up by the Han military 17 years later.

First century Chinese historian Ban Gu wrote an account of a confrontation with a strange army of about a hundred men fighting in a “fish-scale formation” unique to Roman forces.

An Oxford historian who compared ancient records claims that the lost roman legion founded a small town near the Gobi desert named Liqian, which in Chinese translates to Rome. DNA tests are being conducted to answer that claim and hopefully explain some of the residents’ green eyes, blonde hair, and fondness of bullfighting.

3. The Voynich Manuscript

The Voynich Manuscript is a medieval document written in an unknown script and in an unknown language. For over one hundred years people have tried to break the code to no avail. The overall impression given by the surviving leaves of the manuscript suggests that it was meant to serve as a pharmacopoeia or to address topics in medieval or early modern medicine. However, the puzzling details of illustrations have fueled many theories about the book’s origins, the contents of its text, and the purpose for which it was intended. The document contains illustrations that suggest the book is in six parts: Herbal, Astronomical, Biological, Cosmological, Pharmaceutical, and recipes.

2. The Tarim Mummies

An amazing discovery of 2,000 year old mummies in the Tarim basin of Western China occurred in the early 90s. But more amazing than the discovery itself was the astonishing fact that the mummies were blond haired and long nosed.

In 1993, Victor Mayer a college professor collected DNA from the mummies and his tests verified that the bodies were all of European genetic stock.

Ancient Chinese texts from as early as the first millennium BC do mention groups of far-east dwelling caucasian people referred to as the Bai, Yeuzhi, and Tocharians. None, though, fully reveal how or why these people ended up there.

1. Disappearance of the Indus Valley Civilization

The ancient Indus Valley people, India’s oldest known civilization had a culture that stretched from Western India to Afghanistan and a populace of over 5 million. le—India’s oldest known civilization— were an impressive and apparently sanitary bronze-age bunch.

The scale of their baffling and abrupt collapse rivals that of the great Mayan decline. They were a hygienically advanced culture with a highly sophisticated sewage drainage system, and immaculately constructed baths.

There is to date no archaeological evidence of armies, slaves, conflicts, or other aspects of ancient societies. No one knows where this civilization went.

Amazing Facts between Abraham Lincoln & John F Kennedy

Strange coincidences & Amazing Facts between Abraham Lincoln and John F Kennedy

Abraham Lincoln

John F Kennedy

Abraham Lincoln was elected to Congress in 1846.
John F. Kennedy was elected to Congress in 1946.

Abraham Lincoln was elected President in 1860.
John F. Kennedy was elected President in 1960.

The names Lincoln and Kennedy each contain seven letters.

Both were particularly concerned with civil rights.

Both of their wives lost their children while living in the White House.

Both Presidents were shot on a Friday.

Both were shot in the head.

Both were shot with one bullet.

Both were rumored to be killed in a conspiracy.Neither was confirmed to be a conspiracy.

Lincoln was shot in the Ford Theater.
Kennedy was shot in a card made by the Ford Motor Company (a Lincoln no less)

Lincoln's secretary was named Kennedy.
Kennedy's secretary was named Lincoln.

Both were assassinated by Southerners.

Both were succeeded by Southerners.

Both successors were named Johnson.

Andrew Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was born in 1808.
Lyndon Johnson, who succeeded Kennedy, was born in 1908.

Their first names both contain six letters.

John Wilkes Booth, who assassinated Lincoln, was born in 1839.
Lee Harvey Oswald, who assassinated Kennedy, was born in 1939.

Both assassins were known by their three names.

Both names comprise fifteen letters.

Booth ran from the theater and was caught in a warehouse.
Oswald ran from a warehouse and was caught in a theater.

Both assassins were assassinated before their trials.

The only complete filming of Kennedy's assasination was shot by Abraham Zapruder.
The only complete account of Lincoln's assasination was written by John Zelfindorfer.

A week before Lincoln was shot, he was with friends in Monroe, Maryland.
A week before Kennedy was shot, he was with his friend Marilyn Monroe.

Lincoln's last child, Tad, had his funeral held on July 16, 1871. Later he was exhumed and moved to a different grave site.
Kennedy's son JFK Jr. was lost at sea on July 16, 1999. Later he was found, brought up, and then re-burried at sea.

Note: 1 Note: It is an urban myth that Lincoln had a secretary named Kennedy. There is no record of that.

2 Note: There is no record whether or not Kennedy's secretary warned him.

3 Note: Booth actually fled to a farm and was killed in a tobacco barn. It might be a stretch to call it a warehouse.

But two years after his death, Booth's body was temporarily moved to a warehouse. Also, after the assassination, the government closed the Ford Theatre and turned it into a warehouse.

Other interesting facts:
Apparently Lincoln had a dream several days before the assassination that he had been killed.
He told his wife that he had seen himself in a casket.

Also, Lincoln's son Tad had a pet turkey named Jack. Tad asked his father not to kill the turkey for Thanksgiving.
Although Harry S Truman started the official tradition, Lincoln was the first to "pardon" a Thanksgiving turkey.

Now what would be real interesting is if Kennedy had a pet named Abe or had pardoned someone by that name. Thus far, I haven't heard of that. Skeptics disagree

Some skeptics say that you could take any two famous people and find a number of similar-type coincidences between them.
The only problem with that theory is that there really haven't been any listings of such comparisons.
And certainly none has been as extensive as the Lincoln-Kennedy similarities.

Summary:
Facts concerning the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy are amazingly similar. It is uncertain if such coincidences have any meaning, but they certainly are strange.

All Olympic Logos - Amazing