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Defying nature

Dubai is out to lure visitors by the project "Snow World", organised by Landmark exhibitions. More than 400 tonnes of snow and ice are being brought over to the Gulf Arab Emirate.

Skis, tobaggans and winter jackets are being handed out to the skiers at the 45 yard ski slope in Dubai's Central Creek Park. The vice president of Landmark exhibitions, Mr. Youssef el-Hindi told the media that by 2005, Landmark was planning to build a ski slope up to 1000 yards in central Dubai.

He also said that "Snow World" is set up inside a massive tent- shaped structure and it will be kept at a chilly 14 to 190 F. In summer, temperatures often rise above to 1000 F in Dubai.

No longer Nessie

Luigi Picardi, an Italian geologist has said that hot volcanic air could have produced the sinister rumblings and hot bubbles of gas that has been attributed to the existence of the Loch Ness Monster. The major geological fault running beneath the lake's dark waters, known as the "Great glen fault", runs the length of Britain's largest lake in the Scottish Highlands, and is one of the country's few still active volcanic areas.

Piccardi says,"There may have been gas and flame emissions, underground roaring, shaking and rupturing of the ground." But Gary Campbell, the president of the official Loch Ness Monster Fan Club says that Nessie, as the monster is called, is a fact.

"Everybody has seen something solid, so I don't know how an earthquake can be used to explain a solid hump or a solid headed Nessie."

This legend dates back to 565 A.D., when St. Columba alledgedly clashed with a fearsome lake-dwelling-beast.

Space home

Ex-disc jockey Tony Alleyne has spent more than $11,000 to convert his one-bedroom apartment into the starship Enterprise - the spaceship from the TV series "Star Trek".

His apartment now has a command console and windows reshaped to look like portholes. It has a three-dimensional ceiling with an "infinity" mirror at the centre.

Alleyne, dressed in a spacesuit says, "It can make you feel a bit dizzy because it looks as if you're peering into space. My mother would say it's not very cosy - but I do make a cup of tea when they visit."

Compiled by

ROHINI RAMAKRISHNAN

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Section  : Features
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