Life's Happenings

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Human Apes?

Adelaide Zoo has put a few human beings into the orang-utan cage to analyse ways to improve conditions for real apes in captivity. That's interesting!

Visitors can also vote for their favourite 'ape' similar to those famous TV reality shows throughout the world now. The winner will get to represent Adelaide Zoo.

Following strict rules for the 'apes':-
* no nudity
* no rude behavior
* no jumping into the enclosure spa
* zoo vets will not hesitate to use tranquillizer darts if the 'apes' misbehave (source: Reuters)
Tags: Adelaide Zoo, Ape, Orang-Utan, Adelaide, Australia, Weird, Funny, Humor

Dracula's Castle - FOR SALE

Yesterday, a blog about a principality being on sale. Today, a castle is on sale. Whose castle? It's Dracula's Castle this time. Located in Transylvania. All the while I thought that this sounds like an american english name, so USA would be a logical spot.

To my surprise, this Transylvania is situated in the country of Romania.

The Dracula's Castle's actual name is Bran Castle, just that the former name is more well known.

The Hasburg family, owned the castle through inheritance, intends to sell it for Euro60 million (approx. US$78 million). Bear in mind that it's a main tourist attraction area with an estimated 400,000 visitors annually. If that's the case, it will take you 39 years to break-even if you charge an entrance fee of US$5 per person. 19 years at US$10....

HAHA! If you want to buy, do your own calculations then. (source: The Star)

Tags: Dracula Castle, Bran Castle, Dracula, Castle, Romania, Transylvania, For Sale, Hasburg Family, Tourist Attraction, Travel, Vacation, Leisure

Diamond Ring Hotel @ Abu Dhabi

Not only that London has its own giant ferris wheel known as London Eye (135 metre high), Malaysia has caught up with its own Eye on Malaysia (60 metre high) which was launched on 6 Jan 2006. But sadly, Malaysia's structure won't be a permanent fixture as it will be taken down after 31 Dec 06.

Dubai in United Arab Emirates will be having its own similar structure called the Great Dubai Wheel in which I did blog about on 15 Oct 2006. It will be a 185 metre ferris wheel. Well, maybe due to egoistic problem, the emirates next to it, Abu Dhabi, may have one such structure to lure visitors to their emirates. Architectural designs, as below, have been seen and looks very impressive to me compared to the other 3 as mentioned above.

Tags: Diamond Ring Hotel, Abu Dhabi, UAE, Travel, Leisure, Vacation, Hotel, Observation Wheel, Ferris Wheel, London Eye, Eye on Malaysia, Great Dubai Wheel

Wednesday, January 10, 2007

Apple Launches iPhone

As previously blogged on 20 Nov 06 and with the on-going MacWorld Conference & Expo being held in San Francisco, Apple has announced the much speculated new mobile phone called the iPhone.

The iPhone will serve both as an iPod as well as 3G phone, somehow cramming a "3G" radio, iPod functionality, 2 megapixel digital camera and even a version of OS X into the phone-size package. No indication of its pricing yet. (Full specs)

Reading: Apple Officially Launches iPhone, Apple TV - PC Magazine
Reading: Macworld Expo: Jobs Unveils the iPhone - PC World
Tags: Apple, iPhone, MacWorld, MacWorld Conference & Expo, San Francisco, iPod, Technology, Smartphone, Launch, OS X, 3G, Wi-Fi

Principality of Sealand - FOR SALE

Interested to buy a country? According to Yahoo! News, the world's smallest country, Principality of Sealand, is up for sale by its owners at a price of US$950 million.

The sovereign principality was founded in 1967 in international waters, six miles off the eastern shores of Britain. The official language of Sealand is English and the Sealand Dollar has a fixed exchange rate of one US dollar. Passports and stamps have been in circulation since 1969.

The history of Sealand is a story of a struggle for liberty.

Sealand has a picture gallery and Flickr has a collection of it too.

Tags: Sealand, Principality of Sealand, World, Smallest, Country, North Sea, For Sale, Citizen

Visit Malaysia Year 2007

Malayisa has designated the year 2007 as the Visit Malaysia Year 2007 ("VMY 2007"). Various activities/programmes/events have been planned/ arranged/fixed to be held during the year. The VMY 2007 is being held in conjunction with Malaysia's 50th Independent Year.

On 6 Jan 06, the launching of VMY 2007 was held in Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia. In view of the VMY 2007, a 60m high Eye on Malaysia giant ferris wheel began its operations with the VIPs getting the first rides including the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

The Eye on Malaysia allows visitors to experience a 360-degree panoramic view of Kuala Lumpur during a 12-minute ride. It is similar in concept and style to the famous London Eye in London of course. There are a total of 42 gondolas comprising 39 units for the public, one for VIPs and two for disabled passengers. Each of the gondola can carry eight persons.