Destination

Never sigh to the waves of life coz every moment is a lesson to learn...

Good & Bad instead u should be thankful

Coz no school can teach u the wheel of life & everybody learn it,

In a different way to reach into one destination....;)

Matahariku

1st S. Korean Woman Conquer 14 Highest Peak

KATMANDU, Nepal – A South Korean mountaineer became the first woman to scale the world's 14 highest mountains, crawling on all fours Tuesday as she reached the last summit.

Oh Eun-sun, 44, arrived at the final, steep stretch of Annapurna in the Himalayas 13 hours after she left the last camp to beat a Spanish rival to the record. Her feat was broadcast live in South Korea by KBS television.

At the top, she pulled out a South Korean flag, waved, and then wept before throwing up her arms and shouting, "Victory!"

Annapurna was the last of the 14 peaks above 26,247 feet (8,000 meters) Oh needed to climb to set the mark. She reached the summit _ 26,545 feet (8,091 meters) above sea level _ 13 years after she scaled her first Himalayan mountain, Gasherbrum II, in 1997. She scaled Everest in 2004.

The whole team was in good health and was making its way down to the base camp, expedition coordinator Song Hea-kyong said in the Nepalese capital. They were expected back in Katmandu by the weekend, Song said.

Oh narrowly beat Edurne Pasaban of Spain to the record. After reaching Annapurna earlier this month, Pasaban, 26, has only the 26,330-foot-high (8,027-meter-high) Mount Shisha Pangma left on her list.

Oh also tried to summit Annapurna last year but turned away just hundreds of yards (meters) from the top because of bad weather. Snow and wind also stopped her from making the trek last weekend.

"I gave it up because of a sudden ominous feeling that something bad would happen to either me or my peers, including the sherpas, on my way back to base camp," she told The Korea Times newspaper last month.

She said this trip would be different, adding that she would be carrying a photograph of Ko Mi-young, a lifelong rival who fell to her death last year while descending from Nanga Parbat, the world's ninth-highest peak.

On Tuesday, KBS footage showed Oh breathing heavily after each step in minus-20 Fahrenheit (minus-29 Celsius) temperatures on snowy Annapurna.

"I'm so happy, and I would like to share this joy with the South Korean people," said an emotional Oh, murmuring, "Thank you, thank you."

President Lee Myung-bak sent a congratulatory message, saying South Koreans were "awakened to her great spirits of challenge," according to his office.

"She is really great and I'm proud of her," he said.

Oh's quest has met with some controversy, after some questioned whether she had in fact summited one of the peaks on the list: Kanchenjunga, the world's third-highest. Photos taken of that trek did not clearly prove she had reached the summit. She dismissed the criticism.

"I can say that I have stood at the summit of Mount Kanchenjunga," she told reporters in Seoul late last year, according to Yonhap news agency. "It was bad weather. Three sherpas told me that I reached the top, and one of them took the picture."

Oh has described mountain climbing as an addiction.

"For a while after a successful climb, I seriously consider quitting," she told The Korea Times. But "I find my heart longing for the exhilaration I had on the top of a summit."

Peek @ Marina Bay Sands Singapore

Aliens May Exist But Contact Would Hurt: Hawking

LONDON: Aliens may exist but mankind should avoid contact with them as the consequences could be devastating, British scientist Stephen Hawking has warned.

"If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn't turn out well for the Native Americans," said the astrophysicist in a new television series, according to British media reports.

The programmes depict an imagined universe featuring alien life forms in huge spaceships on the hunt for resources after draining their own planet dry.

"Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonise whatever planets they can reach," warned Hawking.

The doomsday scenario is suggested in the series "Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking" on the Discovery Channel, which began airing in the United States on Sunday.

On the probability of alien life existing, he says: "To my mathematical brain, the numbers alone make thinking about aliens perfectly rational.

"The real challenge is to work out what aliens might actually be like."

Glowing squid-like creatures, herds of herbivores that can hang onto a cliff face and bright yellow predators that kill their prey with stinging tails are among the creatures that stalk the scientist's fantastical cosmos.

Mankind has already made a number of attempts to contact extraterrestrial civilisations.

