Slideshow: Maldives

Travel agents book flights to space

A Maine travel agent can book a flight to most places on Earth. Soon she'll be able to book your flight to the stars, reports AP.

Pamela Hurley-Moser was one of 45 agents across North America selected for training to become an "accredited space agent." That means that eventually she'll be able to reserve seats aboard Virgin Galactic's sub-orbital space flights.

The experience won't come cheap for customers.

It's expected to cost $200,000 for a 2 1/2-hour flight 75 miles above the Earth's surface. The first flight isn't scheduled to take off until 2009.

Tips for getting travel bargains

Everyone loves a travel bargain. Here are some tips for finding them and some advice about looking beyond the price tag to be sure you get the service or product you want for that great price.

Be flexible.

If lower priced flights or cheaper airfares are what you are after, you may find that just a little flexibility goes a long way to saving you money, especially if you are flying to a popular destination. Simply by changing your travel dates and, for example, flying on less-traveled days like Tuesdays and Wednesdays, instead of the busier Saturday and Sunday, you can save hundreds of dollars.

In addition to planning a midweek to midweek trip, traveling during off-peak hours in the day such as early in the morning or later at night will usually shave money off your ticket.

Of course, you can be ultra flexible and, rather than picking your destination first, choose a destination based on the best deal available.

Throw aside convention.

If you are not set on a particular destination, you might find some real travel bargains by going to destinations that are currently not on the "top 25" list (but are still safe for travel). Some countries simply fall out of favour with the travelling public and are hungry for travelers’ business. Or, long after a crisis has passed or civil strife has calmed, travelers still stay away in droves and there are tremendous travel deals for the discerning traveler.

If you’re willing to try something a little different in order to save money and have a different travel experience, consider unconventional accommodations. Stay in a convent, a bed and breakfast, a hostel (some are almost like hotels), a country inn, a barge, or a self-catering apartment or cottage. Many travel agents have the inside track about these lesser-known forms of accommodation and can help you reserve with a reputable booking service.

Travel off-season.

Maybe you’re not ready to give up your dream of going to a particular destination. But consider going in the low or shoulder season when it is less busy. The shoulder season—just before and after the high season—can be an ideal time for travel, when hotels and car rental may be cheaper, the crowds thinner, and the weather still favorable. Low season can offer even better savings, but you might have less favourable weather (too cool in the northern hemisphere and too hot in the south), and some tourist attractions may be closed. On the other hand, if you like to "go local," off-season is the ideal time to fit in with the natives and see how they live, eat, work and play.

If you dream of cruising but the price gets in the way, consider taking a less expensive repositioning cruise. Twice a year, cruise ships reposition and offer great deals, many on trans-Atlantic trips. Because these long trips consume fuel, the cruiselines want their ships to be full. There may not be many ports of call, but some cruiselines offer special programs geared to the "repo" trip, and you get all the same meals, entertainment and recreation as standard trips for less cost.

Read more.

10-point Caribbean escape plan

Here's a 10-point primer on some of the best island getaways, geared to the kind of vacation you might want to take this winter, whether it’s a week filled with nonstop golf or an escape to a remote island that feels all your own.

For Adventurers: Dominica

For Foodies: Anguilla

For Clubgoers: Trinidad and Tobago

For Golfers: Jamaica

For Budget Travelers: The Dominican Republic

For Beach Bums: Eleuthera

For the Celebrity-Starved: St.-Barthélemy

For Sailors: St. Vincent and the Grenadines

For Families: Aruba

For Hermits: Marie-Galante

Don't forget that with the Cricket World Cup coming up in March, 2007, the entire Caribbean offers a treat for cricket lovers.

Video: Amitabh Bachchan v/s Shahrukh Khan

Stephen Colbert of the Colbert Report on the celebrity feud between Amitabh Bachchan and Shahrukh Khan. It's a kick just to hear him pronounce Preity Zinta's name.

Free: Quran Reader for mobile phones

Read and search the Quran in Arabic and English translation by Dr. Mohsin Khan for Java-enabled phones and Symbian OS. English (Yusuf Ali, Shakir, and Pickthal), French, Spanish, Indonesian, Melayu, and German translations available on searchtruth.com Web site.

Quran Reader has a fast scrolling display and a full index of all the Surahs (chapters) of the Holy Quran.

It includes the feature of saving and retrieving bookmarks, as well as browsing to a particular verse inside a Surah (chapter). The translation includes verse numbers and verse highlighting for easy reading and easy reference.

This application does not require Arabic support in mobile phones.

Over 100 Quranic Dua's (Supplications) - compiled and categorized in a separate section for easy reference. Lists all topics with corresponding verses. You can now memorize Quranic supplications in your own time.

Great for people on the move.

Download now.

or

World wall maps

Make a full-color (or black-and-white) mosaic wall map with your printer. Just click the link to download, then print and assemble!

World

World Political Download

World Physical Download

Continents

Africa Political Download

Africa Physical Download

Antarctica PoliticalDownload

Antarctica PhysicalDownload

Asia PoliticalDownload

Asia PhysicalDownload

Europe PoliticalDownload

Europe PhysicalDownload

North America PoliticalDownload

North America PhysicalDownload

Australia/Oceania Political(Includes New Zealand) Download

Australia/Oceania Physical(Includes New Zealand) Download

South America Political Download

South America Physical Download

Countries


United States Political Download

United States Physical Download

Mexico Political Download

Mexico Physical Download

Canada Political Download

Canada Physical Download

Asian Regions


Central Asia & Russia Political (with relief) Download

East Asia Political (with relief) Download

Middle East Political (with relief) Download

South Asia Political (with relief) Download

Southeast Asia Political (with relief) Download

Southwest Asia Political (with relief) Download


Oceans


Arctic Ocean Floor Download

Atlantic Ocean Floor Download

Indian Ocean Floor Download

Pacific Ocean Floor Download

Having trouble downloading the PDFs on this page? You need the free Adobe Reader.

