BANANA CLUB

It was back in 1972 when Ken Bannister, dubbed himself as T.B. (Top Banana) of the International Banana Club. This native Southern Californian handed out banana stickers at photo conventions as Vice President of a manufacturing corporation and everyone smiled and started sending him things to do with bananas. He is the founder of the I.B.C.(International Banana Club). Today, there are more than 17,000 submissions and artifax in the Banana Club Museum in Altadena, California.

Ken has spent 10 years with the Campbell Soup Company as a Sales Manager, then served two different manufacturers as Corporate President. He is a well-known marketing and sales expert,a humorist and lecturer,an accomplished professional photographer,and someone who inspires people to think positively. He is a funny person who knows the power of a sincere smile and being real. He feels "you are not fully dressed unless you put a smile on." He is currently with Century 21 Real Estate in Arcadia, California.

Until this past year, the majority of the membership of this bunch has come from the photographic industry. Now, due to world-wide media exposure to the many positive benefits of membership, this club is "Going Bananas" around the world. There are members in twenty-seven countries, Corporations and School Teachers across the U.S. are using the Banana Club to motivate and encourage employees and students. Organizations around the globe are using the Banana Club as a vehicle to get attention, recognize membership, and to motivate employees, friends and family.

SUPER FALCON : A WINGED SUBMARINE

Super Falcon is a submarine with wings. It is the brainchild of British inventor Graham Hawks. The sub is capable of diving to depths of 1,500 feet, achieving breakneck speed of up to six knots (~7MPH or some really kinky bondage), and travelling approximately 25 nautical miles on a battery charge. It is advanced enough to go barrel-rolling with dolphins, spy-hopping with whales or searching for sunken galleons.

EXCESSIVE USE OF TECHNOLOGY

CHILDREN’S DAY

Jawaharlal Nehru was born on November 14, 1889 in Allahabad, central India. Nehru was born the eldest child of Swarup Rani and the prominent advocate and early leader of the Indian Independence movement Motilal Nehru. The Nehru family came of Kashmiri Brahmin stock and their gotra was Kaul. Motilal had moved to Allahabad many years before and developed a successful legal practice. He was also an active member of the fledgling Indian national movement led by the Indian National Congress. Nehru and his two sisters—Vijaya Lakshmi and Krishna were brought up in a large mansion, Anand Bhavan, and were raised predominantly in the English custom, then thought necessary by the Indian elite. They were also taught Hindi, Sanskrit and given grounding in the Indian classics.

Jawaharlal Nehru was an Indian statesman who was the first, and has been the longest-serving prime minister of India to date, having served from 1947 until 1964. A leading figure in the Indian Independence movement, Nehru was elected by the Congress party to assume office as independent India's first Prime Minister, and later when the Congress won India's first general election in 1952. As one of the founders of the Non-aligned Movement, he was also an important figure in the international politics of the post-war era. He is frequently referred to as Pandit Nehru ("pandit" means "scholar" or "teacher").

The son of a wealthy Indian barrister and politician, Motilal Nehru, Nehru became a leader of the left wing of the Indian National Congress when still fairly young. Rising to become Congress President, under the mentorship of Mahatma Gandhi, Nehru was a charismatic and radical leader, advocating complete Independence from the British Empire. In the long struggle for Indian independence, in which he was a key player, Nehru was eventually recognized as Gandhi's political heir. Throughout his life, Nehru was also an advocate for Fabian socialism and the public sector as the means by which long-standing challenges of economic development could be addressed by poorer nations.

Nehru was given the singular honour of raising the flag of Independent India in New Delhi on 15 August 1947, when India gained Independence. Nehru's appreciation of the virtues of parliamentary democracy, secularism and liberalism coupled with concerns for the poor and under privileged are recognized to have guided him in formulating policies that influence India to this day. They also reflect the socialist origins of his worldview. His long tenure was instrumental in shaping the traditions and structures of Independent India. He is sometimes referred to as the 'Architect of Modern India.

Nehru took the Cambridge entrance examinations in 1907 and went up to Trinity College, to study natural sciences. Hel stood second in his Tripos and graduated in 1910. The famously liberal atmosphere of the University also encouraged him to participate in a host of extra-curricular activities and has been noted as having been a key influence on his general outlook. He then enrolled at the Inner Temple for his legal studies in October 1910.

