De- Motivational Posters

Tired of inspiration posters in your office that urge you to do things the company wants you to do? Here are some that are not what the boss had in mind!

Munnar

Munnar (Malayalam: മൂന്നാര്‍, Tamil: மூணார்) is a town located in Kerala state in the southern Western Ghats in South India. Munnar was a summer resort of British government in South India. It is 1600 m (5400 ft) above sea level. It is pronounced “Moon-aar” meaning “Three rivers” in Tamil and Malayalam. There are in fact three rivers – Madupetti, Nallathanni and Periavaru which flow through this town, but join some distance away from Munnar.

The neelakurinji, a blue flower which blooms only every twelve years, is found in this region. It bloomed last in December 2006. Munnar also has the highest peak in South India, Anamudi, at 2695 m.

The tea plantations and holiday facilities make this a popular hill station in Kerala.

Altitude : 1600 Mts to 1800 Mts above sea level. Temperature : Min. 0c – Max. 25c. Clothing : Warm Clothes and Rain Gear. Tourist Season : August to March

History

The entire area of Munnar , nearly about 556.44 square kilometer of land really belonged, and still belongs to the royal family of Poonjar and was given on lease for 99 years by the then poonjar King Kerala Varma in 1887.During the British rule of India, Munnar was developed to cultivate tea plants. At that time, most of the people around the area were employed as laborers for plantations throughout the area. In the early stages of development, only Tamilians and a small number of Malayalis inhabited Munnar. From the late 1890s till 1921, tea was transported down from Top Station by 24 inch railway and ropeway to Munnar for transhipment throughout the World.

Climate

The region in and around Munnar varies in height from 1,600 meters (5,249 ft) to 1,800 meters (5,906 ft) above mean sea level. Munnar enjoys a salubrious climate. The weather ranges between −5 ℃ (23 ℉) and 10 ℃ (50 ℉) in winter and 15 ℃ (59 ℉) and 25 ℃ (77 ℉) in summer. The tourist season is from August to May. However, even the monsoons are lovely with many streams and rivulets in the area. See:map

  

Get in

Munnar is 140 km (about 4.5 hours) from Kochi. Remember to budget a good 6 hours if you are driving up or down, since the road is blind in some places and there are a lot of trucks and buses that seem to drive as if they own the road. Although, the road is smooth (NH 49), it is narrow, twisty and curvy. Make sure you have a lite meal before you drive to Munnar on these roads, otherwise the next thing you will see on your dash board will be your last meal! Kothamangalam is on the way and is 80 km away from Munnar. Between Kothamangalam and next town “Adimali”, you can experience a beautiful cool drive through a natural forest. Alongside, you can see many refreshing waterfalls.

Once you reach Adimali, Munnar is just 30 kilometers away – but, it will take almost an hour to reach. Around 22 kilometers from Adimali, you can start seeing the tea plantations on both sides of the road and a panoramic view of the western ghats. The view is extremely beautiful during the early mornings.

Munnar can also be reached from Kodai Road, Madurai, Udumalpet. The drive to Munnar involves about 3 hours on the ghat section. There are 17 hair pin bends and traversing them can make you feel nauseated. However if you eat light while travelling you can enjoy the scenery during the drive.

Munnar is about 150 km from Coimbatore. Coimbatore-Munnar route is a very scenic route and though a bit longer is generally considered worth the extra time spent.

See

• Eravikulam (Rajamalai) National Park: 45 mins from Munnar. See Nilgiri Thar (Hemitragas hylocres) – an endangered species of mountain goats, rolling grasslands and sholas, spread over 97 sq km in the Rajamalai hills, rare flora and fauna, Atlas moth (largest in the world), lion-tailed macaque, leopards, tigers, The Kurichi or Neelakurinji Flowers turn the hills of Rajamalai blue every 12 years. The next bloom will be in 2018. One can actually debate if going to the high peak just to see some goats is worth all the effort or not. However, the walk along the park is very romantic and has some breath taking view.
• Anamudi Peak inside Eravikulam National Park: The highest peak (2695 m) south of the Himalayas, towers over the sanctuary in majestic pride. The slopes of the hills abound in all kinds of rare flora and fauna. The Atlas moth, the largest of its kind in the world, is a unique inhabitant of the park. Other rare species of fauna found here are the Nilgiri Langur, the lion-tailed macaque, leopards, tigers, etc. An ideal place for trekking, facilities are provided here and tourists are allowed to go on foot up to Anamudi.
• Chinnar Wildlife Sanctuary.