ARKive animal resource

Have you visited the ARKive? It's a U.K. site dedicated to "creating a lasting audio-visual record of life on Earth." The result is a databank of photos, videos, and facts for the world's most endangered animals.

There's also Planet ARKive, a kids-only site with natural history- and wildlife-related games and information.

And for teachers there is ARKive Education, loaded with lesson plans, project ideas, support materials, and more.

Have a look and tell us what you think!

Climb Mount Everest from your chair

On the Discovery Channel’s website you can climb Mount Everest via sherpas’ cams without leaving your warm home. The trip is astonishing and takes you far beyond the still-photo views of climbing a mountain. You may even get vertigo as Phura climbs a ladder pinned to the mountainside, or watching through Karsang's cam as his head moves around while climbing over huge boulders on a steep face. The view is dizzying

Three sherpas are carrying cams on their helmets so you see the daunting challenges that face climbers on Mount Everest from many viewpoints. The videos are synched so you can watch what each is doing during the same time span.

* Viewers using Internet Explorer who get black screens instead of the actual videos may need to update their version of Flash Player.

Top 10 world beaches with WiFi

Planning a holiday but don't want to be without an Internet connection while soaking up the sun on that relaxing beach? Never fear!

GeekAbout.com points you to the Top 10 World Beaches which feature WiFi connectivity along their water-lapping shores.

Find out your ayurvedic body type

In Ayurveda, the five elements of space, air, earth, fire and water make up everything in the universe including the human body. These elements come together to create three different constitutional types or doshas known as Vata, Pitta and Kapha.

If air and space were the predominant energies present during your birth then you are Vata in nature, if water and earth were predominant, you are Kapha and if fire and water were predominant then you are Pitta.

Knowing your dosha can help you understand what activities, foods, and lifestyle elements can support and nurture your health and what can cause imbalance.

The most accurate way of learning your constitution is to visit an Ayurvedic doctor. He or she can conduct a physical examination including pulse assessment and can tell you what your dosha is and provide specific recommendations.

Many people are a combination of two doshas.

Instructions

Check off beside each statement that applies to you. When you are finished, count the total for each section (type A, B or C) and click on the link below.

Type A
• Thin build and small-boned. Can be tall or short.
• Prominent joints, don’t put on weight easily
• Skin is dry, chaps easily, rough, cool, prominent veins
• Hair is coarse and dry
• Small, active, dark eyes
• Lips are thin, dry, chap easily
• Brittle, ridged or cracked nails
• Little strength, tires easily
• Variable appetite, can get very hungry
• Very physically active
• Bowel movements irregular, hard, dry
• Mind is active, restless
• Tendency toward fear or anxiety when under stress
• Recent memory is good, long-term memory is poor
• Light sleeper
[liCold hands and feet, little perspiration
• Dreams are fearful, flying, movement
• Tendency towards constipation, anxiety, nervousness, poor sleep

Type B
• Medium build
• Moderate body weight, may be athletic, muscular
• Oily skin, warm, sensitive skin, reddish, inflamed
• Hair is fine, oily, may have balding or premature graying
• Medium, penetrating, light sensitive eyes
• Lips are soft, medium-sized
• Soft and flexible nails
• Medium strength
• Strong appetite, irritable if you miss a meal or can’t eat when you’re hungry
• Enjoys physical activity, especially competitive
• Bowel movements easy and regular, soft, oily and loose
• Mind is focused and sharp
• Tend toward anger, frustration or irritability when under stress
• Excellent memory
• Usually sleep well
• Good circulation, perspire frequently
• Dreams fiery, angry, violence, passionate
• Tendency towards inflammation, high blood pressure, hypersensitive, aggression

Type C
• Thick, ample or stocky build. Larger bone-structure.
• Overweight
• Thick skin, cool, prone to acne
• Thick hair, shiny, lustrous
• Large, round eyes with thick eyelashes
• Lips are large, smooth, full
• Strong and thick nails
• Strong, good endurance
• Less active, sometimes lethargic
• Bowel movements thick, oily, heavy, slow
• Mind is calm and slow
• Tendency to avoid situations that are difficult
• Memory is slow but sustaining
• Sound, heavy sleeper
• Moderate perspiration
• Dreams peaceful, romantic, water, ocean
• Tendency towards respiratory congestion, water retention, lymph congestion, cystic acne, tiredness


To find out the answers to your ayurvedic body type, click here.

Video: The Womb Club

Take a night out in Tokyo's Shibuya district.

>

Shackleton, one of the world's greatest adventurers

One of the greatest tales of survival in expedition history: Sir Ernest Shackleton's 1914 voyage to the Antarctic. Just one day's sail from the continent, the ship Endurance became trapped in sea ice.

Frozen fast for ten months, the ship was crushed and destroyed by ice pressure, and the crew was forced to abandon ship.

After camping on the ice for five months, Shackleton made two open boat journeys, one of which—a treacherous 800-mile ocean crossing to South Georgia Island—is now considered one of the greatest boat journeys in history.

Trekking across the mountains of South Georgia, Shackleton reached the island's remote whaling station, organized a rescue team, and saved all of the men he had left behind.

Some folks at the Google Earth Community have been putting together a tremendous collection of facts, placemarks, pictures, panorama shots, tracks, and other historical information. You can download the Shackleton "documentary" here (currently V3.0).

Video: Incredible India

Podcast: Singapore

Mark Moxon, travel writer, tells us a tale about Singapore.

Maharashtra's wine country

When Fredric Schermesser says his name is in the dirt, he's being more literal than you think. "A good wine," declared the 27-year-old French oenologist, waving his arm expansively, "is merely the sensory expression of the terroir."

It's the richness of terroir - an estate's physical features (the way it slopes towards a lake, the strength of the sun in summer) and its biochemical characteristics (the composition of its soil, the way in which herbicides are used) - that lets the mud of a vineyard nurture fruit that can be alchemised into a liquid that's much more than value-added grape juice.

