Four Month Old Peruvian Cat Likes To Surf Waves

Sporting animals are nothing new - horseracing, polo and other equestrian classics notwithstanding, recent years have seen YouTube's famous skateboarding dog and a sports-mad pigeon trying a little too hard to get involved in baseball.

But a surfing cat, however, is something different...

Domingo Pianezzi, of Lima, Peru, believes that his small cat Nicolasa enjoys catching tubes almost as much as catching mice.
Little Nicolasa, a four month old, tortoiseshell kitten from Lima in Peru is the latest sporting phenomena according to world news stations. She is a "surfing cat".
She started to get into water by herself and take a cooling swim’, said her owner and fellow surfer, Domingo Pianezzi, “so I took her down to the beach.” She jumped onto his surf board and seemed love being in the sea.

Nicholasa seems to hang on really tight and Domingo believes that she is enjoying it, but this picture could be interpreted in a different way. Maybe she is terrified and clinging on in fear in case she falls into the water.

This story has hit the news all around the world, after all, cats are supposed to hate water.

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A Wire Body Volkswagen Beetle ( Bug )

The Volkswagen Type 1, more commonly known as the Beetle or Bug, is an economy car produced by the German auto maker Volkswagen from 1938 until 2003. Although the names "Beetle" and "Bug" were quickly adopted by the public, it was not until August of 1967 that VW itself began using the name Beetle in marketing materials in the US.

In Britain VW never used the name Beetle officially. It had previously been known only as either the "Type I" or as the 1200 (twelve-hundred), 1300 (thirteen-hundred) or 1500 (fifteen-hundred), which had been the names under which the vehicle was marketed in Europe ; the numbers denoted the vehicle's engine size in cubic centimetres. In 1998, many years after the original model had been dropped from the lineup in most of the world (production continued in Mexico until 2003), VW introduced the "New Beetle" (built on a Volkswagen Golf platform) and bearing a cosmetic resemblance to the original....

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Travel Recommendations for Northern India in Winter

The geographical position and unusual topography of India is responsible for the country's diverse climate. If you have plans of visiting northern India, you can expect the climate to be hotter during the summer and cooler in winter. Before going there, you have to consider these travel recommendations for northern India in winter.

The northern plains of India during the winter season which happens to be from October to March brings very cold temperatures. In fact, temperature in the Thar Desert can reach freezing point. The central city of the north is New Delhi and the temperature there is from 8 degrees to 21 degrees Celsius.

You can find a rich history of culture in north India. Aside from New Delhi, you can also visit other destinations like Uttranchal, Uttar Pradesh, Jamma, HImachal Pradesh, Punjab, and Kashmir. There are many activities that you can do in north India like river rafting, camel safari, mountain biking, skiing, and trekking. You can also find exquisite architecture, incredible wildlife, sand dunes, and historical charm in this Indian region.

If you plan to tour Delhi, you can explore the city's religious face. There are many temples that you can visit like Akshardham, Birla, Bangla Sahib, and ISKCON temples. Aside from the temples, there are also forts in Delhi like Qutub Minar, Jantar Mantar, and Red Fort.

Taj Mahal is found in north India, specifically in Uttar Pradesh. If you have plans of traveling to Uttaranchal, don’t do this during the winter season as it is very cold. You can do it between April and June or from September to November.

Individuals who love mall shopping can go to Shimla. You can find malls offering great sights there. The Golden Temple can be found in Punjab. Other places that you should visit are Srinagar, Jammu, Dal Lake, Gulmarg, Pahalgam, Sonamarg, Solan, Dalhousie, Dharamsala, Kullu, Manali, Kangra, and Chamba. You can have the best holiday experience in north India.

As mentioned earlier, winter in north India is quite cold. If you go there during winter, you have to bring the appropriate clothes. If you don’t have them, you can start purchasing winter clothes. This way, you can avoid stressing out your body and ending up sick. Make sure that you take your vitamins and some medications with you, just in case you catch fever, cough or colds. The medicines sold in India are not the same as those sold in your home country. So better be prepared especially if you're traveling there during the winter. You can enjoy the sights and tourist spots in north India if you have a healthy body. 

Still, if you can't withstand the cold, you should go to North India during the summer season. The temperature during that time is not as cold as the winter season.

Now that you know the places that you can visit in north India, you can contact a travel agency and book your travel in advance. The winter season in India is also the peak season for the influx of tourists and so it would be best to plan ahead of time, otherwise, you will not get the best services because the accommodations are limited. Planning can really take so much of your time but with the help of a travel agency, your troubles are lessened. If you take into consideration these travel recommendations for northern India in winter, you will have the greatest time of your life despite the cold climate.

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The Machines of the Isle of Nantes

The Machines of the Isle of Nantes (Les Machines de l'île) is an artistic, tourist and cultural project based in Nantes, France...

The project of Machines de l'ile in Nantes aims to promote city's image and tries to build an identity as a creative metropole of dream and of fantasy.
In the warehouses of the former shipyards in Nantes, the Machines of the Isle is created by two artists, Francois Delarozie`re and Pierre Orefice, visualising a travel-through-time world at the crossroads of the "imaginary worlds" of Jules Verne and the mechanical universe of Leonardo da Vinci.

The Great Elephant

The mechanical elephant is 12 meters high and 8 meters wide, made from 45 tons of wood and steel. It can take up to 49 passengers for a 45-minute walk. It is a replica of The Sultan's Elephant which toured the world from 2005 to 2007.

The Mechanical Manta-Ray, The Squid, the Deep Sea Monster, all seem to come to life straight from Jules Verne' science adventure books...

This is an exhibition place to illustrate the background story of the machines. Some visitors could be invited to control marine animals or the European Flight Test Centre, etc.

The entire process of the construction is on display by sketches, models and films. In July 2008, three new machines are scheduled to be added into the gallery.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machines_of_the_Isle_of_Nantes

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Solar panels don’t have to be shiny black surfaces anymore

For anyone worried about aesthetics, solar panels can be a real drag. An environmentally-friendly, socially-conscious drag, but a drag nonetheless. Researchers at Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF in Germany are working on a new type of photovoltaic using thin-film technologies to do away with the dark-colored cells and bring a little color to the panels.

The solar panels being developed at the Fraunhofer Institute are of the SIS (semiconductor-insulator-semiconductor) variety. They consist of a silicon substrate just a few micrometers thick, which absorbs light and turns it into electricity. A transparent insulator is laid over top of the silicon wafers, and a 100 nanometer thick oxide layer is deposited on top of that.

The oxide acts as the second semiconductor layer, and ensures that as much light as possible reaches the silicon wafer below. This layer is also the key to making the solar cells work in more colors. By altering the physical thickness of the transparent conductive oxide, the surface has a different optical refraction index, and thus a different color.

You might wonder if changing the color of a solar cell makes it less efficient, but the scientists behind the research say no, not at all. The cells they have been working on seem unaffected by the thickness of the conductive oxide layer. Simulated efficiency is around 20%, which is where this type of SIS cell is supposed to be.

Future versions of this technology might employ a type of inkjet printing that deposits the oxide layer with more flexibility, allowing for complex designs. Solar panels in the future might not be an eyesore. They could blend in with a roof, the facade of a building, or even be part of a beautiful architectural design.

Original Article: Here!

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