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4/27/12

5 Friends Every Woman Should Have



They say that friends are the new family or even the family that God let us choose for ourselves. Every friend brings something new into your life and helps in making you a better person. When it comes to friendship, the saying “quality over quantity” is truly apt. There are atleast 5 types of friends every woman should have to have fulfilling friendships that last throughout life.
Consider yourself very fortunate if you have even one of these ladies in your life.


1) The Travel Companion:
This is your go-to girl when the travel bug has caught up with you. This friend is adventurous, enjoys experiencing new things and cultures. She’s up for pretty much anything from a trip to Paris to backpacking through America. Moreover, she has the most important characteristic needed on such trips : flexibility so that if things go quite as planned, she doesn’t get frazzled and is ok with resorting to Plan B. You should be comfortable enough with her to have long personal talks and indulge in a little bit of mischief.
2) The Truth Teller:
If you ever want a frank answer, then this is the woman you need to pay a visit to. She can see both sides of a situation clearly and values honesty. She tells it like it is without sugar coating it. The thing to remember here is that even if she seems brutally honest sometimes, it’s always out of love as she has your best interests at heart. She’s the girl who’ll tell you if you’re too overdressed for that date or have something stuck in your teeth before a meeting.
3) The Entertainment Package:
This girl just wants to have fun and is always up for having a good time. Even if you’ve had a bad day, she’ll be sure to put a smile back on your face within just a few minutes. She finds humor and adventure even in the smallest things. Her love and enthusiasm for life is infectious. With her, it’s all about spontaneous good times.
4) The Unconditional Supporter:
Feeling down in the dumps? Then a little chat with this girl is all you need. She’s perfect for a heart-to-heart as she listens to your problems and is positive through the good times and the bad. She’ll be the first one to support your decision of leaving your 6 figure salary and going back to school. She has a very positive and motivated approach towards life. She will stick by you through thick and thin. Even if she disagrees with you, she will never judge. She makes you feel like everything is going to be alright.
5) The Unlikely Friend:
Every woman needs one of these. They open a new world for you and introduce you to new cultures and new perspectives on life. They may be double or half your age, from different cultures or socioeconomic backgrounds or even from a different hemisphere of the globe. They enrich your life in a way that only variety can do.
If you can think of more then add them in the comments section below!

 By Shraddha Yawalkar

9 Timeless Leadership Lessons from Cyrus the Great




Be Self-Reliant

“Never be slow in replenishing your supplies. You’ll always bee on better terms with your allies if you can secure your own provisions…Give them all they need and your troops will follow you to the end of the earth.”
Be Generous

“Success always calls for greater generosity–though most people, lost in the darkness of their own egos, treat it as an occasion for greater greed. Collecting boot [is] not an end itself, but only a means for building [an] empire. Riches would be of little use to us now–except as a means of winning new friends.”
Be Brief

“Brevity is the soul of command. Too much talking suggests desperation on the part of the leader. Speak shortly, decisively and to the point–and couch your desires in such natural logic that no one can raise objections. Then move on.”
Be a Force for Good

“Whenever you can, act as a liberator. Freedom, dignity, wealth–these three together constitute the greatest happiness of humanity. If you bequeath all three to your people, their love for you will never die.”
Be in Control

[After punishing some renegade commanders] “Here again, I would demonstrate the truth that, in my army, discipline always brings rewards.”
Be Fun

“When I became rich, I realized that no kindness between man and man comes more naturally than sharing food and drink, especially food and drink of the ambrosial excellence that I could now provide. Accordingly, I arranged that my table be spread everyday for many invitees, all of whom would dine on the same excellent food as myself. After my guests and I were finished, I would send out any extra food to my absent friends, in token of my esteem.”
Be Loyal

[When asked how he planned to dress for a celebration] “If I can only do well by my friends, I’ll look glorious enough in whatever clothes I wear.”
Be an Example

“In my experience, men who respond to good fortune with modesty and kindness are harder to find than those who face adversity with courage.”
Be Courteous and Kind