As I gargled a mouthful of Cabarnet Sauvignon and tried my damnedest to taste the verdant carpet of vineyards rolling on towards a stone chateau, I discovered that talking about terroir inspires winemakers to poetry much the way a few glasses of their finest creations do. "Terroir," asserts the Wine Spectator, the bible of wine snobs everywhere, "gives a wine its soul, its connection to its place of origin."

Terroir is a word that aspiring oenophiles learn early, like beginners at a French language class being instructed that the pen of my aunt est sur la table. Now, thanks to the efforts of Schermesser's firm and a handful of others around Maharashtra, wine lovers are discovering that majhi maushichi pen is on the table (and has been used to sign memorandums of understanding to bring the products of 40 wineries around the state to market over the few years).

Two of India's three most respected wine producers are located in Maharashtra's hardy Sahyadri Valley, and we'd set out from Mumbai early in the morning on a terroirist mission to gaze deep into the state's soul through as many glasses of wine we could possibly gulp down.

The sun rose hazily behind the city's gargantuan Deonar garbage dumping grounds as we turned our way onto the winding slopes of the American-style Mumbai-Pune Expressway. A quick pit-stop for coffee later, we'd taken a bypass before Pune and were on the highway to Nashik, coasting past yellow-and-red State Transport buses coughing clouds of black exhaust into lush jowar fields.

Read more.

Tips on dealing with cabbies in foreign lands

A few tips on dealing with unscrupulous taxi drivers in foreign lands.

Slideshow: Varanasi

Varanasi is a famous Hindu holy city situated on the banks of the river Ganges (Ganga) in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is believed to be one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world since time immemorial. It is contemporaneous with Sumer. The name Kashi is mentioned in the Rig-Veda. It is also referred to as "city of temples and learning".

The culture of Varanasi is deeply associated with the river Ganga and its religious importance. The city has been a cultural and religious center in Northern India since time immemorial. Modern Varanasi has its own style of classical Hindustani music, and has produced prominent musicians, philosophers, poets, and writers in Indian history, including Tulsidas, Kabir, Munshi Premchand, Jaishankar Prasad, Pandit Ravi Shankar, and Ustad Bismillah Khan. The city has its own dialect of Hindi called Bhojpuri. Varanasi is also the home of Banaras Hindu University.

Photo Mosaic: Mahamastakabisheka Festival

The Mahamastakabisheka Festival takes place once every 12 years in the South Indian town of Shravanabelagola in Karnatka. It's the biggest festival of amongst adherents of the Jain religion. Over 3,000,000 pilgrims and tourists visit Shravanabelagola to witness this holy ceremony.

Photos: Stuart Forster - Mahamastabhiseka 2006

The trouble with air travel

Since we have progressed in our ability to travel long distances frequently, one would think that travel would become easier. Globalization certainly has helped bring nations closer, but international travel is entirely another matter.

My wife and I traveled to India via London and Dubai twice in 2006, and both trips were quite arduous. Our first trip was in January 2006. There were no "orange alerts" at that time. We boarded Virgin Atlantic Airways in Orlando.

"You need to report three hours before the gate closes," the airline informed us, so we were there very early. The line was already a half-mile long, winding along the limited space in front of the counter, and it was moving ever so slowly. Our travel documents were checked over and over again.

At the check-in counter, our bags were inspected and weighed as we attested that we had packed everything ourselves. I thought I was rid of the two biggest suitcases when the official said, "You now have to take this to the X-ray screening machine and load them yourself."

We dragged the suitcases, hefted them onto the belt, sent them through the screening device and got them sealed and certified at the other end. Then the luggage had to be dragged back to the check-in counter for final loading. No help was available, and we were willing to tip generously.

The next step, going through the security gates, would be easy, I thought.

Read more

TravelPort chosen as 'Top 20 Business Opportunities of 2007’

Dear Friends,

You’ll be pleased to know that TravelPort has been chosen
as one of the 'Top 20 Business Opportunities of 2007’
by The Franchising World , India’s leading franchise magazine .

We feature in their cover story which also includes blue-chip brands like McDonalds , ITC, Apollo Hospitals, Pizza Hut and KidZee.

This would have not been possible without your continued support.

We thank you.

From all of us at TravelPort.

Video: Lions mating in the wild

A rare sight of lions mating. From "The Intrepid Berkeley Explorer On Safari", a safari video filmed in Kenya and Tanzania. It's tasteful and typical of what lions do.

51 amazing travel facts

1. Lapland’s Finnish name is Lapin Li.

2. The Strait of Gibraltar connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Mediterranean Sea.

3. Greece is also called the Hellenic Republic.

4. Switzerland is Europe's most mountainous country.

5. Brazil is the largest country in South America.

6. Saigon is known today as Ho Chi Minh City.

7. Indonesia has about 13,000 islands.

8. The Biblical rivers of the Tigris and the Euphrates are in Iraq.

9. The popular holiday area between Marseille and La Spezia is known as The Riviera.

10. The Eiffel Tower is 984 feet tall.

11. GUM is the name of Moscow's largest department store.

12. Indonesia has more volcanoes than any other. It has 167 of the 850 active volcanoes known in the world.

13. The Leaning Tower of Pisa was built to be a bell tower.

14. The three largest cities in South America are Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, and Rio de Janeiro.

15. Malaysia is the Asian nation that is home to the Petronas Towers, the tallest buildings in the world.

16. Istanbul in Turkey has spread to both sides of the Bosporus Straight and thus spans two continents.

17. Japanese tourists spend the most money per capita in foreign lands.

18. Chinese are the largest ethnic minority in Vietnam.

19. Paramount, a California town, was named after the major movie studio.

20. Chile is bordered by Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, and Argentina.

21. Africa is the continent that has the most countries represented in the U.N.

22. Kuwait is bordered by Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

23. The Mediterranean sea gets it's name from the Latin phrase meaning "sea in the middle of land".

24. Kenya is central to the books "Out of Africa" and "The Green Hills of Africa"

25. The abbreviation ORD for Chicago's O'Hare airport comes from the old name "Orchard Field."

26. KLM is the worlds' oldest airline established in 1919.

27. According to the Air Transportation Association of America, about 1.8 million passengers are up in the sky over the US on 24,600 flights on an average day. Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport, now the world's busiest, handled 80.2 million passengers in 2000.

