Saturday 24 September 2011
Ben Underwood: the boy who could “see” with his ears
Ben Underwood was a remarkable teenager, who loved to skateboard, ride his bicycle and play football and basketball. For the most part, the Californian 14-year-old was just like other kids his age. What made Underwood remarkable was his ability to master these activities despite the fact that he was blind. Underwood had both eyes removed after being diagnosed with retinal cancer at age two. To most people's amazement upon meeting him, he seemed completely unfazed by his lack of sight, defying common stereotypes about blindness as a disability. So how did he do it? The answer is echolocation: the sonar navigation technique used by bats, dolphins, several other mammals and some birds.
As Underwood moved about, he habitually made clicking noises with his tongue; these sounds bounced off surfaces and, with each return, added to Underwood's perception of his surroundings. He was so good at it that he could tell the difference between a fire hydrant and a rubbish bin, distinguish between parked cars and trucks, and — if you took him to a house he had never been to before — he would tell you he could 'see' a staircase in that corner and a kitchen in the other. He could even distinguish between different materials. An unflinching faith in God guided Ben and his mother during his last few months as cancer spread to Ben's brain and spine. He eventually died on January 2009 at the age of 16.
HELEN KELLER
Helen Keller was born a healthy child in Tuscumbia, Alabama in 1880. But an illness struck her at the age of 19 months, leaving her deaf and blind before she even learned to speak. Her new life began when she was nearly 7; Anne Sullivan, a 20-year-old graduate of the Perkins School for the Blind, who had regained useful sight through a series of operations, had come to the Kellers to become the teacher of Helen. By spelling "d-o-l-l" into the child's hand, she hoped to teach her to connect objects with letters. Helen quickly learned to form the letters correctly and in the correct order, but did not know she was spelling a word, or even that words existed. In the days that followed she learned to spell a great many more words.
She proceeded quickly to master the alphabet, both manual and in raised print for blind readers, and gained facility in reading and writing. In 1890, when she was just 10, she expressed a desire to learn to speak. Somehow she had found out that a little deaf-blind girl in Norway had acquired that ability. In 1898 she entered the Cambridge School for Young Ladies to prepare for Radcliffe College. She entered Radcliffe in the fall of 1900 and received her bachelor of arts degree cum laude in 1904. Throughout these years and until her own death in 1936, Anne Sullivan was always by Helen's side, laboriously spelling book after book and lecture after lecture, into her pupil's hand.
While still a student at Radcliffe, Helen Keller began a writing career that was to continue on and off for 50 years. In 1903, The Story of My Life, which had first appeared in serial form in the Ladies Home Journal, appeared in book form. She published many other works, and she was a frequent contributor to magazines and newspapers, writing most frequently on blindness, deafness, socialism, social issues, and women's rights. She used a braille typewriter to prepare her manuscripts and then copied them on a regular typewriter. As broad and wide ranging as her interests were, Helen Keller never lost sight of the needs of other blind and deaf-blind individuals. From her youth, she was always willing to help them by appearing before legislatures, giving lectures, writing articles, and above all, by her own example of what a severely disabled person could accomplish.
Helen Keller died on June 1, 1968, at Arcan Ridge, a few weeks short of her 88th birthday. Her ashes were placed next to her beloved companions, Anne Sullivan Macy and Polly Thomson, in the St. Joseph's Chapel of Washington Cathedral. On that occasion a public memorial service was held in the Cathedral. It was attended by her family and friends, government officials, prominent persons from all walks of life, and delegations from most of the organizations for the blind and deaf.
Jessica Cox: became the first pilot with no arms, proving you don't need 'wings' to fly
Jessica Cox suffered a rare birth defect and was born without any arms. None of the prenatal tests her mother took showed there was anything wrong with her. And yet she was born with this rare congenital disease, but also with a great spirit. The psychology graduate can write, type, drive a car, brush her hair and talk on her phone simply using her feet. Ms Cox, from Tuscon, Arizona, USA, is also a former dancer and double black belt in Tai Kwon-Do. She has a no-restrictions driving license, she flies planes and she can type 25 words a minute. The plane she is flying is called an Ercoupe and it is one of the few airplanes to be made and certified without pedals. Without rudder pedals Jessica is free to use her feet as hands. She took three years instead of the usual six months to complete her lightweight aircraft licence, had three flying instructors and practiced 89 hours of flying, becoming the first pilot with no arms.
Nando Parrado: survived airplane crash and 72 days in the Andes
72 - Days of ordeal, Nando Parrado and other survivors of a plane crash in the Andes had to endure before being rescued. Flying over the mountains on a Friday the 13th, the young men and their families who boarded the charter plane joked about the unlucky day when the plane's wing hit the slope of the mountain and crashed. On impact, 13 passengers were instantly dead while 32 others were badly wounded. Hoping to be rescued, the survivors waited in the freezing -37C temperature, melting snow for drinks and sleeping side by side to keep themselves warm. Food was so scarce, everyone had to pool whatever food they can find for a rationed pool. 9 days after the crash, due to dire desperation and hunger, the survivors called for an important meeting. One member proposed that they eat the dead. The 2 hours meeting ended with a conclusion. If any of them died in the Andes, the rest had the permission to use the corpse as food. After 2 weeks, their hope of being found dashed when they found out via their radio transistor that the rescue effort was called off.