“There is a deep–and usually frustrated–desire in the heart of everyone to act with benevolence rather than selfishness, and one fine instance of generosity can inspire dozens more. Thus I established a stately court where all my friends showed respect to each other and cultivated courtesy until it bloomed into perfect harmony.”
There’s a reason Cyrus found students and admirers in his own time as well as the ages that followed. From Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin to Julius Caesar and Alexander (and yes, even Machiavelli) great men have read his inspiring example and put it to use in the pursuit of their own endeavors.
That isn’t bad company.

http://www.forbes.com

4/26/12

Illuminating Memory Pins

Love the ambient effect these ‘Light Up Your Memories’ drawing pin conjure.
I can imagine them being handed out as party favors, or being conversation starters.
Moreover they do the job of highlighting a particular picture or note quite effectively!
Here is how it works, “Along with the light-up pins, the system incorporates a pin-up board of insulating cork, aluminum, and acrylic (for ease of mounting). 
The sandwiched aluminum panel is charged with an electric current, which lights up the drawing pin when contact is made. Only the pin’s stem is able to conduct electricity; its head is non-conducting. 
A switch on the board controls power provision and intensity.”
Light Up Your Memories is a 2011 red dot design concept winner.
Designers: Hwang Youn Ha, Kim Min Jeong, Cha Yoon Suk & Kim Yong Ha

4/25/12

10 Most Bizarre Restaurants


Written by Shraddha Yawalkar   

10 Most Bizarre Restaurants 

If you want something really unique along with your food, then dine at one of these restaurants for the experience of a lifetime.  From food being served via a syringe to being served on a toilet seat…here is a list of the 10 Most Bizarre Restaurants!


resto collage
 
1) Nyotaimori restaurant
 
nyotaimori_restaurant.jpg
 
the_most_seductive_nibble.jpg

The word “Nyotaimori” literally means “female body plate”.  Traditionally, the concept of eating Japanese delicacies like sushi and sashimi off the nude body of a woman was quite popular.  Disgusting or adventurous? You decide.
 
2) Modern Toilet
 
toilet restaurant
toilet restaurant 2
Modern Toilet is a restaurant in Taiwan where guests sit on colorful toilet seats instead of the normal chairs. Everything in this 3-storey restaurant is related to items from a bathroom.  The food is served in plates and bowls which are shaped like the western toilet and Japanese “squat” toilets. Drinks are also served in miniature urinals.  The meals are served on bathroom sinks with a glass cover.  The walls are also decorated with showerheads with plungers hanging from the ceiling along with feces-shaped lights.
 
3) Dinner in the sky
 
dinner in the skydinner in the sky 2
At this unique restaurant, the sky is the limit! It is a restaurant which was originally built in Belgium but is now operated in more than 35 countries including US, Australia, South-Africa and India.  It serves dinner for 22 people at a table suspended 50 feet in the air. It is available for a session for 8 hours which can be divided or personalized. 
 
4) Dark restaurant
 
dark restaurant
dark restaurant 2
It is believed that by depriving one of one’s sense, the other are stimulated to their maximum capacity and so your food will taste more delicious than ever before. This is was the theory behind opening Asia’s first dark restaurant.  It is located in Beijing, China. Customers are asked to wait in the brightly lit entrance wall and are then escorted by waiters wearing night vision goggles into the pitch black dining room. The interior of the restaurant is painted completely black. You are not allowed to use even your mobile phone while you’re in this restaurant.
 
5) New Lucky restaurant
 
graveyard restaurant
new lucky resto 2
It is our belief that a lot of things bring us luck but have you ever considered graveyards as part of that package? Krishan Kutti Nair, who runs the ‘graveyard’ restaurant in Ahmadabad thinks just that.  This restaurant is built over a centuries-old Muslim cemetery. It is known for its milky tea, butter rolls and the graves between the tables.  The graves are painted green, are about shin high and every day they’re decorated with a single dried flower by the manager.  The graves themselves are dotted randomly across the restaurant and customers seem to like them.
 