28. Cholulu de Rivadahia in Mexico is the largest pyramid in the world (177 feet tall and covers 25 acres) .

29. The most densely populated country is The Netherlands followed by Belgium, then Japan

30. The country with the most number of islands is Finland.

31. The country that is the largest producer of cork is Portugal

32. Tennessee is bordered by eight states This is more than any other USA state KY, MI, AR, MS, AL, GE, NC, VA

33. Damascus (or Dimashq) has the reputation of being the oldest city in the world, perhaps being settled as long ago as 8,000 BC.

34. The Eiffel Tower was officially opened March 31, 1889. The date refers to the day the flag was hoisted to the top of the Tower.

35. The Eiffel Tower was indeed designed by Gustave Eiffel (1832-1923).

36. The Tower uses 7,500,000 kilowatts each year with over 500,000 for illuminations. It was built for the Universal Exhibition held in Paris in celebration of the French Revolution.

37. In 2000, 6,315,324 people visited La Tour Eiffel.

38. A KLM 747-400 flight from Amsterdam to Australia carries an average of just over 1,000 kilograms of food, and some 1,324 litres of drink - from mineral water to wine and whisky. Extra supplies are often taken onboard in Singapore, and for Business Class passengers alone there are close to a hundred bottles of champagne on board.

39. The Himalayas have 19 of the 25 highest mountains in the world.

40. The Hawaiian islands, situated more than 2,000 miles from the nearest major land mass, form the most isolated group of islands in the world.

41. If you moved the entire population of Manhattan to Alaska, each person would have 12 acress.

42. The longest river in the world is the Nile. Though not all of it is navigable, it flows for over 4,000 miles.

43. The world’s largest mall is the West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, Canada. The mall has an indoor lake, with submarines, dolphin shows and even a casino.

44. The hammock was invented by the Maya Indians of Central America, who crafted this delightful form of relaxation from the back of the hamack tree.

45. The words "Do you have a reservation?" take on a whole new meaning at restaurant Kiliaen in Hasselt, Holland. This is the smallest restaurant in Holland; it is only open on Saturday nights and seats only two guests. They do not take reservations. Instead, wannabe diners drop by and leave their names for a draw held once a week. The lucky winners receive a free, five-course dinner for two, as well as a complimentary limousine ride to and from their home or hotel.

46. Juliet, the tragic lover from Shakespeare’s famous play, receives about 1,000 letters addressed to her every Valentine's Day, in Verona, where the story is set.

47. The shortest commercial airline flight in the world is said to be the
Westray-Papa run in Scotland's Orkney Islands on Loganair. It takes two
minutes, and there's no meal service.

48. The Grand Princess, the world's largest cruise ship, has 23,000 rolls of toilet paper aboard.

49. The shortest commercial flight in the United States covers a mere 20 miles,
from Appleton to Oshkosh

50. The travel and tourism industry is one of America's largest service exports with $93 billion spent by international visitors in the U.S. and $89 billion spent outside the U.S. by domestic travelers creates $4 billion in balance of trade surplus for the U.S.

51. Abu Dhabi Airport serices (ADAS) claims to hold a world record for the fastest full turn-around of a wide-body aircraft. The record was achieved when a British Airways flight, using a Boeing 777 arrived from London and needed to depart on time. ADAS staff supervised passenger disembarkation, baggage offloading, aircraft cleaning, loading cargo, mail, loading of baggage and supplies, and outbound passengers in just under 40 minutes - compared to a normal minimum time of 60 minutes.

Video: Drunk Airline Pilot with Dean Martin and Foster Brooks

This hilarious comedy skit about a drunk airline pilot was done back in the mid 1960's, with Dean Martin and Foster Brooks... (more) .

Amsterdam: Where to stay, what to do

Slideshow: Faces of Amsterdam

Where to Stay

• Amstel Inter-Continental Amsterdam
• Amsterdam American Hotel
• Bilderberg Garden Hotel

Where to Eat

• Amsterdam
• Excelsior
• La Rive

What to Do

• Amsterdams Historisch Museum
• Anne Frankhuis
• Rijksmuseum

When to Go

High season is the spring tulip season (early Apr to mid-May) and the school vacations in July and August. The city is very busy at both times, which means that hotel rooms are hard to find and bargains don't exist at all (but who wants to tiptoe through the tulips in November, or sit on a sidewalk cafe terrace in a snowstorm?).

If you're planning to travel at these times, you should book several months in advance. Summer is also the best time for cycling, which is an essential Dutch experience; try a canal bike if you're squeamish about going on the roads.

In winter, room rates are generally cheaper, and cafes and restaurants are less crowded and more genuine in feel. You won't find such a big line to get into the Anne Frankhuis (though you'll still find a line); you'll be able to stand longer in front of Rembrandt's The Night Watch and your favorite Van Gogh; and you might get a chance to go skating on the canals.

You also get a better view of those canals, because the trees that border them shed their screen of leaves in the winter; and as an added bonus, the lights from all those canal-side windows, whose curtains are never closed, glow with Japanese-lantern charm on the inky surface.

There's no worst of times to visit Amsterdam: It's a year-round stimulation of the brain's pleasure center.

Funny honeymoon postcards

The golden age of postcards ran from 1898 to 1918, when millions of beautifully drawn postcards passed through the mail.

On this page and the following links, you can view funny postcards from this era and beyond, all poking gentle fun at honeymoon couples.

Funny Honeymoon Gay Old Time

Funny Honeymoon Nosy Neighbors

Funny Honeymoon Spooning

Funny Honeymoon Robbery

Funny Honeymoon - It's a Snore!

