Crystal's Bouquet

My Bag Decorated For U.A.E Independence Day

Posted by: Moallima on: November 28, 2009

I decorated my bag with ribbons according to the colors in the flag of UAE. So I thought I must share it with others too. =)

Disaster(s) of the Aral sea part 1: Shipwrecks around Muynak

Posted by: Moallima on: November 26, 2009


Muynak is a city in northern Karakalpakstan in western Uzbekistan. Home to only a few thousand residents at most, Muynak’s population has been declining precipitously since the 1980s due to the recession of the Aral Sea.

Once a bustling fishing community, Muynak is now a shadow of its former self, dozens of miles from the rapidly receding shoreline of the Aral Sea. Fishing had always been part of the economy of the region, and Muynak became a center of industrial fishing and canning. A regional agricultural monoculture dominated by cotton production which diverts water from tributary rivers of the sea into irrigation, and severe pollution caused by agricultural chemical runoff, are causing the sea to evaporate and the water that remains is highly saline and very toxic, causing the ecological disaster which is inevitably destroying the sea and killing the residents of the towns in its vicinity, including Muynak.

Muynak is now home to a incongruous armada of rusting hulks that once made up the proud fishing fleet during the Soviet era. Poisonous dust storms kicked up by strong winds across the dried and polluted seabed give rise to a multitude of chronic and acute illnesses among the few residents, weather unmoderated by the sea now buffets the town with hotter-than-normal summers and colder-than-normal winters.

The Aral Sea was once the world’s fourth-largest saline body of water, it has been steadily shrinking since the 1960s, after the rivers that fed it were diverted by Soviet Union irrigation projects. By 2004, the sea had shrunk to 25% of its original surface area, and a nearly fivefold increase in salinity had killed most of its natural flora and fauna. By 2007 it had declined to 10% of its original size, splitting into three separate lakes, two of which are too salty to support fish. The once prosperous fishing industry has been virtually destroyed, and former fishing towns along the original shores have become ship graveyards. With this collapse has come unemployment and economic hardship.

The disappearance of the lake was no surprise to the Soviets; they expected it to happen long before. As early as in 1964, Aleksandr Asarin at the Hydroproject Institute pointed out that the lake was doomed explaining, “It was part of the five-year plans, approved by the council of ministers and the Politburo. Nobody on a lower level would dare to say a word contradicting those plans, even if it was the fate of the Aral Sea.”








Shrinkage of the Aral sea between 1989 and 2008

Oasis of the Seas: The SEVEN Godmothers

Posted by: Moallima on: November 20, 2009

With seven “neighborhoods” to christen on board, the world’s largest cruise ship Oasis of the Seas will have seven (count ‘em! seven!) Godmothers to do the honors. We know that much for certain, but other  details are sketchy and, despite a phone call to Royal Caribbean for confirmation, the Godmother names below were not verified until hours after we learned them.

However, unless someone hacked into their Oasis and Allure account yesterday, Royal Caribbean announced one Godmother per hour on the ubiquitous Twitter web site. So far there’s no word on which Godmother will name which neighborhood—we understand that will be revealed “later”—but some are sort of obvious.

So, without further ado, here are the seven Godmothers, whose names are now official:

  • The first Godmother to be named is Gloria Estefan. I’m a huge fan of Ms. Estefan’s music and she certainly has a South Florida-Caribbean connection and a history with Royal Caribbean; Ms. Estafan was Godmother of the line’s Empress of the Seas. She’s an excellent choice. I’m listening to Estefan and The Miami Sound Machine on my iPod as I type.
  • For their second Godmother, World Champion figure skater and Olympian Michelle Kwan was chosen. Another fan favorite and, with the ice skating program on Oasis of the Seas, an appropriate selection.
  • Emmy Award winning actress Jane Seymour was the third Oasis Godmother to be revealed. I loved her as a Bond Girl and cheered her on during her time as a Dancing With the Stars competitor—unlike most of the participants, she really is a star.
  • Royal Caribbean teased us with their drawn-out announcements, but then stated that it wouldn’t be an Olympic lineup of Godmothers without swimmer Dara Torres, who they were happy to announce as the fourth Oasis Godmother. With all the water-related facilities and pools on board, another outstanding selection.
  • The line was (once again) happy to announce their fifth Godmother is actress Keisha Knight Pulliam. I remember her as Rudy Huxtable on the Cosby Show many years ago. Cute little girl, but what’s she been up to since 1992?
  • Getting back to the announcements, the sixth Godmother is yet another Olympian and 2008 medalist, gymnast Shawn Johnson. Wasn’t she also on Dancing With the Stars? Is this a trend? To answer my own question, Johnson and her partner won the mirror ball trophy on DWTS.
  • And, drum roll please… the seventh Godmother is Daisy Fuentes, international television personality and producer. Who?

Well, there you have it. Seven ladies who will participate in a christening ceremony unlike any other. As Richard Fain recently described in his Chairman’s Blog, “An extraordinary and innovative ship deserves an extraordinary and innovative naming. For Oasis of the Seas we have decided to use seven godmothers because we have seven neighborhoods. Each godmother will start in her own area and then they will all convene at the AquaTheatre for the formal naming. All seven godmothers will cut a ribbon which will require seven complete cuts to release the bottle.”

Unless plans have changed, the official naming ceremony for Oasis of the Seas will take place on Nov 30 during a one-night inaugural celebration-fundraiser to benefit the non-profit Make-A-Wish Foundation, which grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions.

More information about Oasis of the Seas from CruiseDiva.com at:

Oasis of the Seas sets sail

Posted by: Moallima on: November 20, 2009

By Gene Sloan, USA TODAY
Just when you thought cruise ships couldn’t get any bigger, along comes Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas.

