Pinewood Design

Ricky Martin’s confirmation via Twitter that he is “a fortunate homosexual man” has the microblogging site’s users buzzing with the news about the singer’s coming-out as gay.

Ricky Martin and his twin sons Matteo, left, and Valentino in Miami last year. Photograph: Pablo Alfaro/AP

After years of batting away rumours about his sexuality, the general consensus in the social networking sphere is summed up by a post from user Krissy_Recodo: “Ricky Martin has the courage to admit that he’s gay.. yeah!.. for those men hiding their true identity.. shame!!!”

“What an unnecessary fuss over Ricky Martin,” tweets an underwhelmed pforpapa. “Really why does it matter to anyone other than him?!”

“Ricky Martin is livin’ la vida open,” chips in ClaudiaOnIce about Puerto Rican Ricky, who had women swooning with his performances of Livin’ la Vida Loca at the height of his fame in the 90s.

He revealed on Twitter – in a message posted in both English and Spanish – that writing his autobiography had showed him the importance of being true to himself.

“I was sure the book was the tool that was going to help me free myself from things I was carrying within me for a long time. Things that were too heavy for me to keep inside,” he explained.

Martin, who became the father of twin boys born via a surrogate mother in 2008, stayed in the closet because he thought coming out would damage his career.

written by Pinewood Design \\ tags: autobiography, fortunate, gay, homosexual, livin, magazine, martin, Ricky Martin, sexuality, twitter

Ricky Martin has come out as gay, bringing to an end years of speculation about the singer’s sexuality.

Ricky Martin performing in 2007

In a message posted in both Spanish and English on his official website, the Livin’ La Vida Loca singer wrote: ‘I am proud to say that I am a fortunate homosexual man. I am very blessed to be who I am.’

Ricky Martin gay: Twitter users welcome news he’s ‘livin’ la vida open’

He says that the decision to come out was prompted by beginning the task of writing his memoirs, which he describes as ‘a project I knew was going to bring me closer to an amazing turning point in my life.’

Martin, a father of two via a surrogate mother, also writes that he had been advised by people closest to him to not come out, but adds: ‘ Allowing myself to be seduced by fear and insecurity became a self-fulfilling prophecy of sabotage… To keep living as I did up until today would be to indirectly diminish the glow that my kids where born with. Enough is enough. This has to change.’

He adds: ‘The word “happiness” takes on a new meaning for me as of today.’

Martin, whose sexuality has long been one of the less-well-kept secrets in showbiz, was briefly thought to have come out in June last year, when a Puerto Rican magazine claimed he had said that ‘his heart could belong to a woman or a man.’ However, the quote turned out to have been twisted somewhat by the magazine, and in fact just meant that Martin refused to talk about it.

written by Pinewood Design \\ tags: autobiography, fortunate, gay, homosexual, livin, magazine, martin, Ricky Martin, sexuality, twitter

• Introduction
World Expo 2010 Shanghai China is the occasion for China to bring the world at home, and for the world to feel at home in China. By dedicating a 5.28-square-kilometer area at the core of the city to exhibitions, events and forums on the Expo theme, “Better City, Better Life,” Shanghai hopes to build a powerful and lasting pilot example of sustainable and harmonious urban living.

Anyway, construction of exhibition pavilions and facilities are not completely finish yet, but I got some photos from inside.

UK

written by Pinewood Design \\ tags: China, exhibition, Expo, expo2010, Pavilions, Shanghai

If you are a professional diver you should visit Cenote Angelita Mexico.