What goes in your honeymooon scrapbook?

Once your honeymoon or romantic vacation is over, how will you remember it?
If you'd rather not trust your experiences to memory, consider creating a vacation scrapbook where you preserve images and ephemera you gather on your travels.

What goes in your honeymooon scrapbook?

• postcards from everywhere you visit
• prints of your best digital photos
• restaurant menus
• hotel stationery
• wine/champagne labels
• paper luggage tags
• journal/diary/sketchbook pages
• hand-written copy of a favorite poem
• noteworthy charge card receipts
• stickers and decals
• drink coasters/umbrellas
• invitations
• maps and tourbook pages
• itinerary
• pretty wrappers
• plastic room keys
• business cards
• handmade papers
• matchbooks
• small pins
• souvenir magnets
• airline/train/admission ticket stubs
• swatches of material
• ribbon and wrapping paper
• colorful stamps and currency
• dried flowers

Use your imagination to come up with even more travel treasures to personalize your scrapbook -- and have a great time collecting them!

Video: Follow the birds to the Taj Mahal

Follow the birds flying in the sky.
They will lead you to the Taj Mahal.
Nature is always right.


votefortaj.com

World's smallest country up for sale

For sale: the world's smallest country with its own flag, stamps, currency and passports.

Apply to Prince Michael of Sealand if you want to
run your own storm-tossed nation - even if it is just a wartime fort perched on two concrete towers in the North Sea.

The owners of the world's "smallest state" - Sealand - have put the quasi-country up for sale, reports the BBC.

The former anti-aircraft platform, seven miles off the Essex coast, was taken over 40 years ago by retired Army major Paddy Roy Bates.

The so-called "independent state" of Sealand is currently home to an internet firm.

It was derelict until the 1960s when Mr Bates took over the 10,000 sq ft platform and declared it the independent nation of Sealand.

At the time, the platform was beyond the then three-mile limit of British territorial waters. All this changed in 1987, when the UK extended its territorial waters from three to 12 miles.

Sealand's current "head of state", Mr Bates' son Michael, said he was only 14 when they took over the platform, but now seemed the right time to sell up.

"Michael of Sealand" said the family were approached by a Spanish estate agents specializing in selling islands.

The firm, Inmonaranja, has put a price tag of 750m euros (£504m) on Sealand.

The Taj Mahal in danger of being eliminated

India’s pride and joy, The Taj Mahal, is lagging behind at number 22 in the race to be nominated as one of the New 7 Wonders of the World.

Do your bit to prevent the The Taj Mahal from being eliminated .

Go to votefortaj.com, vote and help spread the word.

In addition to the Taj Mahal, Stonehenge, the Acropolis, the Great Wall and the Pyramids, the candidates are the Statue of Liberty; Eiffel Tower; Peru's Machu Picchu; Turkey's Haghia Sophia; the Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral; the Colosseum; Germany's Neuschwanstein Castle; Spain's Alhambra; Japan's Kiyomizu Temple; the Sydney Opera House; Cambodia's Angkor; Timbuktu; Petra, Jordan; Brazil's Statue of Christ Redeemer; Easter Island; and Chichen Itza, Mexico.

As you can see India has some pretty heavyweight competition.

Ancestors online

People looking to track ancestors who emigrated from British ports will from Wednesday be able to search online passenger lists of the ships that carried them to new lands.

Released by Britain's National Archives, the passenger manifests give an insight into all long-distance trips made by 30 million travelers from the country's ports between 1890 and 1960, including that of the Titanic which sank in 1912.

The records, available via commercial Web findmypast.com which was licensed by The National Archives, also show the passages of trans-European migrants.

During this period, thousands of Britons were propelled by economic reasons to seek new beginnings abroad. Between 1890 and 1914 an estimated 125,000 Britons emigrated every year to the United States, with 50,000 going to Canada and 25,000 to Australia.

Trips to all continents are covered with sailings to South America, the Caribbean, West Africa and all parts of Asia.

30 busiest airports in the world

The thirty world's busiest airports by passenger traffic are measured by number of total passengers in 2006 (data provided by Airports Council International).

1. O'Hare International Airport

Chicago, Illinois, United States

2. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport

Atlanta, Georgia, United States

3. London Heathrow Airport

Hayes, London, United Kingdom

4. Tokyo International Airport (Haneda)

Ota, Tokyo, Japan

5. Los Angeles International Airport

Los Angeles, California, United States

6. Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport

Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, United States

7. Charles De Gaulle International Airport

Roissy, Tremblay-en-France, Paris, France

8. Frankfurt International Airport

Frankfurt, Hessen, Germany

9. Denver International Airport

Denver, Colorado, United States

10. McCarran International Airport

Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

11. Don Mueang International Airport (Old Bangkok Int'l)

Don Mueang, Bangkok, Thailand

12. Beijing Capital International Airport

Chaoyang, Beijing, People's Republic of China

13. Hong Kong International Airport

Chek Lap Kok, New Territories, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, SAR

14. Sky Harbor International Airport

Phoenix, Arizona, United States

15. George Bush (Houston) Intercontinental Airport

Houston, Texas, United States

16. Barajas International Airport

Madrid, Spain

17. Amsterdam Schiphol Airport

Haarlemmermeer, North Holland, The Netherlands

18. John F. Kennedy International Airport

New York City, New York, United States

19. Orlando McCoy International Airport

Orlando, Florida, United States

20. Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport

Detroit, Michigan, United States

21. Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport

Minneapolis/Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States

22. Newark Liberty International Airport

Newark, New Jersey, United States

23. Miami International Airport

Miami, Florida, United States

24. Singapore Changi Airport

Changi, East Region, Singapore

25. San Francisco International Airport

San Francisco, California, United States

26. Narita International Airport

Narita, Chiba, Japan

27. Philadelphia International Airport

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

28. Kingsford Smith International Airport

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

29.Toronto Pearson International Airport

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

30. Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (Jakarta)

Jakarta, Indonesia


At the rate tourism and the economy are growing in India, we hope to see Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad on this list soon.