On the 60th day after the crash, Nando Parrado and 2 other friends decided to walk through the icy wilderness for help. By the time they left, Nando Parrado said, the crash site was “.. an awful place, soaked in urine, smelling of death, littered with ragged bits of human bone and gristle”. Wearing 3 pairs of jeans and 3 sweaters over a polo shirt, he and his friends trekked the mountains with human flesh as their ration. Knowing that they must search for rescue, the team endured frozen snow, exhaustion and starvation, walking and climbing for 10 days before finding their way to the bottom of the mountain. The team was finally helped by a Chilean farmer who called the police for help. Parrado then guided the rescue team via a helicopter to the crash site. On the 22nd December 1972, after enduring 72 brutal days, the world found out that there were 16 survivors who cheated death, in the mountain of Andes. 8 of the initial survivors died when an avalanche cascaded down on them as they slept in the fuselage. During the ordeal, Nando Parrado lost 40 kg of his weight. He lost half his family in the crash. He is now a motivational speaker.
Nick Vujicic: a man with no limbs who teaches people how to get up
Nick Vujicic was born in Melbourne, Australia with the rare Tetra-amelia disorder: limbless, missing both arms at shoulder level, and having one small foot with two toes protruding from his left thigh. Despite the absence of limbs, he is doing surf and swimming, and playing golf and soccer. Nick graduated from college at the age of 21 with a double major in Accounting and Financial Planning. He began his travels as a motivational speaker, focusing on the topics that today's teenagers face.
DNA Shaped Bridge In China
Here’s another loopy bridge for China (see our earlier story about NL Architects’ concept), this time a foot bridge for Xinjin in the Sichuan province by New York studio WXY Architecture and Weidlinger Associates Consulting Engineers.
TATA NANO - World's most expensive car
Tata Nano is the world's cheapest car India's Tata company products. It is priced at USD3000 a. To celebrate the anniversary of the jewelry manufacturer GOLDPLUS theirs, Tata Tata Goldplus produce a value below USD 4.3 Million. A total of 80 kilograms and 15 kilograms of gold, silver used to produce the Tata Goldplus.
Reversible Jeans by BleuLab
Invented by the designer Carl Jones in Los Angeles to fit the lifestyle of the modern woman or an urban working girl. Jeans and shorts by BleuLab are reversible. Just wear it from normal side for office and after working hour reverse it to get a funky color, which is more conducive to nightlife. These washable pants come in many colors and shapes for boys and girls. The reversible BleuLab jeans are on sale in stores Neiman Marcus and Singer22 from about $160.
Friday 16 September 2011
WELCOME TO MALAYSIA : GUA MULU
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Gunung Mulu National Park near Miri, Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that encompasses incredible caves and karst formations in a mountainous equatorial rainforest setting. The park is famous for its caves and the expeditions that have been mounted to explore them and their surrounding rainforest, most notably the Royal Geographical Society Expedition of 1977–1978, which saw over 100 scientists in the field for 15 months. This initiated a series of over 20 expeditions now drawn together as the Mulu Caves Project The national park is named after Mount Mulu, the second highest mountain in Sarawak. Gunung Mulu National Park is famous for its limestone karst formations. Features include enormous caves, vast cave networks, rock pinnacles, cliffs and gorges.
Gunung Mulu National Park has the largest known natural chamber or room - Sarawak Chamber, found in Gua Nasib Bagus. It is 2,300 feet (700 m) long, 1,300 feet (396 m) wide and at least 230 feet (70 m) high. It has been said that the chamber is so big that it could accommodate about 40 Boeing 747s, without overlapping their wings. The nearby Deer Cave was, for many years, considered the largest single cave passage in the world.
Api Chamber in Whiterock Cave, Mount Api
Other notable caves in this area are Benarat Cavern, Wind Cave, and Clearwater Cave; which contains parts one of the world's largest underground river systems and is believed to be the largest cave in the world by volume at 30,347,540 m³. Mulu's limestones belong to the Melinau Formation and their age is between 17 and 40 million years (Late Eocene to Early Miocene). Stratigraphically below the limestones, and forming the highest peaks in the south east sector of the Park including Gunung Mulu, lies the Mulu Formation (shales and sandstones). The age of these rocks is between 40 and 90 million years (Late Cretaceous to Late Eocene).