  

• Mattupetti Dam – 10km from Munnar, this popular picnic spot activities like boating and horse riding and is a great place to spend the day especially if visiting with children. You could take the speed boat ride which is fantastic. It costs 300 INR if you have to hire a boat for you alone. The ride is for 15 minutes. The maximum capacity is 5 persons and you could save some money if you are a group of 4 to 5.
• Mattupetti Indo-Swiss Farm – Better known as Mattupetti (cattle village), Tamil migrant labourers had once upon a time reared cattle here. The cool climate and abundance of fodder made it the ideal location for the Indo-Swiss dairy farm. Established in 1961, the Kerala Livestock Development Board (KLDB) manages this highly specialised dairy farm. The dairy farm is a unique one of its kind with more than 100 varieties of high-yielding cattle being reared.
• Echo Point – 15km from Munnar, on the way to top station from Munnar is a small lake set amidst rolling hills. Every loud call made from a spot on the lake embankment is returned manifold by the echo from the surrounding hills. Young tourists throng to this place to listen to the echoes of their friendship calls.
• Top Station 37km from Munnar on the Kerala and Tamil Nadu border, has great views of the Western Ghats. Top station is the “top”-tourist attraction. This place gives a real ‘above the clouds’ experience. Regular buses go to Top Station (1 hr) from Munnar. A jeep costs Rs 400. The area is known for the Neelakurunji plant, which flowers only once every twelve years. The flower is violet.
• Kundala Lake – This lake is very beautiful amidst lush jungles. Hiring a pedal boat and exploring the lake and its surroundings is an awesome experience. Except at the place you hired the boat, don’t expect to find humans around the lake as it is surrounded by scenic jungles and hills.
• Atukkad Waterfalls – A scenic waterfalls amidst hills and jungles. You can find a road leading to Atukkad Waterfalls on Kochi road (just about 5 km from Munnar). This road is very narrow and needs a lot of experience to drive on.

• Salim Ali (Thattekkad) Bird Sanctuary, There are woodpeckers, Malabar gray hornbills, Ceylon frogmouths, parakeets, and rose-billed rollers. This sanctuary is located 20km from Kothamangalam on the road between Ernakulam and Munnar. There are basic and mid-range hotels in Kothamangalam and an Inspection Bungalow in Boothathankettu. You can take a boat cruise from Boothathankettu to Thattekkad. Admission Foreigners/Indian Rs 40/10.
• Marayoor – Around 40km from Munnar. It is the only place in Kerala with natural growth of sandalwood trees, natural caves with murals, and relics from Later Stone Age civilisation. There is a sandalwood factory of the Forest Department of Kerala and a children’s park extending across one hectare of land under the canopy of a single Banyan tree, all of which attract tourists in large numbers.
• Kolukkumalai Tea Estate – At a height of about 7130 ft, this orthodox tea factory lays claim to being one of the highest in the world. The view of the Western Ghats is absolutely enchanting.
• Blossom Garden – Houses many different varities of flowers. Tourist will definitely take away good memories from this place.
• Water falls – Check out several natural waterfalls on the way to Munnar. These waterfall carry fresh rain water. They provide an excellent place for all tourists to have photo shootout.

10 Awesome Grass Sculptures

Here are 10 amazing sculptures made only of grass! Quite intricately sculpted, must see sculptures! Includes sculptures from elephants to giraffes to even unicorns!

 

Cool and creative Formula 1 car grass figure 

 

Cow grass sculpture 

 

This is an amazing elephant grass sculpture. 

 

Giraffe grass sculpture found in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia during summer time.  

 

In the grounds of a country house in Cornwall near the fishing village of Mevagissy the Victorian gardens have been restored to their former glory 

 

Men grass sculpture at Museum Beelden aan Zee in Scheveningen by Wim Quist architects. 