Kochi is no backwater

THE best seller “1,000 Places to See Before You Die” includes as one of its don't-miss destinations the “staggeringly beautiful” backwaters of India's Kerala state. The book also says a stopover in Kochi, the gateway to these interconnected lakes, lagoons and canals, is a must. But a quick visit is hardly enough.

Known as the Queen of the Arabian Sea, Kochi has a multilayered colonial history, relaxing ayurvedic spas, colorful Kathakali dance troupes, stately rajah palaces and a laid-back way of life that is a welcome change from India's typical frenzy. As I learned when my husband, Don, and I visited in late October, the people are friendly (“American? Can I take your photo?”), and the children go to school instead of begging on the street (Kerala has a literacy rate of 90 percent; the Indian average is 65 percent).

Kochi was a backpackers' retreat even when it was called Cochin, the colonial name that was officially dropped 10 years ago (locals and visitors still use both names). But amid a blooming of new boutique hotels — two opened on the waterfront in the last year — Kochi is growing up fast.

“The number of international tourists is increasing every year,” said Dhania Us, the manager of the Malabar House, where we stayed. “Their high-spending habits mean other businesses are growing fast, too, like fashion boutiques and antiques shops.”

Chinese, Arabs, Portuguese, Dutch and British have serially dominated this port on the Malabar Coast, exporting tea and spices, and importing their own architecture, religion and cuisine. These influences are still represented, particularly in Fort Cochin, the historic district — from Chinese fishing nets (watch as hapless tourists try to work the giant wooden pulleys) to Dutch houses, Portuguese churches and English trading company buildings. And in nearby Mattancheri, there is a Jewish presence that locals date back to A.D. 72, just after the destruction of the Second Temple of Jerusalem.

Read more.

Were Mars microbes killed by NASA?

NASA space probes that visited Mars 30 years ago may have stumbled upon alien microbes on the Red Planet and inadvertently killed them, a scientist theorizes in a paper released Sunday.

The problem was the Viking space probes of 1976-77 were looking for the wrong kind of life and didn't recognize it, the researcher said in a paper presented at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Seattle.

This new report, based on a more expansive view of where life can take root, may have NASA looking for a different type of Martian life form when its next Mars spacecraft is launched later this year, one of the space agency's top scientists told The Associated Press.

Last month, scientists excitedly reported that new photographs of Mars showed geologic changes that suggest water occasionally flows there — the most tantalizing sign that Mars is hospitable to life.

In the '70s, the Viking mission found no signs of life. But it was looking for Earth-like life, in which salt water is the internal liquid of living cells. Given the cold dry conditions of Mars, that life could have evolved on Mars with the key internal fluid consisting of a mix of water and hydrogen peroxide, said Dirk Schulze-Makuch, author of the new research.

Who knows if they are not not revealing themselves because they're scared of us Earthlings now?

51 incredible Earth facts

We live on a sphere of extremes and oddities. In fact it's not really a sphere, but it is a wild planet, mottled with deadly volcanoes, rattled by killer earthquakes, drenched in disastrous deluges. But do you know which were the worst?

Can rocks grow? Where are the planet's hottest, coldest, driest and windiest places? What would you weigh on Mars?

The following list of Earth's extremes and other incredible facts is presented in Q&A format, so you can cover the answers to test your knowledge of the home planet.

1. What is the hottest place on Earth?

Count one wrong if you guessed Death Valley in California. True enough on many days. But El Azizia in Libya recorded a temperature of 136 degrees Fahrenheit ( 57.8 Celsius) on Sept. 13, 1922 -- the hottest ever measured. In Death Valley , it got up to 134 Fahrenheit on July 10, 1913.

2. And the coldest place around here?

Far and away, the coldest temperature ever measured on Earth was -129 Fahrenheit (-89 Celsius) at Vostok, Antarctica , on July 21, 1983 .

3. What makes thunder?

If you thought, "Lightning!" then hats off to you. But I had a more illuminating answer in mind. The air around a lightning bolt is superheated to about five times the temperature of the Sun. This sudden heating causes the air to expand faster than the speed of sound, which compresses the air and forms a shock wave; we hear it as thunder.

4. Can rocks float?

In a volcanic eruption, the violent separation of gas from lava produces a "frothy" rock called pumice, lo aded with gas bubbles. Some of it can float, geologists say. I've never seen this happen, and I'm thankful for that.

5. Can rocks grow?

Yes, but observing the process is less interesting than watching paint dry. Rocks called iron-manganese crusts grow on mountains under the sea. The crusts precipitate material slowly from seawater, growing about 1 millimeter every million years. Your fingernails grow about the same amount every two weeks.

6. How much space dust falls to Earth each year?

Estimates vary, but the USGS says at least 1,000 million grams, or roughly 1,000 tons of material enters the atmosphere every year and makes its way to Earths surface. One group of scientists claims microbes rain down from space, too, and that extraterrestrial organisms are responsible for flu epidemics . There's been no proof of this, and I'm not holding my breath.

7. How far does regular dust blow in the wind?

A 1999 study showed that African dust finds its way to Florida and can help push parts of the state over the prescribed air quality limit for particulate matter set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The dust is kicked up by high winds in North Africa and carried as high as 20,000 feet (6,100 meters), where it's caught up in the trade winds and carried across the sea. Dust from China makes its way to North America , too.

8. Where is the world’s highest waterfall?

The water of Angel Falls in Venezuela drops 3,212 feet (979 meters).

9. What two great American cities are destined to merge?

The San Andreas fault, which runs north-south, is slipping at a rate of about 2 inches (5 centimeters) per year, causing Los Angeles to move towards San Francisco . Scientists forecast LA will be a suburb of the City by the Bay in about 15 million years.