Jawaharlal Nehru passed the final examination in 1912 and was called to the Bar later that year at the Inner Temple. He returned to India soon after to set up a legal practice.



Jawaharlal Nehru was a passionate advocate of education for India's children and youth, believing it essential for India's future progress. His government oversaw the establishment of many institutions of higher learning, including the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, the Indian Institutes of Technology and the Indian Institutes of Management. Nehru also outlined a commitment in his five-year plans to guarantee free and compulsory primary education to all of India's children.


Nehru oversaw the creation of mass village enrollment programmes and the construction of thousands of schools. Nehru also launched initiatives such as the provision of free milk and meals to children in order to fight malnutrition. Adult education centres, vocational and technical schools were also organized for adults, especially in the rural areas.

Jawaharlal Nehru remained the Prime Minister of India for 17 long years and can rightly be called the architect of modern India. He set India on the path of democracy and nurtured its institution – Parliament, multi-party system, independent judiciary and free press. He encouraged Panjayati Raj institutions. With the foresight of a statesman he created institutions like Planning Commission, National Science Laboratories and laid the foundation of a vast public sector for developing infrastructure for industrial growth. Besides, developing the public sector, Nehru also wanted to encourage the private sector to establish a social order based on social justice he emphasised the need of planned development.

Education to Nehru was very important for internal freedom and fearlessness. It was Nehru who insisted if the world was to exist at all; it must exist as one. He was generous and gracious. Emotional sensitivity and intellectual passion infused his writings, giving them unusual appeal and topicality even today.

Jawaharlal was a prolific writer in English and wrote a number of books like ‘The Discovery of India’, ‘Glimpses of World History’. His autobiography, ‘Towards Freedom’ (1936) ran nine editions in the first year alone. Emotional sensitivity and intellectual passion infused his writings, giving them unusual appeal and topicality even today. He was awarded Bharat Ratna in 1955.

Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's love for children and his faith in their strength rightly earned him the name "Chacha Nehru.” His birthday, November 14, is aptly commemorated as Children's Day. He believed that children are the future of the nation. He served as India’s first Prime Minister from 1947 until he died in May, 1964.

RIVERWAY

Riverway is a riverfront parkland attraction located in the Condon Suburb of Townsville that opened in July 2006. It stretches along 11km of the Ross River, with areas at Pioneer Park, Loam Island, Apex Park and Ross Park at the Ross River Dam.

The areas of Riverway that have been completed are Pioneer Park and Loam Island.









Riverway is connected directly to the Thuringowa Central business district via a pathway along the foreshore. Village Boulevard is the name of the road into Pioneer Park and forms the city/park integration. From the car park it extends through the park as a pedestrian spine that follows the rivers edge and forms the heart of Pioneer Park.


The Tony Ireland Stadium is part of the second stage of Riverway and consists of an international standard AFL and cricket stadium with a capacity of more than 10,000 people.




Riverway Arts Centre is a geographical formation with a grass roof that incorporates the parkland without a decrease in the amount of grassed area. It also lowers the interior temperature by reducing the roof surface temperature.

Riverway offers a dynamic combination of cultural, sports, leisure, residential and commercial activities. With two huge swimming lagoons, the Riverway Arts Centre, Pinnacles Gallery, the Riverwalk and parklands, there truly is so much to explore.

In most of the weekend I visit riverway and enjoy by relaxing and walking around.

INDIA'S FIRST INDEPENDENCE DAY 1948 - CELEBRATION

AMAZING SATELLITE SPACE CAMERA VIEWS

NIAGARA FALLS

The image shows the Niagara River that connects Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, snaking around Goat Island, in the lower left of the full image. Most of the river's water plummets over the Canadian/Horseshoe Falls, but some diverted water spills over American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls downstream. Every second, more than two million liters of water plunges over the Horseshoe Falls segment of Niagara Falls creating one of the world's largest waterfalls as well as eating away as much as two meters of rock per year. The image was acquired August 2, 2004.

TSUNAMI STRIKES THE COAST OF SRILANKA

This is a natural color, 60-centimeter (2-foot) high-resolution QuickBird satellite image featuring the southwestern coast of Sri Lanka. Imagery was collected on December 26, 2004 at 10:20 a.m. local time, slightly less than four hours after the 6:28 a.m. (local Sri Lanka time) earthquake and shortly after the moment of tsunami impact.