In 2008, American space agency NASA beamed the Beatles song "Across the Universe" into deep space to send a message of peace to any alien that happens to be in the region of Polaris -- also known as the North Star -- in 2439.

But the history of humanity's efforts to contact aliens stretches back some years.

The US probes Pioneer 10 and 11 were launched in 1972 and 1973 bearing plaques of a naked man and woman and symbols seeking to convey the positions of the Earth and the Sun.

Voyager 1 and 2, launched in 1977, each carry a gold-plated copper phonogram disk with recordings of sounds and images on Earth.

S’pore Will Not Renew One Water Agreement

SINGAPORE: Singapore will not need to renew one water agreement with Malaysia which expires next year.

That’s because Singapore has ramped up with local water supply with new reservoirs, NEWater and desalinated water.

Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim said Singapore will build a second desalination plant over the next few years to ensure reliability in water supply.

Environment & Water Resources Minister, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, said: "As the production of NEWater and desalinated water are independent of rainfall, they can be used to supplement water stocks in an extended dry spell like the one experienced in February this year, which was the driest February on record."

World’s First Curved Double Helix Bridge Opens

SINGAPORE: The world’s first double helix curved bridge in Marina Bay will open to the public this Saturday (April 24) at 9.30pm.

The pedestrian bridge is set to transform Singapore’s city landscape, and serve as a key link to the second integrated resort, Marina Bay Sands.

A walk along this 280—metre long bridge promises to be a treat to an architectural marvel that took two years to complete.

It has not been given a name yet.

But it’ll be well—known — as an engineering feat that’s assembled with great precision, using a special stainless steel to withstand corrosion.

The steel tubes form the minor and major helix that spiral in opposite directions. In fact, if all the steel tubes forming the major and minor helix are laid end to end, it will measure 2,250 metres long — almost the length of the 2.4 kilometres fitness run.

The pedestrian bridge is centrally located just beside the floating platform at Marina Bay. And in the future, it will offer you a direct link to the Marina Bay Sands integrated resort.

It will probably take less than five minutes to walk the entire length of the bridge. While doing so, one will be able to admire the city skyline and the entire structure of the bridge.

The link to Marina Bay Sands integrated resort is still cordoned for now. It will open when Phase 2 of the IR opens this June.

Fun Siew Leng, Group Director of Urban Planning and Design, Urban Redevelopment Authority, says: "In terms of people coming by the MRT, the promenade station has just been opened, so people coming from the station can get to the bay front avenue through the pedestrian bridge.

"And when the Promenade is completed by the middle of this year, together with this bridge, it will form a 3.5—kilometre pedestrian loop around the whole bay."

When the lights come on at night, the bridge will take on a different look.

The lighting feature can be programmed to create various moods for different celebrations.

At its entrance is Singapore’s first art park — the Youth Olympic Park — where works sit as a symbol of the inaugural games this August.

Motorists will be able to use a new vehicular bridge, just beside the double helix bridge, from 3pm on Sunday (April 25).

Both bridges and the Youth Olympic Park will officially open at 8pm on Saturday, complete with performances and pyrotechnic display.

The total cost for all 3 new features is about $82.9 million.

Penyanyi Achik Spin Maut Dalam Kemalangan

SEREMBAN, 17 April — Penyanyi Achik Spin atau nama sebenarnya Abdillah Murad Md. Shari, 27, meninggal dunia dalam kemalangan ngeri di KM 14.7 Lebuh Raya Kajang-Seremban (LEKAS) dekat sini, petang tadi.

Pegawai Turut Trafik negeri ASP Abd Halil Hamzah berkata kejadian berlaku pukul 6.15 petang apabila kenderaan pelbagai guna (MPV) jenis Toyota Estima yang dinaiki penyanyi itu bersama seorang rakan lelaki yang belum dikenali dikatakan terbabas dan melanggar papan tanda.

“Achik meninggal dunia di tempat kejadian selepas kenderaan yang dipandunya itu melanggar papan tanda selepas melepasi kawasan Rawat dan Rehat (R&R) dekat susur keluar ke Pajam.

“Difahamkan kenderaan yang dipandunya itu dalam perjalanan balik ke Seremban bersama seorang rakan selepas menyertai sebuah rancangan di RTM, Kuala Lumpur,” katanya di sini.