10. Is Earth a sphere?

Because the planet rotates and is more flexible than you might imagine, it bulges at the midsection, creating a sort of pumpkin shape. The bulge was lessening for centuries but now, suddenly, it is growing, a recent study showed. Accelerated melting of Earth's glaciers is taking the blame for the gain in equatorial girth.

11. What would a 100-pound person weigh on Mars?

The gravity on Mars is 38 percent of that found on Earth at sea level. So a 100-pound person on Earth would weigh 38 pounds on Mars. Based on NASA's present plans, it'll be decades before this assumption can be observationally proved, however.

12. How long is a Martian year?

It's a year long, if you're from Mars. To an earthling, it's nearly twice as long. The red planet takes 687 Earth-days to go around the Sun -- compared to 365 days for Earth. Taking into account Mars' different rotational time (see #13 below) calendars on Mars would be about 670 days long with some leap days needed to keep things square. If you find one, please mail it to me. I'm curious how they worked out the months, given they have two moons. [The initial publication of this fact mistakenly said a Mars calendar would have 687 days.]

13. How long is the average Martian day?

A Martian can sleep (or work) and extra half-hour every day compared to you. Mars days are 24 hours and 37 minutes long, compared to 23 hours, 56 minutes on Earth. A day on any planet in our solar system is determined by how long it takes the world to spin once on its axis, making the Sun appear to rise in the morning and sending it down in the evening.

14. What is the largest volcano?

The Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii holds the title here on Earth. It rises more than 50,000 feet (9.5 miles or 15.2 kilometers) above its base, which sits under the surface of the sea. But that's all volcanic chump change. Olympus Mons on Mars rises 16 miles (26 kilometers) into the Martian sky. Its base would almost cover the entire state of Arizona .

15. What was the deadliest known earthquake?

The world’s deadliest recorded earthquake occurred in 1557 in central China. It struck a region where most people lived in caves carved from soft rock. The dwellings collapsed, killing an estimated 830,000 people. In 1976 another deadly temblor struck Tangshan, China . More than 250,000 people were killed.

16. What was the strongest earthquake in recent times?

A 1960 Chilean earthquake, which occurred off the coast, had a magnitude of 9.6 and broke a fault more than 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) long. An earthquake like that under a ma jor city would challenge the best construction techniques.

17. Which earthquake was more catastrophic: Kobe, Japan or Northridge, California ?

The 1994 Northridge earthquake had a magnitude of 6.7 was responsible for approximately 60 deaths, 9,000 injuries, and more than $40 billion in damage. The Kobe earthquake of 1995 was magnitude 6.8 and killed 5,530 people. There were some 37,000 injuries and more than $100 billion in economic loss.

18. How far is it to the center of the Earth?

The distance from the surface of Earth to the center is about 3,963 miles (6,378 kilometers). Much of Earth is fluid. The mostly solid skin of the planet is only 41 miles (66 kilometers) thick -- thinner than the skin of an apple, relatively speaking.

19. What is the highest mountain?

Climbers who brave Mt. Everest in the Nepal-Tibet section of the Himalayas reach 29,035 feet (nearly 9 kilometers) above sea level . Its height was revised upward by 7 feet based on measurements made in 1999 using the satellite-based Global Positioning System.

20. Has the Moon always been so close?

It used to be much closer! A billion years ago, the Moon was in a tighter orbit, taking just 20 days to go around us and make a month. A day on Earth back then was only 18 hours long. The Moon is still moving away -- about 1.6 inches (4 centimeters) a year. Meanwhile, Earth's rotation is slowing down, lengthening our days. In the distant future, a day will be 960 hours long!

21. Where is the lowest dry point on Earth?

The shore of the Dead Sea in the Middle East is about 1,300 feet (400 meters) below, California , at a mere 282 feet below sea level.

22. Good thing California isn't sinking further, right?

Actually parts of it are, which is so interesting that I snuck this non-question onto the list. In a problem repeated elsewhere in the country, the pumping of natural underground water reservoirs in California is causing the ground to sink up to 4 inches (11 centimeters) per year in places. Water and sewage systems may soon be threatened.

23. What is the longest river?

The Nile River in Africa is 4,160 miles (6,695 kilometers) long.

24. What is the most earthquake-prone state in the United States ?

A laska experiences a magnitude 7 earthquake almost every year, and a magnitude 8 or greater earthquake on average every 14 years. Florida and North Dakota get the fewest earthquakes in the states, even fewer than New York .

25. What's the driest place on Earth?

A place called Arica, in Chile , gets just 0.03 inches (0.76 millimeters) of rain per year. At that rate, it would take a century to fill a coffee cup.

26. What causes a landslide?

Intense rainfall over a short period of time can trigger shallow, fast-moving mud and debris flows. Slow, steady rainfall over a long period of time may trigger deeper, slow-moving landslides. Different mater ials behave differently, too. Every year as much as $2 billion in landslide damage occurs in the United States . In a record-breaking storm in the San Francisco area in January 1982, some 18,000 debris flows were triggered during a single night! Property damage was over $66 million, and 25 people died.

27. How fast can mud flow?

Debris flows are like mud avalanches that can move at speeds in excess of 100 mph (160 kph).

28. Do things inside Earth flow?

You bet. In fact, scientists found in 1999 that molten material in and around Earth's core moves in vortices, swirling pockets whose dynamics are similar to tornadoes and hurricanes. And as you'll learn later in this list, the planet's core moves in other strange ways, too.

29. What is the wettest place on Earth?

Lloro, Colombia averages 523.6 inches of rainfall a year, or more than 40 feet (13 meters). That's about 10 times more than fairly wet major cities in Europe or the United States.