The 225,282-ton vessel, to be unveiled today in a special two-hour broadcast of ABC’s Good Morning America, is nearly 50% larger than the largest cruise ship currently at sea and can hold 6,296 passengers.

Still, Oasis’ enormous size – in terms of volume, five times as big as the Titanic– is just part of the reason many industry watchers are calling it a game-changer. Just as notable: on-board amenities that encompass everything from a open-air “Central Park” with live trees to a family-friendly amusement area called the Boardwalk.

Built to rival the most elaborate resort hotels of Las Vegas and Orlando, it’s also a bold bet that the fast-growing cruise industry can continue to expand its market beyond the 20% or so of Americans who already cruise. More than 40% of Royal Caribbean’s customers come from outside North America, and the Oasis was built to garner an even larger international market share.

Dreamed up six years ago when the economy was booming, the $1.4 billion vessel (by far the most expensive) will need to sail full at premium rates to make a decent return – no easy feat as the economy remains mired in a downturn and cruisers have become used to discount prices.

Oasis is one of two massive vessels that Royal Caribbean has planned. Allure of the Seas is scheduled to make its debut late next year.

The downside of such a large vessel? Even fans say it’s going to feel crowded. “It is a floating city,” says Stewart Chiron of CruiseGuy.com, “so areas of mass congestion should be expected.”

Oasis also is limited in where it can sail, as it’s too big for many ports. Based in Fort Lauderdale, the ship will spend its first winter operating seven-night voyages to some of the only destinations ready to handle it, the Eastern Caribbean’s St. Thomas, St. Maarten and Nassau, the Bahamas.

Starting in May, it will also sail to the Western Caribbean, including Labadee, Haiti and Cozumel and Costa Maya in Mexico.

The inflexibility of where such big ships can go is one reason the company’s biggest rival, Carnival, has no plans to follow suit. The largest ships operated by its brands – Carnival, Princess and Cunard– carry no more than 3,646 passengers at double occupancy.

“Some people want a holiday in the malls of America, and others want to be on a cruise,” Carnival Corp. chairman and CEO Micky Arison said earlier this year.

For now at least, cruisers are willing to pay a significant premium to sail on such a ship. On upcoming voyages in January, even Oasis’ least-expensive inside cabins (those without windows) are selling for $1,179 and up – around twice as much as the fares on other Royal Caribbean ships.

But in a conference call with Wall Street analysts this month, Royal Caribbean CEO Adam Goldstein acknowledged the ship hadn’t met its December bookings forecast. He said the company expected last-minute bookings after inaugural events.

More than 10,000 travel agents and media – including USA TODAY’s Cruise Log – will be touring the ship in coming days. The ship’s first cruise with paying passengers is slated for Dec. 1.

Books – dying or not?

Posted by: Moallima on: November 7, 2009

A book, an entity that has its own undefined worth. A collection of words when engraved on blank pages and those pages when bound into a pile of knowledge, wisdom, inspiration, style and grace, then, a book takes its form which keeps its reader impatient to cling to its last page.

For centuries, books have been written, read and preserved. The wish of writers and authors to exhibit and preserve their knowledge drives them to write their ideas, concepts and knowledge in a form of a book while a seeker’s hunt for knowledge urges him to explore those bundles of books. Anxious writers and readers in different corners of the world will never let the books fade away.

Thousands of shelves in libraries all over the world are occupied by limitless number of books, of science, fiction, fantasy, humor, horror, suspense, mystery, romance, angst, drama, action and adventure, which attract millions of readers to put down their heads in books in exploring them for hours. But today’s era has been revolutionized by the new culture of media, internet and virtual reading provided on-line. With the arrival of visual and virtual information, people believe that books are not read and sought as they were in previous times. Thus the books are thought to be dying or probably have died already. The same was thought for radio when television was invented. But the trend of radio hasn’t diminished yet and will never lose its worth.

People are greatly occupied by the thought of browsing on-line information. But the readers who actually know the worth of knowledge have not abandoned pursuing the precious treasure of books. The exploration of a book shows us an aisle to a vast land of thoughts, sagacity and enlightenment while an electronic page of information searched on a particular subject keeps us straight to a defined space of information. And so, a book is also a silent teacher- a combination of theory, philosophy and sanity. It is a tutor who answers all unasked questions and who remains along with you always wherever you go, unlike the internet accessibility to the on-line information. As “Books are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most impatient of teachers”, says Charles Eliot.

A reader’s love for learning and the pleasure in holding onto the last page of a book in order to cherish the hidden wisdom till the last word is priceless. This love and pleasure can neither let the books die nor can it be gained by reading the required chapters on an electronic on-line page. Every word of a book deeply involves a person’s all senses, mind and imagination. The mild aroma of pages of a book cannot by replaced by the multiple clicks and jumps on different pages of internet. The sensation of soothing sight of an opened book in hands and lying relaxed on a couch cannot be deserted by sitting uncomfortably in front of a glowing screen of a computer. A book is as loyal and comforting as a true friend who cannot betray in any way, whose company cannot be measured by a scale of virtual information and technology of today.  After all, Paul Sweeney says, “You know you’ve read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend.”

No matter how far the modern mode of visual reading and learning is extended, but the throne of books will never be taken from them. Neither the worth of books can be denied nor can they die out from our reading spheres. And hence, the perception of the death of books is perfectly futile and irrational.

Face yourself!

We humans are proved to be greatest escapists, whether it is a matter of personal weaknesses or worldly difficulties. Unless we face our own dark faces, we can neither realize ourselves nor our purpose.

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