Katanya Achik meninggal dunia di tempat kejadian selepas mengalami kecederaan parah di kepala dan beberapa bahagian anggota badan.

Allahyarham dikatakan tercampak keluar dari kenderaan, yang kemudiannya terbakar dan meletup.

Mayat Achik dan rakannya yang cedera telah dibawa ke Hospital Tuanku Ja’’afar (HTJ) Seremban.

Sementara itu Ketua Operasi Bomba dan Penyelamat dari Mantin, Hamizin Khaidir berkata, penyanyi berkenaan tercampak keluar dari MPV dan orang ramai cuba menyelamatkannya sebelum dia meninggal dunia.

“Pihak kami menerima panggilan pada pukul 6.32 petang dan kebakaran berjaya dipadamkan beberapa minit kemudian,” katanya.

Achik merupakan penyanyi utama kumpulan Spin yang popular sekitar tahun 2002.

Penyanyi yang popular dengan lagu Janji Kita itu telah mendirikan rumahtangga dengan bekas Pegawai Khidmat Pelanggan Astro, H.M. Rose Zaitul Suriani Wati Maarof pada Nov 2005.

Mereka dikurniakan seorang cahaya mata, Puteri Rania pada 2007 tetapi meninggal dunia ketika berusia dua bulan akibat demam panas dan masalah usus dalam perut.

Achik Spin bernikah dengan Tasha atau nama sebenarnya HM Rosezaitul Suriani Wati pada 18 November 2005. Pada 9 Januari 2007, Tasha selamat melahirkan Putri Rania di Hospital Tunku Jaafar, Seremban. Namun, anak sulongnya itu meninggal dunia kerana dijangkiti penyakit derita demam panas selama seminggu dan disyaki mempunyai masalah dengan usus dalam perut.

Al-Fatihah. Semoga allahyarham ditempatkan di kalangan orang-orang beriman. Nampaknya, tahun 2010 menyaksikan ramai sekali insan seni yang telah pergi meninggalkan dunia untuk mengadap Allah Yang Maha Esa.

Apple Engineer Loses iPhone Prototype

WASHINGTON: A 27-year-old Apple software engineer has been outed as the unfortunate employee of the notoriously secretive company who left behind an iPhone prototype in a California beer garden.

Technology blog Gizmodo purchased the next-generation iPhone from an unnamed person who was also at the Redwood City bar that night and revealed details of how the device came to be in its possession.

Gizmodo editorial director Brian Lam also said Apple wants the phone back.

He published a letter sent by Apple's legal department Monday asking that the device be returned.

"It has come to our attention that Gizmodo is currently in possession of a device that belongs to Apple," said the letter signed by Bruce Sewell, Apple's senior vice president and general counsel.

"This letter constitutes a formal request that you return the device to Apple," the letter said. "Please let me know where to pick up the unit."

Lam also published his reply telling Apple the phone "was burning a hole in our pockets" and Gizmodo would be "happy to have you pick this thing up."

"I'm happy to see it returned to its rightful owner," Lam wrote.

"Take it easy on the kid who lost it," he added.

Gizmodo identified the "kid" as an Apple software engineer named Gray Powell, a 2006 graduate of North Carolina State University.

The technology blog said Powell was sampling the wares at the Gourmet Haus Staudt in Redwood City, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) from Apple headquarters in Cupertino, on the night of March 18.

Gizmodo said Powell forgot the prototype phone, which had been disguised to resemble the previous model iPhone, the iPhone 3GS, on a bar stool when he left the establishment.

His last Facebook update according to Gizmodo: "I underestimated how good German beer is."

Efforts to track down Powell's Facebook profile were unsuccessful on Tuesday although a slew of fake accounts have been created on the social network in his name including a "Drunk Gray Powell" profile and a "My Sympathies, Gray Powell" page.

Gizmodo said the phone ended up with a person who had been sitting next to Powell at the bar after no one else claimed it.

"Weeks later, Gizmodo got it," the technology blog said without providing further details.

Gizmodo also said it held a brief telephone conversation with Powell about giving him back his phone. "He sounded tired and broken," Gizmodo said.

"Knowing how ferocious and ruthless Apple is about product leaks, those beers may have turned out to be the bitterest of his life," the blog said.