These amazing pictures were taken by Anatoly Beloshchin in the cave Cenote Angelita, Mexico. Here’s his description: “We are 30 meters deep, fresh water, then 60 meters deep – salty water and under me I see a river, island and fallen leaves… Actually, the river, which you can see, is a layer of hydrogen sulphide.”
It must be an unforgettable feeling once you’re there and see it with your own eyes.

skipnjump says:

Hydrogen Sulphide is toxic in large quantities, but only if inhaled, like carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide. It can irritate mucous membranes, eyes, and respiratory organs. Since they’re diving (having oxygen supply and are suited) H2S would have no impact on them. All is safe.

written by Pinewood Design \\ tags: Anatoly Beloshchin, Cenote Angelita Mexico, Underwater River in Mexico

written by Pinewood Design \\ tags: alladin, beauty and the beast, Belle, cinderella, little mermaid, red riding hood, sleeping beauty, snow white

By Alex Morales

March 1 (Bloomberg) — The earthquake that killed more than 700 people in Chile on Feb. 27 probably shifted the Earth’s axis and shortened the day, a National Aeronautics and Space Administration scientist said.

Earthquakes can involve shifting hundreds of kilometers of rock by several meters, changing the distribution of mass on the planet. This affects the Earth’s rotation, said Richard Gross, a geophysicist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, who uses a computer model to calculate the effects.

“The length of the day should have gotten shorter by 1.26 microseconds (millionths of a second),” Gross, said today in an e-mailed reply to questions. “The axis about which the Earth’s mass is balanced should have moved by 2.7 milliarcseconds (about 8 centimeters or 3 inches).”

The changes can be modeled, though they’re difficult to physically detect given their small size, Gross said. Some changes may be more obvious, and islands may have shifted, according to Andreas Rietbrock, a professor of Earth Sciences at the U.K.’s Liverpool University who has studied the area impacted, though not since the latest temblor.

Santa Maria Island off the coast near Concepcion, Chile’s second-largest city, may have been raised 2 meters (6 feet) as a result of the latest quake, Rietbrock said today in a telephone interview. He said the rocks there show evidence pointing to past earthquakes shifting the island upward in the past.

‘Ice-Skater Effect’

“It’s what we call the ice-skater effect,” David Kerridge, head of Earth hazards and systems at the British Geological Survey in Edinburgh, said today in a telephone interview. “As the ice skater puts when she’s going around in a circle, and she pulls her arms in, she gets faster and faster. It’s the same idea with the Earth going around if you change the distribution of mass, the rotation rate changes.”

Rietbrock said he hasn’t been able to get in touch with seismologists in Concepcion to discuss the quake, which registered 8.8 on the Richter scale.

“What definitely the earthquake has done is made the Earth ring like a bell,” Rietbrock said.

The magnitude 9.1 Sumatran in 2004 that generated an Indian Ocean tsunami shortened the day by 6.8 microseconds and shifted the axis by about 2.3 milliarcseconds, Gross said.

The changes happen on the day and then carry on “forever,” Benjamin Fong Chao, dean of Earth Sciences of the National Central University in Taiwan, said in an e-mail.

“This small contribution is buried in larger changes due to other causes, such as atmospheric mass moving around on Earth,” Chao said.

written by Pinewood Design \\ tags: Axis, Chilean, Earth, earthquake, NASA

A rarely seen Buddhist flower, which blossoms every 3,000 years, has been discovered under a nun’s washing machine.

Rarely seen Buddhist Udumbara flowers, which blossom every 3,000 years, was found under a washing machine in Lushan Mountain, Jiangxi province, China Photo: REX

The Udumbara flower was found in the home of a Chinese nun in Lushan Mountain, Jiangxi province, China.

The rare Youtan Poluo or Udumbara flower, which, according to Buddhist legend, only blooms every 3,000 years, measures just 1mm in diametre.

Miao Wei, 50, was cleaning when she discovered the cluster of white flowers under the washing machine.

At first she thought the barely-there stems were worm eggs, however, the next day she discovered that the stems had grown 18 white tiny flowers on top and smelled “fragrant”.

Local temples believe the mini blooms are specimens of the miraculous Youtan Poluo flower – called “Udumbara” or “Udambara” in Sanskrit, meaning “an auspicious flower from heaven.”

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

More Udumbara flower’s photo:

written by Pinewood Design \\ tags: buddist, China, flower, Udumbara