6) The prison restaurant
 
prison resto
prison resto 2
A high-security Italian prison, Fortezza Medicea, has opened its restaurant to the public.  The priso was a former castle at Volterra.  The restaurant is so popular that Italy’s prison department is thinking of trying it in other jails.  Executed by Bruno, a pianist doing life for murder, the diners eat inside a deconsecrated chapel under the watchful eye armed prison wardens, searchlights and security cameras.  The diners all have to go through background and security checks.
 
7) Ithaa restaurant
 
ithaa 1ithaa 2
Ithaa is the world’s first all-glass undersea restaurant 16 feet below sea level.  It is opened at the Hilton Maldives Resort & Spa in April 2005. Ithaa which means mother-of-pearl in Dhivehi is a 5-by-9 meter mostly acrylic structure.  It can accommodate 14 people at a time and offers diners 270 degrees of panoramic underwater view.  The restaurant was designed and constructed by M.J Murphy Ltd.
 
8) Cabbages and Condoms restaurant
 
c n c 2
c n c 1
This is a very famous chain of restaurants in Thailand.  It was established in part to support the activities of PDA (Population and Community Development Association).  They promote the health and safety aspects of condoms in a fun and amusing manner while serving excellent food. There are condoms on the wall and pictures of condoms printed on the carpets. Instead of after-dinner mints, customers are offered a bowl of condoms at the counter.
 
9) DS Hospital Restaurant
 
medical resto 2
medical resto
Aptly named, you will find everything that’s usually present in a hospital within this restaurant. From waitresses dressed as nurses, x-rays and crutches on the wall they have it all! Drinks are brought on a hospital trolley once you’ve chosen from the list of ‘medicines’ with names such as Vitamin A, Tetanus or Tranquilizer.  You are either served via a syringe or a test tube depending on the drink of your choice. Most of the tables are hospitals beds.  The owner came up with this bizarre idea to express his gratitude for care he received at a local hospital. 
 
10) Kinderkookkafe
 
kids cafe 1kids cafe 2
This small restaurant located in Amsterdam, Netherlands is managed entirely by children. With a little help from the grown-up staff, they cook, serve, bring the bill and wash up.  They make pizza, decorate cupcakes and make sausage animals.  The menu includes main course and dessert. The food is healthy and at very reasonably priced.
 

4/24/12

A Beautiful Picture of late Princess Soraya of Iran

Princess Soraya Esfandiary Bakhtiari (1932–2001), the Empress of Iran and wife of Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi.
The marriage was dissolved in 1958. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images). Circa 1950

Brazil actor playing Judas dies from accidental hanging

A Brazilian actor has died after accidentally hanging himself while playing Judas in an Easter Passion play.
Tiago Klimeck, 27, was enacting the suicide of Judas during the performance on Good Friday in the city of Itarare.
The actor was hanging for four minutes before fellow performers realised something was wrong.
Klimeck was taken to hospital suffering from cerebral hypoxia but died on Sunday.
The Passion play was being performed in Itarare, 345km (214 miles) west of Sao Paulo.
Klimeck was re-enacting the scene in which Judas commits suicide in repentance for his betrayal of Jesus Christ.
Police are investigating the apparatus that was meant to support Klimeck. It appears the knot may have been erroneously tied.
When the actors realised something was wrong, Klimeck was taken down and found to be unconscious.
The Santa Casa de Itapeva hospital has confirmed the death and an autopsy will take place on Monday.
bbc.co.uk

Guessing Game !


What do you think this is? Hmmm, if you guessed it as a lock of some sorts, then I’ll hand it you; you’re pretty close.
All I can say, it holds a ton of information….literally! All the best!
Alright then, this is the U-Lock! A number-locking USB Flash Drive that makes no bones of the fact that you have sensitive information to protect! 
It can’t get more obvious than this!
U-Lock is a 2012 iF Design Talents entry.
Designer: Beijing Technology & Business University