The comments section on Gizmodo, meanwhile, was deluged with messages from users urging Apple chief executive Steve Jobs not to fire Powell and criticism of the technology blog for identifying the engineer publicly.

"Releasing his name was uncalled for. Stay class, Gizmodo," wrote Aaron Leibowitz.

According to Gizmodo, features of the new phone, expected to be released later this year, include a front-facing video camera for video chat, a flash and an improved regular camera with a larger lens.

It also has a flat back instead of curved back, is thinner than the 3GS, is three grams heavier and has a battery that is 16 percent larger.

Iceland Volcano Cloud Brings European Air Chaos

REYKJAVIK: A volcanic eruption in Iceland fired ash across northern Europe forcing the closure of huge swathes of international airspace on Thursday which grounded hundreds of flights.

The eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in southeast Iceland had already melted part of a surrounded glacier causing severe floods. More than 700 people were evacuated from their homes.

A huge cloud of ash from the second major eruption in Iceland in less than a month blew eastwards across the Atlantic, closing major airports more than 1,000 miles (1,700 kilometres) away.

Britain closed its airspace to all flights. Nearly every airport in Norway, Denmark and across northern Sweden also shut down, authorities announced. There was major disruption in Belgium, France, Finland, Germany and the Netherlands.

More than 300 flights out of London's Heathrow and Gatwick airports and others in Britain were cancelled, including transatlantic services.

British airport operator BAA said: "Following advice from the Met Office, the National Air Traffic Service has introduced restrictions to UK airspace this morning as a result of volcanic ash drifting across the United Kingdom from Iceland."

Many flights from the rest of Europe to North America would have to be rerouted because they normally go through British airspace, officials said.

The ash was about five-six miles (eight-10 kilometres) in the air and could not been seen from the ground. But experts said it was a danger to jet engines and restricted visibility.

Icelandic airports remained open as wind was blowing ash away from the island.

"Flights to and from Iceland are still ok. The wind is blowing the ash to the east," Hjordis Gudmundsdottir of the Icelandic Airport Authority told AFP.

"It's amazing really," she said. "Things here should be fine for the next 12 hours at least, and we think probably all day, judging from the weather forecast."

The volcano on the Eyjafjallajokull glacier in southern Iceland erupted just after midnight on Wednesday.

Smoke coming out of the top crater stacked more than 20,000 feet (6,000 metres) into the sky, meteorologists said. Icelandic public broadcaster RUV reported that a 500-metre fissure had appeared at the top of the crater on Wednesday.

Lava melted the glacier, causing major flooding which forced the evacuation of between 700 and 800 people. Evacuees were being directed to Red Cross centres.

"We have two heavy floods coming out from the melting of the Eyjafjallajokull glacier," police spokesman Roegnvaldur Olafsson told AFP from near the site of the eruption late Wednesday.

The eruption in a remote area about 125 kilometres (75 miles) east of Reykjavik was bigger than the blast at the nearby Fimmvorduhals volcano last month.

"It is very variable how long these eruptions last. Anywhere from a few days to over a year," Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson, a professor of geophysics and civil protection advisor in Iceland, told AFP.

"Judging from the intensity of this one, it could last a long time," he added.

Olafur Eggertsson said he had been forced to evacuate his farm, which lies in the path of one of two large floods of melt water coming from the glacier.

"At around 10:30 this morning we heard a lot of noise and saw mud and soil suddenly rushing down from the mountain. Just 30 minutes later we had mud and soil and a giant flood running into our dyke above the farm," Eggertsson told AFP.

"So in just a half hour, mud and soil came cascading down the mountain, down to our farm and on to the national highway that lies just beneath our farm. That is a total of four kilometres (2.5 miles) in just 30 minutes," he said.

His family left all their animals behind in the rush to escape.

"We have 200 animals on our farm: cows and sheep who are all inside now. It takes some time for the dykes to be destroyed and I don't know yet if they are in danger, but we are extremely worried," he said.

Last month, the first volcano eruption at the Eyjafjallajokull glacier since 1823 -- and Iceland's first since 2004 -- briefly forced 600 people from their homes in the same area.

That eruption at the Fimmvorduhals volcano, which gushed lava for weeks, ended Tuesday, experts said.