Fauna
Eight species of hornbill have been spotted in Mulu including the Rhinoceros Hornbill Buceros rhinoceros which features on Sarawak state emblem, the White-crowned Hornbill Berenicornis/Aceros comatus and the Helmeted Hornbill Buceros vigil with its large solid casque (bill). Twenty seven species of bat have been recorded in Mulu. Deer Cave in the southern limestone hills of the park is home to an enormous colony of Wrinkle-lipped bats (Tadarida plicata). The bats exit the cave almost every evening in search of food in a spectacular exodus. A huge mound of guano in the cave is evidence of the size of the bat colony that roosts in the cave's high ceilings.
Mulu's mammals also include the Bearded pig Sus barbatus, the moonrat Echinosorex gymnurus, shrews, the Bornean Tarsier Tarsius bancanus, the long-tailed Macaque Macaca fascicularis, gibbons, squirrels, and three types of deer including the small barking deer and mouse deer. The small Malaysian sun bear Helarctos malayanus, which is the only bear known in South-East Asia, has also been identified in Gunung Mulu National Park.
Flora
An upper pitcher of Nepenthes faizaliana from Mount Api. This species is endemic to Gunung Mulu National Park. Gunung Mulu National Park contains a large number of plant species, including flowering plants, trees, and fungi. Geology, soil types and topography have given rise to a rich tapestry of plant zones and types. On Gunung Mulu itself these include lowland mixed dipterocarp forest, lower montane forest, mossy or upper montane forest and summit zone vegetation on the highest peaks. On the limestones there is lowland limestone forest as well as lower and upper montane limestone forest. Other plant communities dominate the alluvial plains, including kerangas (tropical heath forest) and peatswamp forest.
Access
Mulu National Park is a very hard to access area; the only practical way of getting to and from it is by air, mainly from Mulu airport and, alternatively, Miri, which is 100 km away. It is possible to travel to the area by riverboat, but it requires a chartered long boat for the last part — and the whole trip by river takes around 12 hours from Miri, while the flight takes only 30 minutes. Before the opening of the airport and the opening of a helipad in 1991, this was the only way to reach the national park.
Excursions to Mulu continues to retain the sense of adventure associated with its original exploration through the provision of adventure caving and other adventure activities. The primary focus, however, has shifted to the promotion of an awareness of the significance of the park and its environment through the provision of ecotourism activities that foster understanding and appreciation of the parks values. Accommodation is available onsite at Gunung Mulu National Park headquarters, as well as at the Royal Mulu Resort and Benarat Inn. Homestays offered by locals, and other typically cheaper lodging are available across the river.
WELCOME TO MALAYSIA : SARAWAK CULTURAL VILLAGE
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The Sarawak Cultural Village is sandwiched between Holiday Inn Damai Lagoon and Holiday Inn Damai Beach Resort. Walking from these two resorts is possible. From Kuching, the journey takes about 45 minutes through the spectacular peninsula of Santubong at which Damai seaside resorts are located. Taxi hire from downtown Kuching is possible but it can cost you a lot. Then there is a question of getting a taxi back to Kuching after you have finished visiting all the attractions the village. There will be an exorbitant surcharge should you require the taxi driver to wait for your return trip.
For me, the best way to get to the village is by either the Kuching - Sarawak Cultural Village or Kuching - Damai shuttle services. Roundtrip fares are RM20 per adult and RM10 per children below the age of 12. The shuttle schedules are outlined below. Note that these schedules are obtained in September 2006, hence the departure times may vary in the future.
The Sarawak Cultural Village was officially opened in 1990. It was set in a tranquil setting of landscaped tropical forests and a man-made lake. This cultural village is considered a must-visit for every visitor to Kuching because it showcases the various attributes of major ethnic population in the whole state of Sarawak, namely the Malay, Chinese, Iban, Orang Ulu, Bidayuh, Melanau and Penan. While there is nothing comparable to visiting the actual dwelling sites of these tribes who thrive in either the massive delta of Rajang River, or in deep rainforests accessible only by airplanes, the showcases in this village are pretty much as close as one can get in getting to know the colourful multi-ethnic characteristics of Sarawak.
While the many tribal houses are pretty much the star attractions of this cultural village (more on that below), there are other various features that worth a mention. Throughout the cultural village, there are stone sculptures carved by various artists from around the world. There is also a beautifully made multi-purpose hall called Dewan Lagenda where occasional traditional games are held for the visitors.
Another important feature of the cultural village is a mini-theatre where award-winning cultural performances are held daily. To be honest, the cultural performance is not something one should miss. There are two cultural performances held daily, at 1100 hrs and 1400 hrs. Each performance will last for about an hour. Visitors should plan their visits to the cultural village such that they would be able to enjoy the spectacular showcase of various cultural dance rituals of the many ethnic tribes in Sarawak.
Other than that, there is an eatery here called Restaurant Budaya to satisfy your gastronomic needs after spending a few hours in the cultural village. There is also a neat gift shop near the entrance where you can purchase various types of souvenir to bring home.
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