30. Does Earth go through phases, like the Moon?

From Mars, Earth would be seen to go through distinct phases (just as we see Venus change phases). Earth is inside the orbit of Mars, and as the two planets travel around the Sun, sunlight would strike our home planet from different angles during the year. Earth phases can be seen in recent photographs taken by Mars Global Surveyor and the European Mars Express

31. What is the largest canyon?

The Grand Canyon is billed as the world's largest canyon system. Its main branch is 277 miles (446 kilometers) long. But let's compare. Valles Marineris on Mars extends for about 3,000 miles (4,800 kilometers). If added it to a U.S. map, it would stretch from New York City to Los Angeles . In places this vast scar on the Martian surface is 5 miles (8 kilometers) deep.

32. What is the deepest canyon in the United States ?

Over the eons, the Snake River dug Hell�s Canyon along the Oregon-Idaho border. It is more than 8,000 feet (2.4 kilometers) deep. In contrast, the Grand Canyon is less than 6,000 feet deep -- a bit more than a mile.

33. Is Earth the largest rocky planet in the solar system?

Just barely! Earth's diameter at the equator is 7,926 miles (12,756 kilometers). Venus is 7,521 miles (12,104 kilometers) wide. Mercury and Mars, the other two inner rocky planets, are much smaller. Pluto is rocky, too, but it's comparatively tiny.

34. How many of Earth�s volcanoes are known to have erupted in historic time?

About 540 volcanoes on land are known. No one knows how many undersea volcanoes have erupted through history.

35. Is air mostly oxygen?

Earth's atmosphere is actually about 80 percent nitrogen. Most of the rest is oxygen, with tiny amounts of other stuff thrown in.

36. What is the highest waterfall in the United States ?

Yosemite Falls in California is 2,425 feet (739 meters).

37. What percentage of the world�s water is in the oceans?

About 97 percent. Oceans make up about two-thirds of Earth's surface, which means that when the next asteroid hits the planet, odds are good it will splash down.

38. Which two landmasses contain the vast majority of the Earth�s fresh water supply?

Nearly 70 percent of the Earth's fresh-water supply is locked up in the icecaps of Antarctica and Greenland. The remaining fresh-water supply exists in the atmosphere, streams, lakes, or groundwater and accounts for a mere 1 percent of th e Earth's total.

39. Which of the Earth�s oceans is the largest?

The Pacific Ocean covers 64 million square miles (165 million square kilometers). It is more than two times the size of the Atlantic . It has an average depth of 2.4 miles (3.9 kilometers).

40. Why is Earth mostly crater-free compared to the pockmarked Moon?

Earth is more active, in terms of both geology and weather. Much of our planet's geologic history was long ago folded back inside. Some of that is regurgitated by volcanoes, but the results are pretty hard to study. Even more recent events evident on the surface -- craters that can by millions of years old -- get overgrown by vegetation, weathered by wind and rain, and modified by earthquakes and landslides. The Moon, meanwhile, is geologically quiet and has almost no weather; its craters tell a billions-year- long tale of catastrophic collisions. Interestingly, some o f the oldest Earth rocks might be awaiting discovery on the Moon, having been blasted there billions of years ago by the very asteroid impacts that rattle both worlds.

41. How much surface area does Earth contain?

There are 196,950,711 square miles (510,100,000 square kilometers).

42. What is the largest lake in the world?

By size and volume it is the Caspian Sea , located between southeast Europe and west Asia.

43. Where do most earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur on Earth?

The majority occur along boundaries of the dozen or so major plates that more or less float on the surface of Earth. One of the most active plate boundaries where earthquakes and eruptions are frequent, for exa mple, is around the massive Pacific Plate commonly referred to as the Pacific Ring of Fire. It fuels shaking and baking from Japan to Alaska to South America .

44. How hot are the planet's innards?

The temperature of Earth increases about 36 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius) for every kilometer (about 0.62 miles) you go down. Near the center, its thought to be at least 7,000 degrees Fahrenheit (3,870 Celsius).

45. What three countries have the greatest number of historically active volcanoes?

The top three countries are Indonesia , Japan , and the United States in descending order of activity.

46. How many people worldwide are at risk from volcanoes?

As of the year 2000, USGS scientists estimated that volcanoes posed a tangible risk to at least 500 million people. This is comparable to the entire population of the world at the beginning of the seventeenth century!

47. Which of the following sources stores the greatest volume of fresh water worldwide: lakes, streams or ground water?

Groundwater comprises a 30 times greater volume than all freshwater lakes, and more than 3,000 times what's in the world�s streams and rivers at any given time. Groundwater is housed in natural underground aquifers, in which the water typically runs around and through the stone and other material.

48. Which earthquake was larger, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake or the 1964 Anchorage, Alaska, temblor?

The Anchorage earthquake had a magnitude of 9.2 , whereas the San Francisco earthquake was a magnitude 7.8. This difference in magnitude equates to 125 times more energy being released in the 1964 quake and accounts for why the Anchorage earthquake was felt over an area of almost 500,000 square miles (1,295,000 square kilometers).

49. Which earthquake was more destructive in terms of loss of life and relative damage costs, the 1906 San Francisco earthquake or the 1964 Anchorage earthquake?

The 1906 San Francisco earthquake tops this category. It was responsible for 700 deaths versus 114 from the Anchorage earthquake. Property damage in San Francisco was also greater in relative terms due to the destructive fires that destroyed mostly wooden structures of the time.

50. Is Earth's core solid?

The inner portion of the core is thought to be solid. But the outer portion of the core appears molten. We've never been there though, so scientists aren't sure of the exact composition. A radical Hollywood-like idea was recently put forth to blow a crack in the planet and send a probe down there to learn more. An interesting bit of recent evidence shows Mars' core may be similarly squishy. Scientists figured this out by studying tides on Mars.

51. Does all of Earth spin at the same rate?

The solid inner core -- a mass of iron comparable to the size of the Moon -- spins faster than the outer portion of the iron core, which is liquid. A study in 1996 showed that over the previous century, the extra speed caused the inner core to gain a quarter-turn on the planet as a whole. So the inner core makes a complete revolution with respect to the rest of Earth in about 400 years. Immense pressure keeps it solid.

(via email.)