GROUND ZERO, NEW YORK CITY

This one-meter resolution satellite image of Manhattan, New York was collected at 11:43 a.m.. EDT on Sept. 12, 2001 by Space Imaging's IKONOS satellite. The image shows an area of white and gray-colored dust and smoke at the location where the 1,350-foot towers of the World Trade Center once stood. Since all airplanes were grounded over the U.S. after the attack, IKONOS ! was the only commercial high-resolution camera that could take an overhead image at the time.

GRAND CANYON

Northern Arizona and the Grand Canyon are captured in this pair of Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR) images from December 31, 2000. The above image is a true color view from the nadir (vertical) camera. In addition to the Grand Canyon itself, which is visible in the western (lower) half of the images, other landmarks include Lake Powell, on the left, and Humphreys Peak and Sunset Crater National Monument on the right. Meteor Crater appears as a small dark depression with a brighter rim, and is just visible along the upper right-hand edge.

MALOSMADULU ATOLLS, MALDIVES

North and South Malosmadulu Atolls are in the Maldives, an island republic in the northern Indian Ocean, southwest of India. The Maldives are made up of a chain! of 1,192 small coral islands, which are grouped into clusters of atolls.. It has a total area of 298 square kilometers and a population of about 330,000. The capital and largest city is Male, with a population of about 80,000. Arguably the lowest-lying country in the world, the average elevation is just 1 meter above sea level. The natural-color ASTER image of the Malosmadulu Atolls was acquired on December 22, 2002, and is centered near 5.3 degrees North latitude, 73.9 degrees West longitude.

AYERS ROCK (ULURU), AUSTRALIA

This IKONOS satellite image of Ayers Rock was collected Jan. 17, 2004. Ayers Rock is located in Kata Tjuta National Park, 280 miles (450km) southwest of Alice Springs, Australia. It is the world's largest monolith, an Aboriginal sacred site and Australia's most famous natural landmark.

NOAH'S ARK SITE

Is it or isn't it? Satellite images of Mt. Ararat, Turkey have pointed to a possible sighting of Noah's Ark. Decide for yourself! Compare this image taken by Digital Globe on September 10, 2003 with Shamrock -- The Trinity Corporation' s image (enlarge). Also, note their image is flipped.

THE NILE RIVER

This image of the northern portion of the Nile River was captured by the Multi-angle Imaging Spectroradiometer' s (MISR's) nadir camera on January 30, 2001. Against the barren desert of northeastern Africa, the fertile valley of the Nile River runs northward through Egypt. The city of Cairo can be seen as a gray smudge right where the river widens into its broad fan-shaped delta. Other cities are dotted across the green landscape, giving it a speckled appearance. Where the Nile empties into the Mediterranean Sea (top) the waters are swirling with color, likely a mixture of sediment, organic matter, and possibly marine plant life. Farther west! , the bright blue color of the water is likely less-organically rich sediment, perhaps sand.

EARTH'S CITY LIGHTS

This image of Earth's city lights, captured on October 19, 2000, was created with data from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Operational Linescan System (OLS). The brightest areas of the Earth are the most urbanized, but not necessarily the most populated. Cities tend to grow along coastlines and transportation networks. The United States interstate highway system appears as a lattice connecting the brighter dots of city centers. In Russia, the Trans-Siberian railroad is a thin line stretching from Moscow through the center of Asia to Vladivostok. The Nile River, from the Aswan Dam to the Mediterranean Sea, is another bright thread through an otherwise dark region.

MOUNT ST. HELENS, WASHINGTON

On a Space Station expedition, astronauts observed and captured this detailed image of the volcano's summit caldera. In the center of the crater sits a lava dome that is 876 feet above the crater floor and is about 3,500 feet in diameter. The dome began to form after the May 18, 1980 eruption of Mount Saint Helens. After the eruption, there was not any dome building eruptions for more than a decade. Afternoon lighting accents the flow features in the volcanic and debris flows and the steep valleys eroded into the loosely consolidated material near the summit. This picture was taken on October 25, 2002

THE GREAT PYRAMID, GIZA, EGYPT