 

The sculpture, In the Garden of Dreams, was made by brother and sister team Sue and Pete Hill.This sculpture was created as a sister to the Mud Maid which can be found at the Lost Gardens of Heligan in Cornwall. 

 

If you have ever visited an art gallery and felt assailed by the "don't touch" signs, then Lucy Strachan's work is for you. Her outdoor sculptures cry out to be touched - or even stroked and hugged, something the artist herself encourages. “Spinning Top” was Lucy's first grass work. 

 

Unicorns United.

How to Make Money Speaking

Imagine if you could make good money talking about something you love. Well, it is definitely possible! Almost any subject can be a good foundation for building a speaking business. And, you can do it even if you have little or no capital or experience.

The following tips should put you on the right path!

• Starting Small – You can start public speaking as a part time thing at the start and later as you gain recognition, lots of big offers and opportunities will crop up automatically!
• Choosing Subject – Choose a subject to speak about. Whatever area of expertise you have, it’s likely that there are people who would like to hear you speak. Make sure that, whatever subject you choose, you know enough to sustain an intelligent, useful presentation and to answer any questions your audience might have. You’ll also want to choose a subject you love – neither you nor your audience will enjoy your speech on photography if you hate snapping pictures.
• Create your Marketing Plan – There are many different options as far as earning money as a speaker is concerned. You can directly market yourself to organizations that might hire you. You could approach companies that have employees that could benefit from your knowledge. These days many companies are looking for motivational speakers on various topics like improving employee morals and even talks on improving their employees public speaking skills! There is always a great demand for good speakers.
• Hold your own seminars - While this can be done on a national basis, the easiest place to start is locally. You either rent use of a facility to hold the seminar or perhaps partner with an entity with a facility and then promote the event. You can use traditional advertising methods like newspapers and radio or if you have a target audience that is identifiable, you may want to use direct mail. Have you ever been to a seminar on something like wealth building that was promoted in the newspaper? These are always been packed with hundreds of people.
• Use a bureau -Additionally, there are speakers’ bureaus that work as an agency who can procure speaking engagements for you. While many of these bureaus specialize in celebrity speakers, there are others that book speakers for less prominent events where a speaker only needs to be well qualified to do the presentation. A search on a major Internet search engine with a key term like “speaker’s bureau” is a good place to start.

If you have an existing product/service that you would like to promote, then effective public speaking can also help you attract a lot more client -

• Showcases your Knowledge – Speaking is effective because it showcases your knowledge before groups of people who eagerly show up to hear it. Your prospects may tune out advertising, but they’ll pay attention to your talk because it presents your knowledge in polished form to people who think it will help them.
• Visibility – Speaking gives you tremendous visibility and credibility that increases over time. Whenever you are in the front of a room, you get noticed. People will remember who you are and what your business does. The more people see you speak and see your business name, the more successful people think you are.
• Marketing Reach – Speaking is a marketing strategy you can immediately embrace to get in front of potential customers. Speaking puts you within handshaking distance of your best prospects, many times helping you close sales before you leave the room. Speaking can help you reach dozens, and sometimes hundreds of your best prospects every time. Speakers report that speaking regularly continuously fills their prospect pipelines, ensuring a steady stream of new clients and customers.

Thrilling Rides at Stratosphere Las Vegas

Check out the highest thrill ride in the world at the Stratosphere in Las Vegas!
The property's signature attraction is the 1,149 ft (350.2 m) Stratosphere Tower, the tallest freestanding observation tower in the United States.

 

 The top of the tower has two observation decks, a restaurant known as "Top of the World" (revolving restaurant).

 

 

 

It also has four thrill rides:

• Big Shot at 1,081 ft (329 m) is the highest thrill ride in the world.

• Insanity, opened in 2005, at 900 ft (270 m) is the second highest thrill ride in the world; it dangles riders over the edge of the tower and then spins in a circular pattern at approximately forty miles per hour.

• SkyJump Las Vegas, a controlled descent, Bungee jumping-like ride that will allow riders to plummet 855 ft (261 m) attached to a high speed, descent wire. SkyJump opened on April 20, 2010.

• X-Scream at 866 ft (264 m) is the third highest thrill ride in the world.